Abstract
As both a utility mode of transport and recreational activity, cycling has well-known health, environmental, and economic benefits. For these reasons it has been encouraged in many countries, including the Republic of Ireland. However, with increasing popularity there have been concurrent increases in road traffic related cyclist injuries. This study aims to characterise cyclist collisions, which are known to be underreported in Police statistics.For data collection, a survey addressing collisions was distributed to cyclists across the country in 2018. Univariable testing was used to identify differences in collision factors and injury outcomes for cyclist collisions with motorised vehicles, and those where a motorised vehicle is not involved as a collision partner i.e. single cyclist, cyclist-pedestrian, or cyclist-cyclist collisions. Furthermore, binary logistic regression modelling was used to clarify biasing factors for Police reporting of collisions.The largest proportion of collisions was between cyclists and motorised vehicles (56%), followed by single cyclist collisions (29%), collisions with other cyclists (8%), and pedestrians (7%). The odds of Police reporting for collisions with motorised vehicles in this study was 20 times greater than single cyclist collisions, 10 times greater than cyclist-cyclist collisions, and 4 times greater than collisions with pedestrians. The odds of Police reporting of serious injury collisions was 7 times greater than minor injury collisions. There were several differences in road, environmental, and human factors, and injury patterns between cyclist-motorised vehicle collisions and non-motorised vehicle collisions.The findings of this study indicate that greater attention should be paid to the following underreported collision types: 1) those that do not involve collisions with motorised vehicles (single cyclist collisions in particular), which have been shown to have differing collision characteristics to motorised vehicle collisions, and 2) less severe injuries, which have been shown to be a substantial contributor to the cyclist safety problem. Furthermore, surveys have been shown to be a valuable mechanism for investigation of lower severity cyclist injuries, which are largely unrecorded in Police or hospital data.
Highlights
The findings of this study indicate that greater attention should be paid to the following underreported collision types: 1) those that do not involve collisions with motorised vehicles, which have been shown to have differing collision characteristics to motorised vehicle collisions, and 2) less severe injuries, which have been shown to be a substantial contributor to the cyclist safety problem
Of the 1,030 collisions for which the collision partner was specified, the largest proportion of collisions was between cyclists and motorised vehicles (MVC) (55.9%), followed by single cyclist collisions (SCC) (29.0%), collisions with other cyclists (CCC) (7.9%) and pedestrians
The majority (78%) of collisions reported to the survey occurred in county Dublin, compared to 61% in Police statistics, though our findings indicate that collisions in county Dublin have lower odds of being reported to the Police
Summary
Popularity of cycling in the Republic of Ireland. Pre-1960s Dublin (the capital city of the Republic of Ireland) was anecdotally described as having the 3rd highest bicycle usage of European cities, after Amsterdam and Copenhagen (Hanna, 2015). More recently it was estimated via survey that 12% of Europeans cycle every day, with substantial variability between countries; from 1% in Malta to 43% in the Netherlands (European Commission, 2013). In the Republic of Ireland (hereinafter Ireland) only 5% of respondents stated that they cycle every day, ranking 22nd overall (ibid.). The popu larity of cycling has increased in recent years, though it is not likely that the target has been reached, as there had been only a modest increase up to 3% in 2016 (Central Statistics Office, 2016)
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