Wellfie Wednesday Tip #103: Bike Sharing & Helmet Safety

Happy Wellfie Wednesday! Welcome back! This week is brought to you by Diana (@DianaKlatt). 

     Bicycle sharing has taken the world by storm.  They’re everywhere, quite literally every major city across the US and even abroad. Though if you look at the news of how people dock the bicycles in Australia…you may reconsider pushing for one in your hometown (from a population stand-point). Make sure to watch the satirical Facebook video within that link. But are they really increasing health? Well, yes and no.

     Yes, the implementation of bicycle sharing has made it so more people are using this method of transportation and is making a positive impact on their physical fitness as well as environmental health.  The benefits have improved public health immensely. However, there is something that is missing in most rental/sharing systems – H E L M E T S. Very few in fact provide helmets during a rental. 

     Studies indicate that the prevalence of use of helmets in bike sharing users is low, which isn’t surprising when you look around and see that none of these bike share systems offer helmets.  But why? Well first of all it would be quite gross to share helmets with so many people… but that shouldn't stop YOU, as a consumer, to bring your own helmet!  The cost of sustaining a head injury (ie TBI) costs twice as much amongst those that do not wear a helmet versus those that do wear helmets.

     It’s completely up to you as to whether or not you wear a helmet (or your local law), but think about how easy it is to fall or collide with another person when you’re zig-zagging around a city.  A helmet could be the difference between some minor scratches and a major injury. 

     Be safe out there! And Thanks again for all of the #WellfieWednesday support, be sure to post your pictures this week and tag the WW crew members in your post (@TheFuelPhysio, @Eric_in_AmERICa, @AaronPerezPT, @DianaKlatt) and keep the wave of healthy change going!

- WW Crew

Resources:

Costa CK, Dagher JH, Lamoureux J, de Guise E, Feyz M. (2015). Societal cost of traumatic brain injury: A comparison of cost-of-injuries related to biking with and without helmet use. Brain Injury. 29(7-8):843-7. doi: 10.3109/02699052.2015.1004758.

Zanotto M, Winters ML. (2017). Helmet Use Among Personal Bicycle Riders and Bike Share Users in Vancouver, BC. American Journal of Preventative Medicine. 53(4):465-472. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2017.04.013

Fischer, CM. (2012). Prevalence of Bicycle Helmet Use by Users of Public Bikeshare Programs. Annals of Emergency medicine. doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2012.03.018.

Graves JM. (2014). Public Bicycle Share Programs and Head Injuries. American Journal of Public Health. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302012