WINNIPEG — Provinces should force anyone riding a bicycle to wear a helmet says the co-author of a new report that found helmet use varies greatly across Canada.
“I mean, it’s atrocious that in 2010, every province does not have some sort of helmet legislation,” said Ryan Zarychanski, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Manitoba. “Clearly, helmet legislation works and clearly it reduces serious head injuries and facial lacerations.”
Zarychanski and three other researchers at the University of Manitoba and the University of Ottawa compared 2005 helmet use figures involving more than 4,600 respondents in three provinces with very different rules for cyclists.
Helmets were worn by 73.2 per cent of respondents in Nova Scotia, where helmet use is mandatory for everyone.
The rate was just 40.6 per cent in Ontario, where helmets are mandatory for young people only, and a mere 26.9 in Saskatchewan, where there is no helmet law for cyclists.
The study also found that children were less likely to wear helmets if adults did not have to.
Fewer than half of underage respondents in Ontario said they used helmets, even though they were required by law.
In Nova Scotia, the rate for children was 77.5 per cent.
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Newfoundland have no helmets laws for cyclists. Ontario and Alberta require helmets for people under 18 years of age, while Nova Scotia, British Columbia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island require everyone to don a helmet while on a bicycle.