Exploring young individuals’ intentions to use helmets of shared e-Bike in China

Electric micromobility has received worldwide attention, and governments are encouraging it as a sustainable mode of transportation. Nevertheless, traffic injuries and deaths involving electric micromobility modes are continually rising. Moreover, electric micromobility, compared to conventional micromobility, has a higher speed, contributing to a significant increase in injury severity. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), correct helmet use can reduce the risks of fatal and head injuries by 42 % and 69 %, respectively. This paper aims to identify the socio-demographic and psychological factors affecting the helmet usage of shared e-bike riders. Overall 461 valid responses were collected from China. To understand the relationship of the intentions to use a helmet while riding e-bikes with the factors including helmet usage frequency, law enforcement, fines, riding coupon, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, inconvenience, law, and perceived safety, correlation analysis is performed, and a random-parameter probit model is developed. Results indicate that age, the city's region, level of development, perceived safety, and perceived behavioral control significantly contribute to intentions to wear a helmet while riding a shared e-bike. The findings will be helpful in developing policies for a way forward to achieve the UN sustainable development goals and global road safety initiatives.