This is stated by SafetyNL, knowledge center for injury prevention, based on admissions to the emergency room in our country. “A worrying development, especially if you know that the ambition of the various governments is to strive for zero road casualties by 2050,” says director/administrator Martijntje Bakker.
“This ambition is really getting out of sight, because a total of 110,000 traffic victims entered the emergency department in 2021. So something really needs to be done,” says Bakker, who is particularly concerned about the nearly fifty thousand bicycle victims who visited the A&E department in 2021 with serious injuries. “More than two thirds of them had a fracture and one in four had a brain injury. Then you are talking about more than eleven thousand bicycle victims with brain injuries in a year, more than half of whom were 55 years or older.”
Electric bikes
Prevention is essential to turn the tide, especially since many accidents happen with an e-bike. Bakker: ,,Electric bicycles are becoming more and more normal in traffic, for young and old. It seems that people on an electric bicycle have an increased risk of an accident. In-depth research will have to show how much greater this increased risk is and identify the underlying causes.”
“It is important to properly inform cyclists about this and also to practice well,” continues Bakker, “before you participate in traffic because it requires different driving behaviour. Because it is also striking that many accidents are one-sided, i.e. without the involvement of other road users.”
Angelique (37): ‘I was lucky’
37-year-old Angelique Wammes from Amersfoort knows that a fall can change your life in one fell swoop. In 2015, she suffered a concussion when she fell from her bicycle. ,,I have no idea how that came about, but I do know that I was lucky enough to wear a helmet. After a 90 percent recovery, I then became unwell on the bike in July 2019 and fell again. I lost consciousness and lost five hours of that day in my memory.”
Angelique Wammes and first her partner Esther Bouman.
Own picture
,,I thought it would pass and after the summer holidays I can just teach as a chemistry teacher again. But the recovery did not come and I am now virtually incapacitated for work. ,,I now work four to six hours in a bicycle shop. I hope to extend that to eight hours, but then it really stops. I’m physically fit as hell, but cognitively I can’t handle it when there are too many stimuli. Going to the cinema is no longer possible, eating out is only possible when it is quiet and the table is in a corner of the restaurant. Cycling alone is also not possible, because I can no longer ‘read’ the traffic. Can’t assess situations well and sometimes doesn’t know where I am. Fortunately, I bought a tandem with my partner Esther, so that we can still take an active break together.”