A study is presented, which aimed to examine the selling of cycle helmets in retail stores, with special reference to the adequacy of advice offered about the fit and securing of helmets. The method of participant observation was used to observe all 55 retail outlets, selling cycle helmets in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. A researcher entered each shop, as if she were a prospective customer, and requested assistance in buying a helmet. She took detailed field notes of the conversation, which were later transcribed, coded, and analysed. It was found that less than half the shops gave adequate advice about helmet purchase; specialist cycle shops gave better advice than department stores. Good advisers tended to help more actively with fitting a helmet. Only about a third of the sales assistants seemed to know about safety standards for helmets. Few shops displayed information for customers about the correct fitting of helmets. These results suggest that, in New Zealand, cyclists are often given inadequate advice to ensure that their helmets fit properly, so that many of the helmets sold may fail to fulfil their purpose of preventing injury. The authors propose consultation between retailers and policy makers as a necessary first step to improving this situation.
Abstract