Fietsongevallen.

Every year some 250 cyclist die as the result of an injury. In addition, some 7,200 cyclist are admitted to hospital annually following an injury, while about 64,000 cyclist are treated annually at a hospital Accident & Emergency Department (A&E department) after an injury. Analysis of data on injuries sustained in bicycle accidents reveals two groups that require extra attention. These are children under 15 and people who are 55 or over. The incidence of bicycle injuries requiring treatment at an A&E department is much higher in the under- fifteen than in other age groups. The incidence of bicycle injuries that result in death or admission to hospital is considerably higher in the group of over-54s. Almost 60% of those who die from bicycle injuries fall in this latter category. Every year, some 23,000 children under the age of 15 are treated at an A&E department following a bicycle accident. Twenty percent of these children receive head injuries. In addition, more than 1,400 children are admitted to hospital; over half of these have head injuries. Each year 35 children die of bicycle injuries; in probably the majority of cases of head injuries. These are thus compelling reasons for paying special attention to reducing head injuries sustained by young children in bicycle accidents. Senior citizens are also a risk group, when one considers the scale and gravity of the problem of bicycle injuries. On the other hand, regular cycling is beneficial for the health of this group and makes them more mobile. The safety of older cyclist therefore deserves attention. If risk of bicycle accidents is reduced for senior citizens, it will be possible for them to continue as cyclist and traffic participants in as safe manner as possible. Between 1992 and 1996, the average number of one-person bicycle accidents ( accidents in which no other traffic participant was involved) leading to treatment at an A&E department rose by 26 %. Account was taken, in this calculation, of the change in population makeup. the number of hospital admissions between 1992 and 1996 rose significantly, by 10%. Three out of every ten patients treated at an A&E department have been bruised in a bicycle accident. One quarter of those treated at an A&E department have received a fracture or an open wound. In the case of hospital as missions, almost 60% of the patients have fractures, mainly of arms or legs. Facial injuries are the most common type of injury among people who are treated at an A&E department following a bicycle accident. in the case of people admitted to hospital following a bicycle accident, conclusion is the most common injury. Cycle helmets are effective in preventing serious head injury, such as concussion and skull fracture. If cycle helmets were worn, head injuries could be reduced by 45 to 80%. As yet, though, few people in the Netherlands wear cycle helmets. A step by step approach should therefore be adopted, with efforts to promote the use of cycle helmets focusing first on young children. Public information can refer to the use of cycle helmets as one of the ways of reducing bicycle injuries. When designing cycle helmets, efforts must be made to make these visually attractive to children, since that will make them more inclined to wear them. Helmets could perhaps also be modified to provide better protection against facial injury. As regards external factors that emerged from the survey, injuries could be further reduced by improving road surfacing and removing posts from cycle tracks, as well as redesigning kerbs and the verges of cycle tracks and roads. An integral and local approach involving neighbourhood residents moreover seems a good way of introducing changes in the immediate traffic environment. Training older people to become aware of the possibilities and limitations of their use of bicycle accidents is another important way of reducing accidents. Preventing bicycle accidents among this age group van also be achieved by training other traffic participants to exercise care. young people on bicycles and motor scooters, for instance, sometimes take no account of older traffic participants, causing the latter to fall. It is thus advisable to make other traffic participants more aware of the vulnerability of older cyclist. Many European cities, including those participating in the PRIVILEGE project, face high levels of traffic congestion during some periods of the day. Trends of increasing car ownership and, in some cases, declining public transport services mean that the problem is likely to worsen. Increasing traffic congestion gives rise to significant disbenefits to car and bus occupants through increased journey time and to pedestrians and residents through increased pollution levels. In addition, congestion has commercial implications for the urban economy because the city centre is a less attractive place for visitors and commercial road traffic suffers the costs of increased delays. One solution to mitigate the effects of congestion on road users is to increase available road space by building more roads. However, there are three reasons for not pursuing this solution; firstly the scarcity of space in many cities means that further road provision is not practical; secondly there is evidence that such roads in an environment of rising car ownership generate traffic with the consequence that congestion remains a problem; and thirdly this course of action is unlikely to improve the environment. If increase in road capacity is rejected as a general solution to urban congestion then policies which make best use of the existing road network must be considered. In this context, measures to improve public transport and restrain private vehicular traffic are of special relevance. When applying traffic restraint policies the position of essential user groups must be considered and ways of mitigating the effects of restraint devised. The central aim of privilege was to contribute to the solution of traffic problems of congested areas, and in particular of congested urban areas. The particular aim of the study was to establish a catalogue of measures that: improve utilisation of the existing transport structure including the optimisation of car use; encourage a modal shift from private to public transport; increase traffic and pedestrian safety; reduce the negative environmental effects of motor traffic; ensure the viability of urban economy by reducing extra costs for commercial traffic. Contribute to integrated urban traffic control and information concepts. As the above improvements shall be achieved without increasing roast capacity, but instead by making use of the existing road network, it is obvious that regulations have to be considered which result in restrictions in the general road use. Thus, it is an essential political issue. The first four of the following chapters of this report summarise some of the findings of earlier project deliverables, while the subsequent chapters discuss results of the last stage of the project which have not been reported yet elsewhere. The first task within PRIVILEGE was to establish the strategic and practical requirements that the participating authorities have with regard to the use of their road networks, and a summary of these requirements is given in chapter 2. chapter 3 defines the road user groups considered and the level of priority that these groups have. Chapter 4 describes the catalogue of the priority measures that are available to benefit these user group; most of these measures are already used in some parts of Europe, but a number of new ones that have not yet been tested in practice have also been included in the list. Chapter 5 summarised the results of the applicability analysis which has been carried out for the four participating authorities (in the case of Hesen this was done in co-operation with authorities of the cities of Wiesbaden and Kassel). Chapter 6 reports on the findings concerning the potential impacts of the proposed priority measures; detailed tables with the assessment of each priority scheme developed by the participants face already been included in an appendix to deliverable 4. Chapter 7 discusses the potential problems in implementing the measures and includes some suggestions on how to overcome these problems; for this aspect, some background material is attached in the appendices to this report. Chapter 8 and 9 finally summarise some general conclusions, discuss the transfer ability of the results obtained, and give an outlook on further steps planned to implement some of the measures described in this study in the real world. (A)