Citation

Messiah A, Constant A, Contrand B, Félonneau ML, Lagarde E. Am. J. Public Health 2012; 102(Suppl 2): S204-S206.

Affiliation

Antoine Messiah, Benjamin Contrand, and Emmanuel Lagarde are with INSERM, Research Center U-897, Centre de Recherche "Épidémiologie et Biostatistique", Injury Prevention and Control research team (Prévention et Prise en Charge des Traumatistmes), Bordeaux, France. Aymery Constant is with EHESP School of Public Health, Rennes, France. Marie-Line Felonneau is with Laboratoire de Psychologie, "Santé et Qualité de Vie," EA 4139, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2012.300711

PMID

22497201

Abstract

Prevention tools are challenged by risky behaviors that follow their adoption. Speed increase following helmet use adoption was analyzed among bicyclists enrolled in a controlled intervention trial. Speed and helmet use were assessed by video (2621 recordings, 587 participants). Speeds were similar among helmeted and nonhelmeted female cyclists (16.5 km/h and 16.1 km/h, respectively) but not among male cyclists (helmeted: 19.2 km/h, nonhelmeted: 16.8 km/h). Risk compensation, observed only among male cyclists, was moderate, thus unlikely to offset helmet preventive efficacy.

Language: en