Cycling is a popular but unsafe mode of transport in the Netherlands and the number of seriously injured bicyclists has increased significantly since 2006. A special subgroup is the population of sport cyclists who perform their sport on public roads. The number of road crashes with sport cyclists shows an increasing trend. The authors propose two factors which might contribute to this trend. First, bunch riding among sport cyclists, and second the inflow of cyclists with low experience. No evidence is available related to sports cycling in particular. A questionnaire was developed in cooperation with the Dutch Tour Cycling Union (NTFU). The questionnaire aimed to observe involvement in crashes and possible contributing factors (e.g.: bunch riding, experience, distance travelled). The questionnaire was sent to 2625 members, with a response rate of 28% (N=744, male respondents). Two groups were researched: a group (N=313) with cyclists known to have experienced at least one public road crash in the recent past, and a reference group with no such crash involvement (N=431). Binary logistic regression analysis shows that bunch riding and experience contribute significantly to sport cyclist crash involvement. Experience had an effect regardless of age. This is in line with previous research among cyclists in general. Annual distance travelled had no effect on crash involvement. This means that cyclists who travel a longer annual distance have a lower risk (crashes per km). Further analysis indicated an effect of experience, where more experienced cyclists also travelled further on an annual basis. Bunch riding and relatively few years of sport cycling experience independently contribute to an increase in crash involvement. The authors recommend that the efficacy of bunch riding training interventions is evaluated, with the goal of promoting safety among inexperienced bunch riding sport cyclists. (Author/publisher)
Abstract