Cycling Accident Stats

Pross

Just been looking at the latest road casualty figures for work (2008 data) and had a quick nose a some cycling specific figures.

In 2008 there were 115 cyclists killed, 2,450 serious injuries an 13,732 slight injuries (serious is classed as any accident requiring an overnight stay in hospital plus some that don't such as fractures or concussion).

1,903 reported accidents involving cyclists had vehicles passing too close as a recorded factor, 458 that the cyclist was wearing dark clothing (4%) and 1,128 instances of the cyclist entering the road from the pavement (9%). 37% of ALL recorded road accidents had failed to look as a factor - I couldn't find any data on how many cyclist accidents fell into this category but I suspect most of those not covered above! These all rely on the attending police officer logging a factor and some factors are more obvious than others.

Cyclist fatality rates were 0.2 per 100,000 population, serious injuries were 4.3 per 100,000 and slight were 27 per 100,000. These are fairly meaningless figures as they relate to a percentage of the population as a whole rather than those who cycle regularly though.

mididoctors

how many cycle couriers were killed in London between 1986 and 1995.....?

anybody?

bice

I imagine the deaths are quite accurate, as any death requires quite a bit of documentation. The injuries are likely to be approximate, given the nature of stats compilation and the fact that many cyclists would not necessarily report their injury as cycle related. Or have it accurately reported if they do.

Pross

Death is classed as anyone dying within 30 days of the accident (so could, presumably, cover someone having a heart attack as a delayed result of the shock?). They are compiled from reported road traffic accidents rather than A&E reports so any reported accident involving a cyclist would go down as a cycling stat. Damage only accidents don't get included in these figures.

Ollieda

It's a shame there isn't a more accurate way of making records for cycling....short of asking everyone to be honest and note any accidents! It's interesting you say they don't have A&E reports in there, there must be a few cases where accidents aren't reported - I only reported mine in the end because my girlfriend kept having a go at me about it!

Would be interesting to see the difference in types of cyclists in these figures, as a "cyclist" can vary from a road cyclist out training to an old lady riding to the shops and even the kids messing around on their bmx.

Pross

My initial reason for looking was to try to determine the roads and junctions where cyclists are most at risk. The latest report shows accidents by road class and region but doesn't cover junctions. I know from courses that roundabouts are the worst problem but I was hoping to get more detailed information.

andrew_s

Cycling accidents are frequently (or even usually) not recorded as accidents if there was no other vehicle involved - eg came off due to a pothole or oil or debris on the carriageway.
This is the case even if an ambulance came out to cart the cyclist off to hospital. The three I'm aware of locally were concussion, broken collarbone, and broken neck.

Mettan

Pross wrote:

My initial reason for looking was to try to determine the roads and junctions where cyclists are most at risk.

I'd like to know that aswell.

Pross

I do quite a bit of road safety stuff with my job and always get quoted that cyclists are particularly vulnerable at roundabouts. I'll check the figues with my friendly expert!