Canberra cyclists could be allowed to ride without a helmet in low-speed conditions, as part of a new road safety plan launched in the ACT.

Key points: Expert to examine benefits and risks of non-compulsory helmet laws for low-speed areas

Expert to examine benefits and risks of non-compulsory helmet laws for low-speed areas Plan will also increase penalties for drivers caught texting and ban on hands-free Bluetooth mobile kits for young drivers

Plan will also increase penalties for drivers caught texting and ban on hands-free Bluetooth mobile kits for young drivers Lowering the number of demerit points and an expansion of 40kph zones will also be considered

The 39-point plan, rolled out today by Road Safety Minister Shane Rattenbury, includes a commitment to investigating the risks and benefits of allowing people to ride bicycles without a helmet.

An expert would be engaged to assess the situational risk of helmet-free riding in "parks, town centres and other low-speed environments such as shared zones and university precincts".

According to the plan, the aim would be to facilitate increased cycling participation.

"There is clear evidence that wearing bicycle helmets does reduce the rate of head injuries. There's also evidence that it can reduce the number of people who cycle," Mr Rattenbury said.

"We will engage an expert to look at options for low-speed areas ... we'll sit down and have that research done for us over the next couple of years and weigh up the relative benefits.

"If we have more people out there cycling it actually makes people safer, because cycling is more visible, there's more people doing it and drivers become more used to having cyclists on the road."

Higher penalties for drivers caught texting and a ban on hands-free Bluetooth mobile kits for learner and provisional drivers, will become a reality under the plan.

Other changes being mooted include a review the ACT demerit point scheme, with a view to lowering the number of demerit points each driver has, and an expansion of 40 kilometre per hour zones in town centres.

A review of penalties for speeding, including automatic licence suspensions for very serious offences, will also be considered.

Mr Rattenbury said in 2014 in the ACT there were 7,782 reported crashes, resulting in 829 casualties - including 10 fatalities and 125 hospital admissions.

He said it was unsatisfactory to accept road deaths as an inevitable part of the transport system, and the aim should be for no fatalities or serious injuries as part of a "vision zero" philosophy.

"I am determined to see the ACT become the first Australian jurisdiction to achieve vision zero," he said.

Analysis of non-compulsory helmet laws required

John Armstrong, chief executive officer of Pedal Power ACT, an advocacy group for cyclists, said a review of the compulsory helmet laws for cyclists would be positive thing.

But he was cautious about offering his full support for non-compulsory helmets.

"The fact that adults could choose to wear their helmets is not a bad thing. Certainly in the Northern Territory they are actually engaging in a trial right now, to allow adults to choose to wear their helmets on enclosed paths," he said.

"The jury's out as to whether in fact the introduction of non-compulsory helmet laws would in fact encourage more people [to cycle].

"It's highly likely to do so, given the information that we do have. But here in the ACT and Australia-wide, we really do need to analyse it."

Helmets not as useful as once thought: expert

One expert was more emphatic in his support for the ACT Government's move to re-examine compulsory helmet laws.

Gordon Waddington is a professor of sport and exercise medicine at the University of Canberra.

He said there was an automatic assumption that helmets provided protection from serious head injuries, but this was not always the case.

"Looking at larger scale research studies now, we can actually see that in fact when we see helmet use go up, we actually don't see an increase in protection occurring," he said.

"We do see an increase in protection from lacerations and cuts and damage directly to the skin of the head, but we don't see protection from significant head injury the way we'd like to have thought it might happen."

Professor Waddington said helmets were rated for relatively low-speed accidents and tested for very simple experiments, which did not replicate the condition experienced in most accidents.

He said there was actually evidence that when cyclists wore helmets they behaved more dangerously, taking more risks because they believe they were protected.

"What the ACT Government is doing now, looking at taking on new evidence and [considering] the overall benefit to society of increasing activity, I think outweighs the relatively small risk [from not wearing a helmet]," he said.

NRMA director Kate Lundy was broadly supportive of the Government's plan - except for the proposal to reduce the number of demerit points allocated to each driver.

"The NRMA has successfully argued for an increase, by one, to 13 demerit points in NSW," she said.

"Why? Because there are so many more ways that motorists can now lose points from when the system was first instituted.

"So we'll be making our representations to the ACT Government."