Article by Bill Curnow in AAP volume 35, March 2003

The international journal Accident Analysis & Prevention published in volume 35, March 2003, an article by Bill Curnow entitled "The efficacy of bicycle helmets against brain injury". It refutes the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's claim that scientific evidence shows that helmets reduce serious injury to the brain. That claim was made in an article published in the same journal (Attewell, Glase and McFadden, "Bicycle helmet efficacy, a meta-analysis", Volume 33, 2001) and also in the Bureau's report CR 195 "Bicycle helmets and injury prevention: a formal review" in June 2000.

For copyright reasons, the full text of Bill Curnow's article cannot be printed here. However, the abstract reads as follows:

"An examination is made of a meta-analysis by Attewell, Glase and McFadden which concludes that bicycle helmets prevent serious injury, to the brain in particular, and that there is mounting scientific evidence of this. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau initiated and directed the meta-analysis of 16 observational studies dated 1987-1998. This examination concentrates on injury to the brain and shows that the meta-analysis and its included studies take no account of scientific knowledge of its mechanisms. Consequently, the choice of studies for the meta-analysis and the collection, treatment and interpretation of their data lack the guidance needed to distinguish injuries caused through fracture of the skull and by angular acceleration. It is shown that the design of helmets reflects a discredited theory of brain injury. The conclusions are that the meta-analysis does not provide scientific evidence that such helmets reduce serious injury to the brain, and the Australian policy of compulsory wearing lacks a basis of verified efficacy against brain injury. "

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