Soon mandatory bicycle helmet for all in Belgium?

Rehabilitation physicians at UZ Ghent want a bicycle helmet to become mandatory in Belgium. After all, less than a third of Belgians (29%) wear a bicycle helmet, but out of the nearly four in ten victims of injury accidents involving bicycles and speed pedelecs who ended up in a Belgian hospital in 2023 had a head of brain injury, half of them even a skull injury.

Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA) does not favor making it compulsory and instead focuses on raising awareness.

Significant protection

However, a bicycle helmet protects against severe or fatal consequences of an accident. The risk of serious head injuries decreases by 60% for those wearing a helmet. The risk of a fatal blow is even 70% lower.

For young people under 25, wearing a bicycle helmet is especially important because their brains are still developing. Often, an injury is not taken seriously until several months after the accident, when the young person continues to struggle with concentration problems and fatigue.

No common EU rule

In Sweden, Spain, and France, for example, wearing a bicycle helmet is, therefore, already mandatory for children. Ghent rehabilitation doctors now want such an obligation in Belgium as well, but for all cyclists – in the EU, there is currently a helmet obligation for adults only in Spain and Slovenia when riding outside urban areas.

“It is an important preventive measure that, with government support, can lead to savings, also because the medical and social costs of brain injuries will decrease,” said the doctors, who are making their appeal on the occasion of the bicycle helmet day (April 9th).

There is no mandatory helmet in cycling countries, such as the Netherlands. Currently, 5% of male cyclists and 3% of female cyclists in the Netherlands wear helmets. However, if all cyclists in the Netherlands were to wear helmets, an estimated 100 to 110 traffic fatalities and between 1,700 and 1,900 serious traffic injuries could be prevented annually.

Counterproductive

If it depends on Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA), there will be no mandatory helmet, although traffic is a federal competence. De Ridder wants to “convince more people to take the bike more often.”

She says this cannot be done by imposing or making things mandatory. “I am convinced that a bicycle helmet can prevent (serious) injuries. That’s why we put a lot of effort into raising awareness. For example, this year, we are subsidizing the bicycle helmet day organized by the Brain Injury League.”

The Cyclists’ Union has also opposed making bicycle helmets mandatory for some time. Spokesperson Wies Callens, like the Minister, points to the counterproductive effects of such a measure. “If you start forcing people to wear helmets, people will cycle less, which is detrimental to their health.

Automatism

According to Callens, research shows that wearing a helmet protects against serious injuries. The Cyclists’ Union, therefore, encourages everyone to wear one and supports numerous awareness campaigns.

In Brussels, 65% of cyclists already wear a helmet, while bicycle helmet use is also increasing in Flanders. For example, 38% of Flemish people who have a bicycle available via their employer are forced to wear a helmet when using the bicycle, which is an insurance issue. And the more often people take their bikes, the more they start wearing helmets.

“But an obligation is currently a bridge too far,” insists the Cyclists’ Union. By contrast, the organization insists on investing in safe infrastructure to reduce the number of accidents involving cyclists. In 2023, Traffic Institute Vias counted 11,912 injury accidents involving bicycles and speed pedelecs.

On Thursday, the hospital’s rehabilitation center will host a bicycle helmet bike ride with about 80 patients. Minister of Justice Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) will give the starting signal. She does not expressly speak for or against an obligation but thinks that putting on a bicycle helmet should become “an automatism.”