🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <781b71$hbb@freenet-news.carleton.ca:,
Avery Burdett <ab833@FreeNet.Carleton.CA: wrote:
:
:   "I looked at fatalities by helmet wearing in two States - Victoria and
:NSW.  In Victoria, surveys showed approx 75% of cyclists were wearing
:helmets.  So were 75% of fatally injured cyclists.  In NSW, surveys
:showed roughly 80% wearing, and lo and behold, so were 80% of fatally
:injured cyclists"
:
:Same result - no helmet effect on fatality stats. 
:

Certainly that is clear: no effect on overall fatality rates. But this is 
not the same thing as saying that helmets are neither harmful nor beneficial.
For example if it were true that helmet wearers logged many more miles 
than non-helmet wearers, or fewer, then (assuming that the number of miles
travelled affects the probability of an accident) the statistics quoted 
would not prove that wearing a helmet has no effect on injury or fatality 
rates.

Carl