Bicycle road crashes during the fourteenth and fifteenth years of life

Abstract

From a sample of 848 teenagers 57 individuals reported a total of 62 bicycle road crashes, 40 (65%) of which involved injury to a cyclist. Thirty (48%) of the crashes occurred when the cyclist lost control of the bicycle (73% of which involved injury) and 17 crashes (27%) involved a moving motor vehicle (41% of which involved injury). The majority of the injuries were not serious and of those with multiple injuries no one had an injury severity score greater than five. The body area most frequently injured was the extremities (74%), with the remainder primarily head injuries. Environmental conditions were not a major contributing factor in these crashes. In only five cases the cyclist was wearing a safety helmet. Recommended measures to prevent, or minimise, bicycle related injuries include the wearing of safety helmets, bicycle maintenance checks, and road safety awareness instruction.