THE DETERMINANTS OF BICYCLE HELMET USE: EVIDENCE FROM GERMANY

摘要

Previous research has shown that the risks of serious injury or death from bicycling can bemitigated by the decision to wear a helmet. Drawing on a nationwide household surveyconducted in 2008 in Germany, this analysis investigates the determinants of voluntary helmetuse through a combination of descriptive analyses and econometric methods, the latter relyingon variants of the probit- and heteroskedastic probit model. Confirming results uncoveredelsewhere in the literature, we find that household demographics, residential location, andriding patterns are significant correlates of helmet use. Contrasting with other studies,however, we also find that women are significantly less likely to use a helmet than men, adiscrepancy that holds over most of the adult life-cycle. The paper concludes by highlightingthe scope for designing strategic information campaigns to promote helmet use.