Cyclists and road safety
In this report cyclists are defined as users of a conventional bicycle or a pedelec. The first of these is solely human-powered while the latter is a collective name for electric powered bicycles that offer pedal assistance. The pedelec is a bicycle that delivers power when the cyclist pushes the pedals and only up to a speed of approximately 25 km/h. Pedelecs are sometimes referred to as e-bikes: officially, however, e-bikes are powered two-wheelers with an electric engine that moves forward without the cyclist pedalling.
Cyclists are vulnerable in traffic and constitute the only road user group in the EU where the number of fatalities has not declined since 2010. Reasons for the stagnation in the levels of cyclist fatalities might include the increased popularity of cycling or other factors such as the lack of safe cycling infrastructure. Furthermore, the relative proportion of serious injuries in crashes involving a cyclist has not declined: this increased from 7% in 2010 to 9% in 2019.
Fatal cyclist crashes mostly involve motor vehicles. In 2019 in the EU this was the case in around seventy percent of the fatal crashes. Reliable EU-wide data on serious injuries are lacking. It should be noted that bicycle crashes are significantly underreported, in particular crashes without the involvement of motorised vehicles. Hence, the actual share of bicycle-car crashes can be expected to be lower. As with other crashes, cyclist crashes are mostly caused by a combination of different crash factors. Infrastructural factors which contribute to the occurrence of bicycle crashes often include the general lay-out of the road or, in case of bicycle crashes involving motor vehicles, the absence of bicycle infrastructure. Furthermore, behavioural factors play an important role: unsafe behaviour of both cyclists and other road users (e.g. speeding, distraction, red light running, driving under the influence) increases crash risk.
Countermeasures
With respect to infrastructure, cyclists can benefit from several measures. To prevent crashes with motor vehicles, it is important to separate cyclists from motor vehicles, for example by means of bicycle routes or separate bicycle tracks. Effective measures to reduce the speed of motor vehicles on intersections for instance include speed humps. To prevent crashes which do not involve motor vehicles, the following infrastructural measures are recommended: no obstacles on the bicycle track, visual road alignment, sufficiently wide bicycle tracks, and a road surface that is skid resistant and free of cracks and potholes.
With respect to the bicycle, adequate lighting is important for cyclists in order to be seen at night by other road users. Finally regarding protective measures, bicycle helmets can protect against head and brain injuries in the case of a fall or crash. Windshield airbags on cars can reduce cyclist injuries in the case of a crash. Technological developments such as intelligent speed assistance in cars will discourage car drivers from driving too fast in e.g. 30 km/hour zones.
