Although bicycle, pedestrian, and wheeled sports collisions are one of the leading causes of death and severe injury in children, there are currently no empirically-based, easily implemented prevention programs targeting comprehensive bicycle, pedestrian, and wheeled sports safety skills for children grades 4-8. Data from this age group indicate that multi-component interventions targeting peers, school staff, child, and family are optimal to effectively change the safety behaviors of older children. This project will develop an interactive multimedia program to enhance bicycle, pedestrian, and wheeled sports safety skills for children in grades 4-8, for use in both school and home settings. The Phase I prototype covered 2 of the critical safety skills required for safe navigation on foot and by bike in the community: (a) understanding complex traffic patterns, and (b) appropriate helmet use. In Phase II programs for additional targeted groups (parents, and school staff) will be developed, and the interactive safety program will be expanded to include: (a) a comprehensive set of safety skills (e.g., maintaining bike equipment, group riding, and crash avoidance) across urban, suburban, and rural environments;(b) school-wide implementation guidelines;(c) classroom activities;and (d) expansion materials for parents. The critical features of this project are the utilization of interactive media for tailoring the instructional presentation to the individual user, the incorporation of instructional design features that have been shown to achieve maximum learning, the application of safety skills in video-based examples of real-life traffic situations, and age-matched video modeling. The program will be grounded in behavior change theory and will incorporate computer-based assessment with remediation to ensure content mastery. Phase II of the project will evaluate the efficacy of this comprehensive school-wide program in a large-scale clinical trial with 40 middle schools.
Bicycle, pedestrian, and wheeled sports crashes are a leading cause of unintentional childhood injury in the United States. Preteens and early adolescents are particularly vulnerable to this public health problem. This program has the potential to reduce injuries in this population by increasing the practice of safe walking and biking behaviors.