EVALUATION OF A STATEWIDE BICYCLE HELMET LAW VIA MULTIPLE MEASURES OFHELMET USE

Objectives: To evaluate an Oregon law requiring bicyclists younger tha n 16 years to wear a helmet and to compare methods of measuring helmet use. Design: Four prelaw and postlaw statewide helmet use surveys: (1 ) statewide observations, (2) middle school observations, (3) classroo m self-report surveys, and (4) a statewide adult telephone survey. Set ting: Oregon. Subjects: Statewide observations, 3313 child bicyclists at 13 sites; middle school observations, 995 child bicyclists at 33 ra ndomly selected middle schools; classroom self-report surveys, fourth, sixth, and eighth graders in 448 classrooms (ie, 8955 students) befor e the law was effected and 456 classrooms (ie, 9811 students) after th e law was effected in 66 randomly selected schools; and statewide tele phone survey, 1219 randomly called parents of 1437 children younger th an 16 years. Main Outcome Measures: Prelaw and postlaw helmet use and ownership and knowledge and opinion about the law. Results: Observed h elmet use among youth was 24.5% before the law was effected and 49.3% after the law was effected. School-observed use increased from 20.4% t o 56.1%. Classroom survey self-reported ''always'' use of helmets incr eased from 14.7% to 39.4%; reported use on the day of the survey incre ased from 25.8% to 76.0%. Telephone survey-reported ''always'' helmet use increased from 36.8% to 65.7%. Younger children and girls were mor e likely to use helmets. Most students (ie, 87.8%) and parents (ie, 95 .4%) knew about the law; however, only 42.6% of children thought, the law was a good idea. Conclusions: We conclude that (1) the law increas ed helmet use; (2) although use estimates differ, all helmet surveys s howed similar degrees of prelaw and postlaw change; and (3) half of ch ild bicyclists are still not wearing helmets, indicating a need for ad ditional promotion of helmet wearing. Laws seem to be an effective way to increase helmet use.