From 1980 to 1989 43 victims of fatal bicycle accidents were submitted to the Düsseldorf University Institute of Forensic Medicine for autopsy. The material comprised 27 males and 16 females. The ages ranged from 4 through 84 years for the males and 4 through 77 years for the females. The median age was 45 years. The most striking fact was the relatively high proportion of children and adolescents: 26% up to 20 years of age. Furthermore older people (older than 60 years) accounted for another 28% of the material. 14 accidents took place without involvement of another traffic participant, in 15 accidents a car was involved, in 7 cases a lorry, in 3 cases another bicycle, once a tram, a bus, a motorcycle and a pedestrian. 13 victims suddenly lost control of their bicycle and fell down. In 11 cases the bicyclists were struck by a motor vehicle when turning into a new road. In 10 instances they were struck by a vehicle when crossing a road. In 3 cases a collision with another bicycle occurred. In 21 cases death was attributed to severe head injury, once to a fracture of the cervical spine, and in 5 cases to thoracic or abdominal injury. In 11 instances autopsy disclosed severe polytrauma. 5 victims survived for several weeks, and death occurred due to typical complications like pneumonia or pulmonary embolism. As injury to head and brain accounts for about half of the fatal outcomes, it should be considered if helmets for bicyclists could reduce lethal bicycle accidents.
Samenvatting