Since 1988, the Road and Traffic Research Institute has carried out measurements of the usage of bicycle helmets in Sweden commissioned by the National Society of Road Safety and the National Road Safety Office. The aim is on the one hand to estimate the proportion of helmet users a particular year and on the other hand to estimate the changes in usage from one year to another. The measurements of 1992 were carried out through observations of cyclists in 21 municipalities in Sweden during the first two weeks in September. Measurements were concentrated on the following categories of cyclists: young children (up to 10 years), elementary school pupils, adults cycling to and from work and cyclists using public cycle paths. The results show that the stagnation in usage among young children (up to 10 years) and elementary school children, which started in 1991, also continued during 1992. Usage among adults cycling to and from work also remains on a continued low level and does not seem to have increased since the previous measurements. An increase in usage was, however, noticed between the years 1991 and 1992 for cyclists using public cycle paths. The report also gives the results distributed according to gender and size of municipality. (A)
Samenvatting