Jake Olivier's research featured in UNSW Magazine
Published on the 12 Aug 2019
Professor Jake Olivier's research on helmet and pedestrian safety has been featured in the latest issue of UNSW Magazine.
The study on helmet safety by Prof Olivier and colleagues is the first in the world to examine the effects of mandatory helmet laws applied on a national scale, where those laws apply to all ages and are dutifully enforced.
The statistics offer clear and solid scientific evidence that mandatory helmet laws have been effective in reducing injuries in Australia, leading to an immediate 46% reduction in the rate of cycling fatalities per 100,000 population following the introduction of the legislation.
Furthermore, the decline has been maintained since 1990 and it is estimated that there have been 1332 fewer cycling fatalities associated with the introduction of bicycle helmet legislation to date.
A second article focuses on Prof Olivier and team's research into the impact of vehicle speed on pedestrian fatalities. The study, the largest to date with data on over 37,000 pedestrians, investigated how the likelihood of a pedestrian dying in a crash changed at different speeds. The researchers stress that it is important for policy makers to prescribe speeds that are safe, i.e. survivable, for all road users.