Wearing a helmet while cycling can prevent serious head injuries and even save lives, but many cyclists still choose not to wear one.
A recent study presented at the European Emergency Medicine Congress suggests that this is often due to issues of comfort and convenience.
Dr. Steven Friedman, an emergency physician at Toronto General Hospital and lead researcher of the study, wanted to understand why some adult cyclists avoid wearing helmets.
He noted that while creating safer bike routes is important, crashes still happen, and helmets play a key role in reducing head injuries.
The study reviewed past research on ways to encourage cyclists to wear helmets, finding that with the right encouragement, more adults might choose to use one.
Dr. Friedman then tested a set of incentives to see if they would make a difference in helmet use.
The study involved 72 injured cyclists, aged 18 to 68, who had not been wearing helmets at the time of their accidents.
Most participants cycled regularly but said they rarely or never wore helmets.
Surprisingly, most didn’t think helmets were unnecessary, and about half believed cycling in their city was dangerous.
The main reasons they gave for not wearing helmets were that they didn’t own one, or found helmets uncomfortable or inconvenient to use.
To encourage helmet use, one group of participants was given a free helmet voucher, email reminders, and a brief explanation of the benefits of helmets. They were also invited to join a social media group and refer friends for free helmets after a year. Another group served as the control group, receiving no incentives.
Of those who were offered a free helmet, about half redeemed their voucher. A year later, 75% of those who received the incentives said they always wore a helmet, compared to just 22% of those in the control group.
Dr. Friedman believes this research offers valuable insights into why frequent cyclists don’t wear helmets and suggests ways to encourage helmet use. Since many of the cyclists in the study were regular commuters who already recognized the risks of cycling but chose not to wear helmets, any efforts to increase helmet use should address their concerns about comfort and convenience.
This study highlights the potential for new approaches, such as free helmet programs and educational reminders, to encourage long-term helmet use among cyclists. Larger studies are needed to confirm these results, but this research provides a promising start in promoting safer cycling.
