Institute of Transport Economics, Gaustadalleen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway.
Accid Anal Prev. 2013 Jan;50:59-63. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2012.03.027. Epub 2012 Apr 7.
It has been suggested that the safety benefits of bicycle helmets are limited by risk compensation. The current article tests if previous helmet use influences the response to helmets as a safety intervention. This was investigated in a field experiment where pace and psychophysiological load were measured. We found that after having removed their helmets, routine helmet users cycled more slowly and demonstrated increased psychophysiological load. However, for non-users there was no significant change in either cycling behaviour or psychophysiological load. We discuss the implications of these results for a hypothesis of risk compensation in response to helmet use. We also show that heart rate variability is a promising measure of psychophysiological load in real-world cycling, at least in situations where there is limited physical demand.
有人认为，自行车头盔的安全效益受到风险补偿的限制。本文通过一项现场实验来检验之前是否使用过头盔是否会影响人们对头盔这一安全干预措施的反应。在该实验中，我们测量了速度和心理生理负荷。结果发现，常规使用头盔的人在取下头盔后骑车速度更慢，心理生理负荷增加。然而，对于非使用者来说，他们的骑车行为或心理生理负荷都没有显著变化。我们讨论了这些结果对头盔使用风险补偿假设的意义。我们还表明，心率变异性是现实世界中骑车时心理生理负荷的一种很有前途的测量方法，至少在体力需求有限的情况下是如此。
