Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce bicycle injuries among rural middle school students in China. A one-year cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted with seventh grade students from six middle schools in two towns in rural Chaoshan, China. The two towns were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. Road safety education materials, two lectures on road safety, and a series of health education activities were delivered to 1312 students in the intervention group over one year, and the content of the intervention included traffic safety knowledge, methods of preventing bicycle injury and management of bicycle injuries. Questionnaires weere administered to the two groups before and after the intervention to measure the incidence, cognitions, and behaviors related to bicycle injuries. The pre-intervention incidence of bicycle injuries exhibited no significant difference between the two groups, while the difference reached significance after the intervention (χ2 = 13.409, p < 0.001). In the intervention group, the incidence decreased significantly after the intervention (χ2 = 8.137, p = 0.004), while no significant change was observed in the control group. Publicity and education intervention measures have certain short-term effects on the prevention of bicycle injuries among rural middle school students; we should approach intervention measures according to the characteristics of traffic injuries in different areas.
Highlights
Bicycling is a popular means of recreation, exercise, and transportation for children and youth worldwide
There was no significant difference in the incidence of bicycle injuries between the intervention group and the control group, while this difference was significant after the intervention (χ2 = 13.41, p < 0.001)
The bicycle injury incidence decreased significantly after the intervention (χ2 = 8.137, p = 0.004), while no significant change was found in the control group (Table 1)
Summary
Bicycling is a popular means of recreation, exercise, and transportation for children and youth worldwide. There are more than 800 million bicycles in the world, twice the number of motor vehicles [1]. One nationally representative study found that bicyclists had 2.3 times as many as fatalities and 1.8 times as many nonfatal injuries as motor vehicle occupants per 100 million person-trips [2]. For every two million trips, 600 injuries and one crash fatality are estimated to occur [3]. Bicycles are one of the main transportation modes in China’s vast rural areas and are mostly used by students as a means of transportation to school [4]. Of bicycle-related injuries, 20% requiring hospitalization involve motor vehicle collisions, but such collisions represent over 90% of all fatal cycling-related injuries [5]; bicycle riders represent a key group of traffic victims
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