Sykkelulykker. Ulykkestyper, Skadekonsekvenser og Risikofaktorer. (Bicycle Accidents. Accident Types, Consequences and Risk Factors.)

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Sykkelulykker. Ulykkestyper, Skadekonsekvenser og Risikofaktorer. (Bicycle Accidents. Accident Types, Consequences and Risk Factors.)

T. Bjornskau / R. Elvik

Most bicycle accidents are not registered in the official Norwegian Road Accident Statistics. In order to map these accidents, questionnaires were administered to two samples of bicyclists; one sample of hospital treated bicyclists and one from a register of bicycle owners (Falck). The number of bicycle injuries has been reduced in recent years. The proportion of bicycle accidents reported to the police has probably risen. Three out of four bicycle accidents involve no other road user. Three out of four suffer personal injury and one out of five injuries gets medical treatment. Single accidents are caused by hard braking and insufficient road grip, collisions are caused by inattention and unpredictable behaviour. Males and youth are more at risk than other groups, the same is also true for bicyclists that break the rules and drive aggressively. Better design of cycle paths and better regulation of bicycling may reduce the accident problem.