Injury Prevention Program

Note: As of July 1, 2012, the Office of Injury Prevention became the Injury Prevention Program. Documents and activities finalized prior to this date will retain "Office of Injury Prevention".

Program Overview

The Bicycle Helmet Program was administered through a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation from 2000–2001 and from 2004–2011. The program utilized community partners to fit and distribute thousands of helmets to children in low income households throughout Florida. Prior to distributing helmets, the community partners received bicycle safety education and training on the correct fit and proper positioning of helmets.

Since the program’s inception at the Department of Health, over 159,100 helmets have been distributed statewide through the Bicycle Helmet Promotion Program. The Children’s Safety Network reports that, on average, a $12 bicycle helmet for ages 3–14 generates $580 in benefits to society (2010). Based on this information, the total benefits since the program’s inception exceeds $92,300,600. In addition, from 2003–2010, the hospitalization rate for non-fatal traumatic brain injuries sustained in a bicycle crash was reduced by 39% among Florida residents ages 5–14 years old. Over 700 individuals statewide have been trained to properly fit helmets because of the program.

“Since the program’s inception at the Department of Health, over 159,100 helmets have been distributed statewide through the Bicycle Helmet Promotion Program… [For a] total benefits to society of over $92,300,600.”

(Based on a Children’s Safety Network Report)

At the end of 2011, the Florida Bicycle Helmet Promotion Program was moved to the University of Florida (UF), Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety Resource Center, and is no longer administered by the Injury Prevention Program.

Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this program by phone or in writing.

For more information, please contact the Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety Resource Center.

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Becoming a Community Partner

Under Florida law, e-mail addresses are public records. If you do not want your e-mail address released in response to a public records request, do not send electronic mail to this entity. Instead, contact this program by phone or in writing.

Any questions regarding the program, including how to become a community partner, should be addressed to the Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety Resource Center.

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Bicycle Helmet Data

In 2009, Florida reported more pedalcyclist (including unicyclist, bicyclist, tricyclist, etc.) fatalities for all ages than any other state (2009 National Highway Traffic Safety Association, Traffic Safety Facts). Bicycles are linked to more childhood injuries than any other consumer product except the automobile. More than 70 percent of children, ages 5–14, (27.7 million) ride bicycles (National Safe Kids Campaign Fact Sheet 2007). In 2009, 7,282 children, ages 5–14, were killed or injured and treated in a hospital, due to bicycle-related crashes in Florida (Department of Health, Vital Statistics and Agency for Health Care Administration, Hospital Discharge Data).

Head injuries are the leading cause of death and hospitalization in bicycle crashes and are the most important determinant of bicycle-related death and permanent disability. From 2005–2009, traumatic brain injuries accounted for 60% of bicycle-related injury deaths and 27% of bicycle-related injury hospitalizations among children ages 5–14 in Florida (Department of Health, Vital Statistics and Agency for Health Care Administration, Hospital Discharge Data).

The single most effective safety device available to reduce head injury and death from bicycle crashes is a helmet. Helmet use reduces the risk of bicycle-related death and injury, and the severity of head injury when a crash occurs. Riding without a bicycle helmet significantly increases the risk of sustaining a head injury in the event of a crash. Non-helmeted riders are 14 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than helmeted riders.

For additional data, please see the Data Page.

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Bicycle Helmet Resources

• Bicycle Helmet Safety Fact Sheet (2010) – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
• Bicycle Helmets Save Medical Costs for Children – Children’s Safety Network
• Bicycling and Walking in the United States Benchmarking Reports – Alliance for Biking and Walking
• Demonstrating Bicycle Helmet Effectiveness: A How-to Guide – NHTSA
• Florida Traffic Safety Facts (2010) – Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
• Focus on Bicycle Safety Resource Guide (2012) – Children’s Safety Network
• Getting a Fair Share for Safety, Bicycle and Pedestrian Advocacy Case Studies – Created by Advocacy Advance, a partnership of the League of American Bicyclists and the Alliance for Biking and Walking
• Injury Control Recommendations: Bicycle Helmets – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Injury Prevention: What Works? (2010) – Children’s Safety Network and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation
• National Strategies for Advancing Bicycle Safety – A collaboration between: NHTSA, the US Department of Transportation, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, and the CDC
• Promoting Bicycle Safety for Children: Strategies and Tools for Community Programs (2011) – Children’s Safety Network

For additional bicycle helmet links, please see the Links page.

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