PubMed · 8371321
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Y Ben-Menachem. 1993. Broadside impacts.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8371321/
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OBJECTIVES: To examine the protective effectiveness of bicycle helmets in 4 different age groups of bicyclists, in crashes involving motor vehicles, and by helmet type and certification standards. RESEARCH DESIGN: Prospective case-control study SETTING: Emergency departments (EDs) in 7 Seattle, Wash, area hospitals between March 1, 1992, and August 31, 1994. PARTICIPANTS: Case subjects were all bicyclists treated in EDs for head injuries, all who were hospitalized, and all who died at the scene. Control subjects were bicyclists treated for nonhead injuries. MAIN RESULTS: There were 3390 injured bicyclists in the study; 29% of cases and 56% of controls were helmeted. Risk of head injury in helmeted vs unhelmeted cyclists adjusted for age and motor vehicle involvement indicate a protective effect of 69% to 74% for helmets for 3 different categories of head injury: any head injury (odds ratio [OR], 0.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.26-0.37), brain injury (OR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.25-0.48), or severe brain injury (OR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.14-0.48). Adjusted ORs for each of 4 age groups (<6 y, 6-12 y, 13-19 y, and > or = 20 years) indicate similar levels of helmet protection by age (OR range, 0.27-0.40). Helmets were equally effective in crashes involving motor vehicles (OR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.20-0.48) and those not involving motor vehicles (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.20-0.39). There was no effect modification by age or motor vehicle involvement (P=.7 and P=.3). No significant differences were found for the protective effect of hard-shell, thin-shell, or no-shell helmets (P=.5). CONCLUSIONS: Bicycle helmets, regardless of type, provide substantial protection against head injuries for cyclists of all ages involved in crashes, including crashes involving motor vehicles.
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Dual air bags will be required standard equipment in all new passenger cars sold in the United States beginning in 1997 and all light trucks sold in the United States in 1998 but are available now in many earlier-model vehicles. Air bags are designed to supplement the protection provided by safety belts in frontal crashes; when combined with lap and shoulder safety belts, air bags assist in preventing fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor-vehicle crashes. However, passenger-side air bags have been associated with injuries to children who, in almost all cases, were unrestrained or incorrectly restrained in the front seat. In 1993, approximately 1.4 million (0.8% of all vehicles registered) were equipped with passenger-side air bags, compared with an estimated 21.6 million vehicles (11.4% of all vehicles registered) in 1996 (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], unpublished data, 1996). NHTSA, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and CDC collaborated with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, The Air Bag Safety Campaign, the National Safety Council, the Brain Injury Association, the National Association of Governors Highway Safety Representatives, the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions, and the Health Resources and Services Administration to examine crashes from the Special Crash Investigation Data File maintained by NHTSA, in which fatal injuries in children (aged < 12 years) were associated with passenger-side air bags. This report presents the findings of this review, which indicate that during January 1993-November 1996, annual increases occurred for both the number of fatal injuries to children resulting from air-bag deployments and the proportion of dual air bag-equipped vehicles (Table 1).