How The Danes Pulled Off A Bike Helmet Boom

18.01.2024 - 16:23 / forbes.com

For a majority of bicyclists killed in crashes, the most serious injuries are to the head. Wearing a helmet can reduce that risk by about 60% – and help save cyclists’ lives – but many people still ride without them.

It’s an important issue, as the number of deaths among cyclists in the last decade or so has been steadily trending upwards in the United States and rose by nearly 20% worldwide.

The odds that a bicyclist will wear a helmet are four times higher after a helmet law is enacted than before a law is passed, a review of studies found.

(Local ordinances in a few U.S. states require some or all bicyclists to wear helmets, only twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have helmet use laws applying to young bicyclists and none of these laws apply to all riders. So, most adult bicycle riders in the U.S. are not required to wear helmets.)

A new study from Denmark, a country known for its strong cycling culture and road safety record — it has among the lowest per capita traffic death rates in the world— found that another approach to encourage helmet wearing may work better than mandatory requirements.

Bjørn Olsson, special advisor at the Danish Road Safety Council, and author of a recent study published in the Journal of Safety Research, spoke with Forbes about how voluntary helmet use can be increased through initiatives like a nationwide focus on traffic safety education in schools, behavior change campaigns, and more safety-oriented behavior in road traffic in general.

Responses were edited for clarity and length.

Forbes: How did the idea for the study come about?

Mr. Olsson: Since 2004 the Danish Road Safety Council has systematically carried out observations on bicycle helmet use among cyclists around the country. With such data, the Danish Road Safety Council and other road safety stakeholders were better positioned to develop and target new bicycle helmet campaigns as well as evaluate whether helmet use actually increased in the wake of these campaigns.

To provide some context of the bicycling culture in Denmark for readers, could you briefly describe the country’s position on laws mandating helmet use?

There are no laws on helmet use for cyclists in Denmark. The only type of bicycle where you are required to wear a helmet is for speed pedelecs, fast e-bikes with motor assistance up to 45 km/h (30 mph). For other two-wheelers such as moped riders and e-scooter riders, helmet use is mandatory, and the laws are enforced by the police.

So far there has not been any substantial public considerations of introducing helmet use for all cyclists, and the large majority of stakeholders on road safety as well as policymakers are not currently in favor of mandatory helmet laws for all