A few weeks ago, bicycle repairer Yildun Dolné with his speed pedelec hit at a roundabout by a motorist who had “totally” overlooked him. It was traveling about 20 miles per hour when it was “launched full.” He didn’t have a scratch on it. “I have rolled over. I did well.” His speed pedelec can no longer be saved, he says during his work at bicycle shop Fietsen Breda. “It’s crooked.”
It is not known how many cyclists have a traffic accident every day. But it is clear that there are many. And also that there are more and more. The number of traffic victims requiring emergency treatment as a result of a traffic accident with serious injuries has risen by 18 percent in ten years, mainly due to an increase in the number of bicycle accidents. That increased by 29 percent in the 2012-2021 period.
“The number of serious injuries from cycling and mountain biking is increasing even faster,” says SafetyNL, knowledge center for injury prevention, which will publish a report on this on Tuesday.
In bicycle accidents with serious injuries, often no other party is involved
Last year, 110,000 traffic victims were treated in emergency rooms, 66,600 of them with serious injuries. Two thirds of them were cyclists, in many cases 55 years or older. The simplest explanation for the increase is that more and more people have started cycling in ten years, including during the two years of lockdowns.
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Accidents with serious injuries often do not involve a counterparty; among cyclists aged 55 and older, the number of single bicycle crashes even rose by 42 percent in ten years. In about half of the cases, accidents are caused by a steering error or by not paying attention, the victims explain.
Electric bike
The researchers cannot explain exactly how this is possible. “It seems that people on an electric bicycle have an increased risk of an accident. These bicycles are heavier and less manoeuvrable than regular bicycles,” says Martijntje Bakker, director/director of SafetyNL. “In-depth research will have to show how much greater that increased risk is and what causes it.”
Electric bicycles not only cause difficulties for the elderly, but also for young people; for example, the number of victims with serious injuries among young people aged twelve to seventeen who rode an electric bicycle rose from 4 percent in 2016 to 22 percent last year.
Bicycle dealers emphasize another obvious risk of electric bicycles: speed. “The average cyclist reaches a speed of fifteen to seventeen kilometers per hour, with an electric bicycle it is at least twenty-five. Not everyone can handle that,” says Aad Witteberg, branch manager of Van Speijk Tweewielers in Breda. There is more cycling, he notes. “We sell a lot more bicycles than we used to. As a result, you also get more accidents.”
Another cause of falls: increasingly powerful braking. “When you brake, you come to a sudden stop. If you’re not used to that, you’ll fall. Older people in particular get stuck on the frame.”
Bicycle repairer Yildun Dolné also points out that the speed of electric bicycles poses a risk. “People don’t realize how fast they are going. And the elderly have a somewhat slower reaction speed.” He sees another cause: increased congestion on the bicycle path, which, to his indignation, is often incorrectly used in two directions. “With all that crowds, it is difficult to estimate who is coming from where and at what speed.”
wearing a helmet
In their report, the researchers from SafetyNL insist on measures. One is to promote the wearing of bicycle helmets. Martijntje Bakker: “The risk of brain injury in an accident decreases considerably by wearing a helmet. But it happens too little. I regularly ride a racing bike through the dunes with a helmet on. I am sometimes passed by electric cyclists without helmets. That surprises me. There are so many people in the Netherlands who ride a bicycle that most do not realize how vulnerable they are.”
Also read: When her mother had an accident, Myrthe Boss thought: what if she had worn a bicycle helmet?
Bicycle repairer Yildun Dolné was wearing a helmet during his accident. More people should do that. “It starts with children. You’re not cool at school if you wear a helmet. That’s too bad.”
Last year neurologist-somnologist Myrthe Boss, who lost her mother after a bicycle accident, started the organization ‘Doctors for Safe Cycling’. She is especially committed to wearing a helmet, including during the first ‘national day of the bicycle helmet’, next week.
Myrthe Boss: “A helmet is a simple intervention that substantially reduces the risk of brain injury. People should think that’s normal. We advocate the promotion of bicycle helmets. So that it is considered deviant not to wear a helmet.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of April 12, 2022