Safer bicycling for 9–12-year-olds with parent support
A cluster randomized trial to improve adolescent bicycling safety
This project compares a bike-safety program with and without in-person parent training to help 9–12-year-olds ride more safely.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Iowa NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Iowa City, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11174394 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you join, your 9–12-year-old and a parent would enroll through local after-school or summer programs and your site would be randomly assigned to one of three groups. All participating bikes get a Pedal Portal GPS/video unit that records routes, hours ridden, and safety-relevant events like near-crashes and crashes. Some sites will offer a community-based bicycle safety class for kids, and some will also include an in-person parent training session to teach how to support safe riding. Researchers will use the on-bike data to compare riding exposure and safety behaviors across the three groups during the study.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are children aged 9–12 who regularly ride a bicycle and a parent or guardian willing to participate, typically recruited from local neighborhood centers or after-school programs.
Not a fit: Children who do not ride bikes, or families unable or unwilling to attend parent training or use the bike-mounted device, may not receive benefit from this program.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could teach safer riding skills and reduce near-crashes and injuries among young bicyclists.
How similar studies have performed: Many bike-safety education programs exist but few have shown clear behavior-change benefits, and combining parent training with on-bike GPS/video monitoring is a relatively new approach.
Where this research is happening
Iowa City, United States
- University of Iowa — Iowa City, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hamann, Cara — University of Iowa
- Study coordinator: Hamann, Cara
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.