Bicycle helmet use and bicyclists head injuries before and after helmet legislation in Alberta Canada

• Author / Creator

  Karkhaneh, Mohammad

• Bicycle activity in Canada is common and unfortunately, can result in injuries, hospitalization and even death. Bicycle helmets reduce severe head injuries. Both promotional activities and helmet legislation have been used in several countries to increase helmet wearing among bicyclists. The results of different studies have demonstrated that although promotional activities increase helmet use to some extent, sustainable effects occur following the implementation of helmet legislation.
  Bicycle helmet use was studied in this thesis prior to (2000-2001) and after (2003-2006) helmet legislation in Alberta. A significant increase in helmet use was observed post-legislation in Alberta by youth <18 (target age group for provincial legislation). St. Albert, an urban community in Alberta, implemented a by-law requiring cyclists of all ages to wear a helmet in 2006 and helmet wearing rose among youth <18; an encouraging but not statistically significant increase occurred among adults (18+).
  We examined the rate of bicycling per unit of observation time pre- and post-legislation and demonstrated that bicycling activities among youth <18 decreased only in schools and commuter routes, with no change at other locations.
  Since preventing head- and brain-related injuries is the main purposes of helmet wearing, the trend of bicyclist head injuries (HI) in Alberta was examined. Before doing so, in a reliability/validity study we demonstrated that bicycle injuries are coded in a reliable and valid manner in both ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CA by emergency department (ED) coders.
  Examining the HI rates per 100,000 population and proportion of HI among bicyclists who presented to EDs or who were hospitalized, we demonstrated a significant decline among the legislated target age groups (<18) which was not obvious in adults. This decline was larger than expected, based on analysis of pedestrians with head injuries as a control group.
  We conclude that helmet legislation increased bicycle helmet use and deceased bicycle-related head injuries among the target age groups in Alberta.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Head injury
  • Injury prevention
  • Bicycle helmet
  • Surveys
  • Legislation

• Graduation date

  Fall 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3242M

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.