Cycling is an excellent sustainable alternative to driving. Cyclists have few safety options, of which a helmet is one. However, there are strong indications that law-mediated increases of helmet usage for cyclists cause confounding factors which temper the positive effect of these helmets on head and brain injury. Furthermore, current helmet design is suboptimal. Since several fields are important to bicycle helmet optimization, a combined effort involving all of these is necessary; so that a given parameter is not optimized at the cost of another. Finally, the attitudes of cyclist towards helmets will be focused upon; providing tools for improving helmet usage. The multidisciplinary approach respects the complex nature of the issue, it is unique in Europe, and will provide more complete information to legislators, manufacturers, end-users, and scientists, ultimately leading to increased safety for cyclists.
Bicycle helmets - In-depth accident observations and injury statistics - Traffic psychology - Impact engineering - Ergonomics
