Analysis of bicycle crash characteristics and typical scenarios in France: A descriptive epidemiology and clustering approach

Abstract

Bicycle crashes can result in severe injuries and fatalities, emphasizing the importance of identifying typical scenarios and characteristics of these crashes to develop effective prevention and mitigation strategies. This study analyzed datasets of bicycle crashes in France from 2005 to 2021 extracted from the French national road traffic accident database, evaluating bicycle accident characteristics through conventional descriptive epidemiology approaches and using the K-medoids clustering method to identify typical scenarios and their associated characteristics. Among 1,121,571 road traffic accidents in France, 80,851 were bicycle crashes, with a decline between 2005 and 2013 but a steady increase since then, peaking in 2020 at approximately 1.74 times that of 2005. Victims of bicycle crashes were primarily between 11 and 62 years old, with the largest population among 14–33 years old. Male victims were more involved in bicycle crashes than female victims, with the majority of crashes involving a moving vehicle. The majority of bicyclists involved in accidents were found not wearing helmets, and even bicyclists wearing helmets still sustained injuries. Typical bicycle crash scenarios included four bicycle-vehicle head-on-side collisions, one bicycle-obstacle collision, and two bicycle-pedestrian collisions, with bicycle-obstacle collisions often resulting in serious injuries similar to bicycle-vehicle collisions. Pedestrians were more likely to sustain injuries than bicyclists during bicycle-pedestrian collisions, and their injuries were often more severe than those of bicyclists. The study provides insights into the characteristics and typical scenarios of bicycle crashes in France and can be used to develop targeted interventions to improve road safety for cyclists.