Journal article
Helmet use among cyclists and motorcyclists involved in media-reported road traffic crashes after implementation of the national ‘One Helmet, One Belt’ campaign in China
Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979), Vol.80(1), pp.35-40
01/2026
DOI: 10.1136/jech-2025-224411
PMCID: PMC12703298
PMID: 40947143
Abstract
Background China implemented the ‘One Helmet, One Belt’ road safety campaign in April 2020 to improve helmet use among cyclists and motorcyclists. We evaluated its long-term effect.
Methods We analysed crash data from 379 media sources that reported at least one road traffic crash per quarter between January 2019 and September 2024, as indexed by the Automated Road Traffic Crash Data Platform. The proportion of media-reported crashes involving helmeted motorcyclists and cyclists was compared before and after implementation of the national campaign. We calculated adjusted (aORs) using logistic regression, controlling for season and the COVID-19 pandemic period and fitted Joinpoint regression models to identify periods with significant changes.
Results Among 20 546 media-reported crashes involving motorcyclists and cyclists, the overall proportion of riders wearing helmets increased significantly following the campaign’s implementation (aOR: 2.37; 95% CI: 2.08 to 2.72). However, this increase emerged only in the first 8 months of the campaign (April–December 2020), after which proportions plateaued. Subgroup analyses detected distinct temporal patterns for motorcyclists (an initial increase followed by decline), professional delivery riders (no significant trends) and publicly shared vehicle riders (consistently increasing trends).
Conclusions Our study documents an initial increase followed by stabilisation in proportion of media-reported crashes involving helmeted motorcyclists and cyclists following the national injury prevention campaign. The intervention’s effectiveness varied across rider subgroups. These findings underscore the importance of sustaining and enhancing the national campaign while developing targeted interventions for distinct user groups in China, also suggesting similar initiatives might be effective in other international contexts.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Helmet use among cyclists and motorcyclists involved in media-reported road traffic crashes after implementation of the national ‘One Helmet, One Belt’ campaign in China
- Creators
- Min Zhao - Central South UniversityLei Yang - Central South UniversityPeixia Cheng - Capital Medical UniversityDavid Schwebel - University of Alabama at BirminghamWangxin Xiao - Hunan University of TechnologyShuying Zhao - Central South UniversityYu Wu - Central South UniversityPeishan Ning - Central South UniversityZhenzhen Rao - Central South UniversityLi Li - Central South UniversityGuoqing Hu - Central South University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of epidemiology and community health (1979), Vol.80(1), pp.35-40
- DOI
- 10.1136/jech-2025-224411
- PMID
- 40947143
- PMCID
- PMC12703298
- NLM abbreviation
- J Epidemiol Community Health
- ISSN
- 0143-005X
- eISSN
- 1470-2738
- Publisher
- BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP
- Grant note
- National Natural Science Foundation of China: 82273743, 82073672
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number: 82273743 and 82073672).
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 09/14/2025
- Date published
- 01/2026
- Academic Unit
- Research Administration; Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984963647502771
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