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. 2019 Jun;44(3):577-579.
doi: 10.1007/s10900-018-00599-1.

Free-Floating Bikeshare and Helmet Use in Seattle, WA

Stephen J Mooney  1   2 , Bella Lee  3 , Allyson W O'Connor  3   4
Affiliations

Free-Floating Bikeshare and Helmet Use in Seattle, WA

Stephen J Mooney et al. J Community Health. 2019 Jun.

Abstract

Wearing a helmet when bicycling prevents traumatic brain injury in the event of a crash. Most cyclists nationwide use helmets when riding. However, the growth of free-floating bike sharing systems, which offer short-term access to bicycles but not helmets, may erode helmet-wearing norms among cyclists. We counted cyclists over several hours at four locations in Seattle, WA. We categorized each rider according to whether he or she was wearing a helmet and to whether or not he or she was riding a bike share bike. Whereas 91% of riders of private bikes wore helmets, only 20% of bike share riders wore helmets. Moreover, in locations where a greater proportion of riders were on bikes hare bikes, fewer riders of private bicycles wore helmets (r = - 0.96, p = 0.04). The impact of bike sharing programs on helmet wearing norms among private bike riders warrants further exploration.

Keywords: Bicycling; Free-floating bike share; Helmet; Injury prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest:

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Relationship between the proportion of riders riding bikeshare bikes at each location and the proportion of private bike riders wearing helmets at that location.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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