Bicycle Injury Interventions

Bicycle Skills Training & Safety Courses

Background

Prevention of bicycle injuries can be approached through the use of bicycle helmets, educational programs to improve riding behavior and safet y, educational programs aimed at motor vehicle drivers, and environmental changes to decrease the likelihood of bicycle-motor vehicle collisions. An extensive review of educational programs and environmental changes is posted else where on our website. Click Training Programs for Bicycle Safety to access this review.

National Strategies for Advancing Bicycle Safety is available on the NBSN website. This document includes goals, strategies, and short-and long-term actions that can be taken to reduce injury and mortality associated with bicycle-related incidents. Efforts to change the cycling environment have five key goals: motorists will share the road, bicyclists will ride safely, bicyclists will wear helmets, the legal system will support safe bicycling, roads and paths will safely accommodate bicyclists.

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) created a pedestrian and bicycle task force in July 1999 to identify ways ITE could enhance its activities in this area. Survey results and recommendations are available on the organization web site at www.ite.org/councils/pbsurveyresults.htm.

Recently published evaluations are reviewed below.

Review of studies evaluating bicycle skills training & safety courses:

Summary of bicycle skills training studies

The studies reviewed above were unable to demonstrate a positive effect of bicycle skills training for changes in observed cycling behavior or reduction in injuries. Two studies reviewed above were unable to demonstrate a positive effect of bicycle skills training for changes in observed cycling behavior or reduction in injuries. The study by Savill and colleagues evaluated the long term effect of a number of skills training programs currently used in the U.K. and was able to demonstrate improvement in cycling skills, knowledge and helmet use in the group of children who received training.

The monograph "Training Programs for Bicycle Safety" reviewed 27 educational programs for children and adults. The most comprehensive programs have all incorporated helmet education, traffic rules, safety guidelines, and on-bike training into their curricula. Six of these programs have been evaluated and shown to be effective in increasing participant's knowledge and observed riding skills. There has been little evaluation of program effectiveness in reducing injuries, or evaluation of long-term program effects. The best study evaluating the effect of skill training on injuries (a population-based case control study from Melbourne, Australia) indicated that this type of education did not reduce injuries but appeared to actually increase injuries. This negative effect was stronger among children whose parents didn't cycle, among low SES groups and you nger children. The authors suggest skills training might produce harmful effects in some children, perhaps due to inadvertent encouragement of risk taking behavior or of bicycling without proper supervision.

Recommendations on bicycle skills training

There have not been sufficient evaluations of bicycle skills training programs so recommendations are premature. Program effectiveness evaluations should compare program participants to a comparable group that did not receive training. Outcomes assessed should include number and types of crashes, the number and/or severity of injuries, the level of helmet use, and the number of bicyclists in the area. An ideal assessment should also measure the extent to which the learned program skills are retained correctly and for the long term.

Recommendations for future research

Bicycle education programs should be thoroughly evaluated before their implementation. Plans and funding for proper evaluation should be set forth at the beginning of the program.

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