The police also conducted annual rodeos, and the Children's Hospital had helmet giveaways for their young patients. It was ranked third for the 15 to 49 year old group and fourth and fifth for the 40 to 59 year olds. With statistics like these more and more communities are working to change the numbers around. Fred Rivara and his colleagues in Seattle have reviewed the research done in this area and have summarized many of them in a recent article published in the Annual Review of Public Health. This is what we can learn from the research.
Schools provide a ready made audience and physicians give an air of authority to any program.
However, the research has shown mixed results. Most of the studies on helmet education programs have shown them to be effective at increasing helmet use among children, however, two education program studies showed no effect in low income communities. Legislation In Maryland, adoption of helmet wearing legislation was found to be effective. Compared to neighboring counties that used an educational program or nothing at all local legislation effectively increased helmet use. The other counties saw minimal increases while overall helmet use rates decreased over the entire state.