The effectiveness of a bicycle safety program for improving safety-related knowledge and behavior in young elementary students.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the "Bike Smart" program, an eHealth software program that teaches bicycle safety behaviors to young children. METHODS Participants were 206 elementary students in grades kindergarten to 3. A random control design was employed to evaluate the program, with students assigned to either the treatment condition (Bike Smart) or the control condition (a video on childhood safety). Outcome measures included computer-based knowledge items (safety rules, helmet placement, hazard discrimination) and a behavioral measure of helmet placement. RESULTS Results demonstrated that regardless of gender, cohort, and grade the participants in the treatment group showed greater gains than control participants in both the computer-presented knowledge items (p > .01) and the observational helmet measure (p > .05). CONCLUSIONS Findings suggest that the Bike Smart program can be a low cost, effective component of safety training packages that include both skills-based and experiential training.