About 8,000 cyclists annually seek medical care at Swedish emergency hospitals. Eight out of ten have been injured in single-bicycle accidents. About 30 per cent of these accidents are skid related. Skid resistance is reduced in wintertime by snow and ice and in summer by grit or leaves and debris on wet surfaces. Research into skid resistance for cyclists has been in progress for several years now at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute. For example, various winter maintenance methods and strategies have been evaluated. Friction measurements have been taken on cycle ways, using a Portable Friction Tester. The measurements show great variation in skid resistance, due to winter road conditions, and so winter maintenance methods and strategies play an important role in reducing the number of skid-related bicycle accidents. Paving material is also important, and friction may be reduced by design features such as inlet covers, road markings, and red-painted coat in crossings. In addition to improved winter maintenance, promoting the use of studded tyres for winter cycling could be one way of reducing these accidents. Tyre studies on a specially designed test track have shown that studded tyres could produce a braking friction level 2-3 times higher than that of non-studded tyres. Performance also appears to vary between different studded tyres, depending on brand and number of studs. (Author/publisher)
Abstract