Jdsk wrote: ↑15 Dec 2021, 12:01pm
mjr wrote: ↑15 Dec 2021, 11:56am
Equating traffic violations to risky behaviour as in "Bicycle helmets and risky behaviour: A systematic review" seems dodgy to me. Many safety improvements — including advanced stop lines, "except cycles" plates (and associated legal relaxations) and the Netherlands cycleway network — are at least partly due to massive breaking of motorist-centred laws by safety-concerned cyclists.
The recurrent problem kicks in here... have you got access to the whole paper?
Thanks
Jonathan
For those who are interested, it is available from ResearchGate. No paywall, but you do have to sign up. It's worthwhile doing for those who want to read such things. The authors often post them for free there, and even if they are linked to a paywalled publisher, you can often get them from the authors by messaging them on ResearchGate.
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... tic_review
I have read the study, and while I think it is reasonable to conclude that the folks who voluntarily wear cycle helmets are also somewhat more likely to engage in other conforming behaviour, such as stopping at red lights, the conclusion that not doing so is risky behaviour is tenuous, at best. I certainly have not seen any studies that adequately correlate cyclist traffic violations with risk. Traffic violations are a result of law designed for motor vehicles, and I am not aware of any definitive evidence that cyclists violating traffic laws also engage in 'other' risky behaviour.
The majority of the studies included are either self-reported surveys (i.e. a person surveyed doesn't associate use of a helmet with increased risk) and crash data. Only one of the studies accounts for journey length. None account for journey type or cyclist population differences. The discussions note where the authors think that the results can /might not be applicable to the general population of cyclists, but they ignore that the population is not homogeneous.
One of the biggest problems with any of the studies relating to helmets, is there is a significant minority of cyclists who are poor or very poor, cannot afford a helmet nor professional cycle maintenance. These folks are more likely to cycle for transport, more likely to have equipment failures, and more likely to take risks, if only for purely economic reasons (e.g. need to get to work & cannot afford bus fare nor winter tyres).
Often, when population differences like this are taken into account, they are found to influence the results.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom