November 7/15 12:24 pm - Canadian Study Shows Gender & Participation Rates Have Greatest Impact on Injury Rates

Posted by Editor on 11/7/15
 

The BMJ Open, an online, open-access medical journal, has published a study on 'Bicycling injury hospitalisation rates in Canadian jurisdictions'. The study looked at bicycling-related hospitalisation rates across Canadian provinces through the period 2006-2011, and came up with a hospitalisation rate of 622 per 100 million trips.

Helmet legislation (which varied from province to province) had no effect on hospitalisation rates, according to the study. The only factors that did were Gender and a higher cycling mode share (a higher proportion of cyclists in the transportation network).

Female cyclists had a lower rate of hospitalisation than males (which has been found in other studies), which was attributed to a lower propensity for risk-taking (such as riding on major city streets, riding faster and participation in sports cycling - racing and mountain biking).

The higher cycling mode share leading to reduced hospitalisation rates is attributed to 'safety-in-numbers'. The greater participation rate possibly leads to more awareness by motorists, or whether more cycling infrastructure (eg, bike paths) leads to more cyclists on safer routes.

Read the full study Here