With bike-sharing schemes expected to come to Canberra in the near future, ACT Road Safety Minister Shane Rattenbury said it was a good time to revisit discussions about whether bike helmets were necessary.
And what's more, he said there was some chance removing a requirement for riders to wear helmets could benefit public health.
"These are balanced questions, the issue of bike helmets is one that throws up a tension between immediate trauma and public health benefits," he said.
"If removing the requirement for helmets actually encourages more people to cycle, and the overall health benefits that come from that outweigh the risk of immediate trauma from an accident… [then] it's a question worth asking and worth examining.
"This is a tricky area to weigh up."
He acknowledged that bike helmets did play a role in protecting cyclists from head injuries, the full extent of which was explored in a 2016 review by the University of New South Wales of 40 studies worldwide encompassing 64,000 injured cyclists.
It found helmets reduced the chance of a serious head injury by almost 70 per cent, fatal head injuries were cut down by 65 per cent, and facial injuries were reduced by a third.
But Mr Rattenbury said the detriment to public health could be offset if more people were encouraged to exercise.
An online survey of almost 20,000 people, carried out by the Bicycle Network last year, found 30 per cent of people would be more inclined to ride a bike if helmet laws were relaxed.
"It does warrant looking at what the evidence is out there," Mr Rattenbury said.
Helmet laws at odds with bike sharing
The measure was initially proposed in 2016 when the ACT Government released its Road Safety Action Plan, but a recent update noted the pros and cons of change had not yet been examined.
Mr Rattenbury said Canberrans looking to take advantage of bike-sharing schemes would particularly benefit if the laws were changed.
"There are people that indicate that having a helmet is a barrier to them riding a bike — they don't like to wear them, they see it as inconvenient," he said.
"Certainly when it comes to things like bike-sharing schemes it has proved to be quite challenging. People don't want to use a previously used helmet, they also don't want to carry around a helmet with them all the time in case they decide to use a bike-share scheme."
The chief executive of the ACT's peak cycling body, Pedal Power, said a possible relaxation of the laws would have to be carefully tested.
Ian Ross said the group welcomed the review, but they supported mandatory helmet laws.
"There are really good reasons why one would wear a helmet," Mr Ross said.
"I have on two occasions come off my bike and hit my head and have been very grateful for those laws."
