A baseline of data was needed to determine to what extent bicycle helmets were being used prior to any formal legislative and/or educational efforts. Futhermore, to evaluate the effectiveness of the three community-based programs undertaken by the Texas Department of Health, helmet usage was measured. This report, therefore, is a presentation of the results of a multi-year data collection effort that was supported by two agencies. The first year of data collection was a survey of bicycle helmet use in six communities funded by the Texas Department of Health and designed to provide a baseline for evaluating the effects of a program to promote bicycle helmet use among children, aged 5-14 years. The second year of data collection was supported by the Texas Department of Transportation and was designed to continue the data collection in the six communities, as well as to survey a representative number of Texas households regarding helmet use. (Author/publisher)
Abstract