Comment by Mawr
7 months ago
> An example of something that for sure saves lives and lowers public costs is mandating adults wear helms on bicycles.
For sure huh :)
See my older post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39658466
TL;DR:
"Cycling UK wants to keep helmets an optional choice. Forcing - or strongly encouraging - people to wear helmets deters people from cycling and undermines the public health benefits of cycling. This campaign seeks to educate policy makers and block misguided attempts at legislation."
&
"Enforced helmet laws and helmet promotion have consistently caused substantial reductions in cycle use (30-40% in Perth, Western Australia).
The resulting loss of cycling’s health benefits alone (that is, before taking account of its environmental, economic and societal benefits) is very much greater than any possible injury prevention benefit."
&
"Cycling levels in the Netherlands have substantial population-level health benefits: about 6500 deaths are prevented annually, and Dutch people have half-a-year-longer life expectancy. These large population-level health benefits translate into economic benefits of €19 billion per year, which represents more than 3% of the Dutch gross domestic product between 2010 and 2013.3."
I think you know what I am talking about. Actual helmet usage. Wearing a helmet is safer than not wearing one.
If you look at the number of auto deaths 100 years ago it is lower than today. You can't use that ad proof that seatbelts cause deaths. Instead you have to look at other factors like the amount of drivers. With my helmet example you would look at lives saved from wearing the helmet.
Secondly, I've seen some studies (I think it was in the UK, but didn't feel like trying to find it) that showed people dying younger is actually more cost effective since older people have larger medical expenses.