Australian public health versus
bicycle helmet laws

This page displays an assortment of press clippings plus a media release concerning Australian public health.

In summary, a growing number of Australians are overweight and the country needs to do some more exercise.

As reported below, children in Western Australia are at risk of having a lower life expectancy than their parents for the first time in history - mostly because of obesity.

About 7.4 million Australians, or half of all adult women and two thirds of adult men, are overweight or obese because they are not sufficiently active, according to the Australian Heart Foundation.

The journal of the Australian Medical Association estimates as many as 17,000 Australian deaths each year can be attributed to obesity and calculates that overweight and obesity are now more prevalent risk factors for disease than smoking (see Australian Medical Journal, April 2005).

• Helmet law in Western Australia
• Summary
• Western Australia cyclist injuries
• Western Australia cyclist numbers
• Injury severity
• Helmet research
• Helmet research before law
• Bicycle accidents 1987-1996
• Child cycling
• Social impact
• WA cyclist fatalities
• Government deceit
• Different Australian States
• Helmet laws in New Zealand
• Helmet laws in Canada
• Helmet laws in England
• Australia's obesity crisis
• Prison penalties
• Football helmets
• Web links
• Contact

The Australian Bicycle Council, a subsidiary of the Australian Government's Department of Transport, stated in its March 2004 communique:

Bicycling is part of the solution to many of our cities problems: the obesity epidemic, traffic congestion, air pollution and more. The mainstream health message these days is that people need to do at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days, to maintain health. Increased incidental exercise (ie exercise that is built into 'activities of daily living') is often recommended as the best way to ensure adequate daily levels of exercise are achieved. This is because this kind of exercise is often 'maintained' (ie kept up) more consistently than, for example going to the gym or playing sport. Walking and cycling to work are two good forms of incidental exercise - no surprise there!

Consider the views of New Zealand Public Health Physician Dr Ashley Bloomfield, who presented "Cycling: your health, the public's health and the planet's health" (PDF file 24kb) to the New Zealand Cycling Symposium in 2000.

All research papers at least partly blame an increasingly sedentary lifestyle for Australia's obesity levels, which are among the highest in the world. Greater public recreational exercise is encouraged to stem a looming public health crisis.

Health experts say adults should undertake 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, if not all, days of the week. Cycling is classified as a moderate-intensity activity.

Read the Dublin Cycling Campaign Submission to The National Task Force on Obesity.

A Danish study has found that people who do not cycle to work suffer a 39% higher mortality rate than those who do.

The 2003 UK Cycling and Health report (PDF file, 240kb) details the major personal and public health benefits that are possible when people ride a bicycle instead of driving a car.

Read the response of CTC - the UK's national cycling organisation - in May 2004 to a new report from MPs that says cycling is the way to beat obesity (Word file, 64k).

Cycling Promotion for Health and Fitness (RTF file, 536kb) studies the health problems suffered by the residents of Perth, Western Australia, because of the city's low cycling levels and high car dependency.