Cycling is part of the sustainable transport system and plans are in place to increase this part of the transport system in Sweden, Europe as well as globally. Improving the safety for this group of roadusers is of great importance. The aim of this study was to identify patterns among fatally injured cyclists in Sweden, in order to suggest general safety improvements or improvements addressing different groups of cyclists as well as specific traffic conditions. The information was sourced from the in-depth study database of fatalities as well as the joint register for police and hospital injury and accident data, STRADA, in Sweden. Data was analysed and interpreted for an 11 year period from 2005—2015. The in-depth study of the fatalities provided details about the accidents and individuals involved in the accident and the information was retrieved by parameter values, in free text description and documents in the database. STRADA was used to sort official data within the in-depth study, assigning codes for accident type, complementing parameters and additional parameters. A total of 271 fatalities were identified and analysed where the majority of the accidents occurred during spring—autumn. Male fatalities accounted for two-thirds of the studied cases and in ages above 40, male fatalities are twice as many as female fatalities. Fatalities in Motor vehicle accidents are distributed in all age groups, while in the Single bike and Other bike category, there were no children and only a few young adults reported. The highest amount of fatalities was found to be of accident type Motor vehicle and location type Crossing in urban areas, followed by accident location type Stretch of road in rural areas. The majority of adult and senior fatalities involve males in conflict with cars and males in single bicycle accidents. Other distinct groups include senior males in intersections with conflicting cars and adult females in intersections with conflicting heavy vehicles. Among the fatalities, 82 per cent had received at least one fatal or severe head injury regardless of accident type. Head and neck injuries were more common among fatalities in Motor vehicle accidents in the Car category compared to Heavy vehicle and Single category, while torso injuries were more common in accidents in the Heavy vehicle category followed by accidents in the Car category than Single accidents category. Helmet usage among the fatalities was low, 17 per cent compared with 38 per cent for the whole population. Helmet wearing fatalities were found in the accident type Car and Single in rural areas and in the Heavy vehicle category in urban areas. Being under the influence of alcohol was found to be twice as common among male fatalities as female fatalities. Half of the male fatalities that had occurred during the evening/night were found to be under the influence compared to 10 per cent during daytime. Two general partial accident causes regardless of accident type were alcohol and darkness. Confusion about priority rules in intersections was present in half of the motor vehicle accidents. For accident type Single, high speed and the bicycle coming to a halt unexpectedly were common. The influence of road surface was reported in a few cases. Areas for safety improvements identified based on the results of this study include: visibility both night and day, co-operation among road-users, infrastructure, vehicle improvements and bicycle helmet wearing. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting