Objective  To examine the awareness of and responding to a nationwide road traffic safety campaign named “One Helmet, One Seatbelt” among motor vihicle riders/passengers in China.

  Methods  An online questionnaire survey was conducted among e-bike or motorcycle riders/passengers and automobile drivers/passengers recruited with snowball sampling in 18 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, and 3 municipalities across China between July and August 2021 – one year after the initiation of the program. We analyzed the awareness of the campaign and the increase of helmet-wearing and seatbelt usage after the campaign among the participants.

  Results  Eligible responses were collected from a total of 564 participants including 314 (55.68% of the participants) e-bike/motorcycle riders, 17 (3.01%) e-bike/motorcycle passengers, 137 (24.29%) automobile drivers, and 96 (17.02%) automobile passengers. Of the 451 e-bike/motorcycle riders and automobile drivers, 91.13% (411) reported the awareness of the road traffic safety campaign and there was no significant difference in the awareness rate between the e-bike/motorcycle riders and automobile drivers (92.04% vs. 89.05%, χ² = 1.053; P > 0.05). Among the 331 e-bike/motorcycle riders/passengers, 245 (74.02%) reported increased helmet-wearing after the implementation of the campaign and significantly more e-bike/motorcycle riders reporting increased helmet-wearing compared to e-bike/motorcycle passengers (76.11% vs. 35.29%, χ² = 13.973; P < 0.001). Of the automobile drivers/passengers, 43.78% reported increased seatbelt usage after the campaign and the proportion of reporting increased seatbelt usage was not significantly different between the drivers and the passengers (43.07% vs. 44.79%, χ² = 0.068; P > 0.05).

  Conclusion  The awareness rate of the nationwide “One Helmet, One Seatbelt” road traffic safety campaign was high among e-bike/motorcycle riders and automobile drivers; meanwhile, helmet-wearing increased in e-bike/motorcycle riders/passengers and seatbelt usage increased in automobile drivers/passengers one year after the initiation of the campaign.