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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The police currently collect statistics (
STATS19) on the number of cycle
accidents and casualties on Scottish roads. This is
confined to on-road accidents and excludes off road
accidents or those accidents that the police do not
attend.
The Scottish Executive Development Department
commissioned research to explore the extent, the severity
and the circumstances of all accidents in which pedal
cyclists are injured.
Cycling casualties who reported to 5 Accident and
Emergency departments across Lothian and Borders Health
Board were asked to complete a questionnaire relating to
their accident. In total completed forms were received from
806 casualties aged 5 or over who had been injured as a
result of pedal cycle accident between 1
st September 2003 and 31
st August 2004. This data was compared with the
STATS 19 data for the same area.
Main Findings:
- More males than females are injured in cycling
accidents by a ratio of 3:1 and this increases to 4:1
in adulthood.
- Cycle accidents are more common in childhood.
Fifty-four per cent of all accidents involved under 16
year olds with older children (aged 12-16 year old)
being the most at risk.
- Cycling accidents peak in the summer when there is
greater scope for leisure cycling. The 6 months between
April and September account for over 70% of all
accidents and nearly 80% of all child casualties.
- The accident rate increases at the weekend
coinciding with greater opportunity for leisure
cycling.
- The peak time of day for accidents is late
afternoon or early evening.
- A third of all cycling casualties indicated that
they had their accident on the road.
- Thirteen per cent of cycling accidents occurred on
the main road. Adults were much more likely than
children to have a cycling accident on the main
road.
- There were large numbers of accidents on the
pavement (29%). Forty three per cent of child accidents
are sustained on the pavement.
- The greatest proportion of accidents (41%) occurred
off-road and are not therefore captured by
STATS19.
- A high proportion of off road accidents happened on
cycle tracks, forest tracks or mountain bike trails
(57%). Adults were more likely to have off-road
accidents.
- The majority of accidents (72%) from the hospital
based sample involved no other vehicles. This contrasts
markedly with the police recorded statistics where 96%
of accidents involved other vehicles.
- Adult cycling casualties were much more likely to
be involved with a car than children. This is
associated with a greater likelihood of cycling on main
roads.
- Overall, less than half the casualties (39%) had
been wearing a helmet.
- Adults were significantly more likely than children
to be wearing a helmet (57% compared to 24%).
- Helmet wearing declines as children get older but
rises again after the age of 16.
- Correlating with age, helmet wearing was lowest for
those whose accident happened on the pavement (21%) and
higher for those whose accident occurred on a main road
(43%).
- Helmet wearing was highest of all (55%) for
off-road cyclists.
- Those who were wearing a helmet were less likely to
have an injury to their head or neck (7% compared to
14%) and this difference was more distinct for
children.
- Accidents were caused by a very wide range of
circumstances and no single cause stood out within the
hospital sample. Only 7% of hospital respondents
attributed the cause to a motorised vehicle.
- Thirty-four per cent of casualties were discharged
on the same day without any need for follow up and only
4% of casualties were admitted. Twenty seven per cent
required some follow up. There was no information on
outcome for 35% of the sample. Children were more
likely to be admitted than adults.
- There was little difference in outcome depending on
whether the accident took place on or off road.
- Most common injuries were to upper limbs (38%)
followed by lower limbs (20%). Injuries to the head or
neck were sustained by 11% of total casualties.
- There are a large number of casualties who report
to the hospital with an injury serious enough for
medical attention who do not appear in
STATS19.
- STATS19 describes a narrow range of
causes with the involvement of a motorised vehicle
being the predominant factor.
- STATS19 is much less likely to
record accidents sustained by children and more likely
to record those sustained by adults.
- It may be concluded that the
STATS19 database underreports the
full extent of on road cycling casualties in
Scotland.
- Consideration should be given to alternative means
of collecting accident data relating to cycling
accidents to improve coverage of on road reporting and
extend coverage to include off road.
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