How many crashes occur on or due to slippery bicycle tracks is not known. There is some information on the role of slipperiness in bicycle crashes in general. For instance, Krul and colleagues [12] report that for 5% of the cyclists who ended up in a Dutch Accident & Emergency department (A&E) after a crash, the crash was (partly) caused by a slippery road surface due to, for example, leaves, and likewise for 5% due to slipperiness caused by snow and sleet. For single-bicycle crashes, these shares are slightly higher, at 6 and 7% respectively.
Schepers and Klein Wolt [13] specifically looked at single-bicycle crashes in which the cyclist had been treated in a Dutch A&E. In these crashes, 18% of the 350 crashes analysed were found to have happened as a result of skidding on a slippery road surface. In a third of these cases, the slipperiness was caused by dirt on the road such as sand, gravel, mud or wet leaves; about a fifth involved slipperiness due to ice and snow.
