Citation

Cowling K. Am. J. Public Health 2014; 104(11): e6.

Affiliation

Krycia Cowling is with the Department of Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2014.302166

PMID

25211734

Abstract

Graves et al. examined the association between implementation of a public bicycle share program (PBSP) and the proportion of bicycling-related injuries involving head injury.(1) This is an important question because of the absence of helmet requirements in PBSPs. The authors conclude that the proportion of bike injuries involving head injury increased in cities with PBSPs after program implementation, suggesting this is attributable to an increase in the number of bicyclists not wearing helmets. While a rise in the relative rate of head injuries among bike injuries is concerning, the authors neglect to discuss the important finding in their data that the absolute numbers of head injuries and all injuries declined in cities with PBSPs after program implementation. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print September 11, 2014: e1. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302166).

Language: en