: Bicycle Crash Fact Sheet
Fact sheet provided by the Brain Injury Association of America.
Brain Injury as a result of a Bicycle Crash
- There are 85 million bicycle riders in the US.
- 1 in 8 of the cyclists with reported injuries have a brain injury.
- 784 bicyclists died on US roads in 2005. 92% of them died in crashes with motor vehicles (720).
- About 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year. Of those, about 67,000 sustain a Traumatic Brain Injury, and 27,000 have injuries serious enough to be hospitalized.
- Bicycle crashes and injuries are under-reported; many crashes are not serious enough for emergency room visits.
- July, August and September have the highest percentage of bicycle-related deaths.
- Bicycle incidents are most likely to occur within five blocks of home.
Children Sustaining a Traumatic Brain Injury as a result of a Bicycle Crash
- Children ages 5 to 14 go to the hospital emergency departments with injuries related to biking than with any other sport.
- Children ages 10 to 14 are at greater risk for Traumatic Brain Injury from a bicycle-related crash compared with younger children, most likely because helmet use declines as children age.
- Children ages 14 and under are nearly four times more likely to be injured riding in non-daylight hours (e.g., at dawn, dusk or night) than during the daytime.
- Children ages 10 to 14, especially males, have the highest death rate of all ages from bicycle-related traumatic brain injuries.
- Children are more likely to die from motor vehicle-related bicycle crashes at non-intersection locations (74 percent), during the months of April through October (81 percent) and between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. (55 percent).
- Among children ages 14 and under, more than 80 percent of bicycle-related fatalities are associated with the bicyclist’s behavior, including riding into a street without stopping, turning left or swerving into traffic that is coming from behind, running a stop sign, and riding against the flow of traffic.
Bicycle Helmet Use
- Bicycle helmets have shown to reduce the risk of Traumatic Brain Injury by as much as 85 percent. Bicycle helmets have also shown to offer substantial protection to the forehead and midface.
- It is estimated that 75 percent of bicycle-related fatalities among children could be prevented with a bicycle helmet.
- Universal use of bicycle helmets by children ages 4 to 15 could prevent between 135 and 155 deaths, between 39,000 and 45,000 traumatic brain injuries, and between 18,000 and 55,000 scalp and face injuries annually.
Bicycle Helmet Laws and Regulations
- Currently, 21 states, the District of Columbia and numerous localities have enacted some form of bicycle helmet legislation, most of which cover only young riders.
- Various studies have shown bicycle helmet legislation to be effective at increasing bicycle helmet use and reducing bicycle-related death and injury among children covered under the law. One example shows that in the five years following the passage of a state mandatory bicycle helmet law for children ages 13 and under, bicycle-related fatalities decreased by 60 percent. Police enforcement increases the effectiveness of these laws.
Health Care Costs and Savings
- Every dollar spent on a bike helmet saves society $30 in direct medical costs and other costs to society.
- Direct costs of cyclists’ injuries due to not wearing helmets are estimated at $81 million each year.
- Indirect costs of cyclists’ injuries due to not wearing helmets are estimated at $2.3 billion each year.
Bicycle Helmet Checklist:
- Buy a helmet that meets the safety standards of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) or the Snell Memorial Foundation.
- Always do these things to ensure a proper fit:
- Tighten the chinstrap to keep the helmet from slipping forward or backward.
- Only two fingers should fit under the chinstrap.
- Place the helmet directly over the forehead.
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