Het is niet bekend of wielrennen op de openbare weg gevaarlijker is dan gewoon fietsen. Slachtoffers onder wielrenners worden namelijk niet als aparte categorie geregistreerd in de ongevallenregistratie BRON. Since racing cyclists are not registered as a separate category in crash registration BRON, it is unknown whether bicycle racing on public roads is more dangerous than ordinary cycling. Nor is information available on the annual distance travelled by this group. The Dutch Injury Surveillance System, based on hospital data, does contain information on crashes during bicycle racing. In 2020, over 10% of the cyclist casualties treated at an A&E department reported to have been bicycle racing at the time of the crash, and this share almost doubled in the last decade (44% [4]).
The same questionnaire survey among A&E-treated cyclist casualties [4] shows that over 40% of the racing cyclists had fallen without crash involvement; they had slipped for instance, or had fallen after a forced evasive manoeuvre. An equal percentage of racing cyclists had crashed with another road user, of whom 15% with another racing cyclist. Over 10% had crashed with an object, for example a bollard (2%) or another obstacle (6%). The racing cyclists participating in the questionnaire said that their own behaviour (36%) or someone else’s behaviour (41%) had played a role in the crash occurrence, with ‘not paying proper attention’ being an important factor.
The Dutch Tour Bike Union (Dutch abbreviation: NTFU) tries to improve the safety of racing cyclists by providing recommendations in the Veiligheidshandboek Wielersport (Cycling Sports Safety Manual) [22].
