Injuries to Adult Cyclists in Toronto and Vancouver: Describing the Circumstances as a First Step towards Injury Prevention

This paper describes how bicycling is considered to be a sustainable mode of transportation with many health benefits but the risk of injury deters many people. The paper studied injured cyclists from two urban areas to characterize injury severity. Adult cyclists who visit emergency departments in three Toronto and two Vancouver hospitals are being recruited. Canadian Trauma and Acuity Score (CTAS) data are retrieved from hospital records and descriptive data and comparisons of the first 300 injury events, 150 in each city are presented. The median CTAS score was 3. Of the 300 cyclists studied, 27 were admitted to hospital. The injury mechanism was classified as a collision in 213 cases or a fall in 87. Collisions involved motor vehicles in 102 cases, streetcar/train tracks in 46, curbs/fences/barriers in 38, pedestrians/other cyclists in 14, potholes in 9 and animals in 3. Maneuvers to avoid collisions resulted in 28 falls. The proportions of injuries involving motor vehicles were almost identical in the two cities, but the odds of an event involving doors were higher in Toronto than Vancouver. Toronto events were more likely to involve streetcar tracks and less likely to involve pedestrians or cyclists than those in Vancouver. Injury circumstances and differences between cities suggest that transportation infrastructure and interactions with motorized and non-motorized traffic are important factors in cycling injuries.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13538047
• Authors:
  • Babul, S
  • Frendo, T
  • Winters, Meghan
  • Brubacher, J R
  • Chipman, M L
  • Chisholm, D
  • Cripton, P A
  • Cusimano, M D
  • Friedman, S M
  • Harris, M A
  • Hunte, G S
  • Reynolds, C C O
  • Teschke, K
• Conference:
  • Safety 2010. 10th World Conference
  • Location: London , United Kingdom
  • Date: 2010-9-21 to 2010-9-24
• Publication Date: 2010-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Pagination: v.p.
• Monograph Title: Safety 2010 World Conference
• Serial:
  • Injury Prevention
  • Volume: 16
  • Issue Number: Supplement 1
  • Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
  • ISSN: 1353-8047
  • EISSN: 1475-5785
  • Serial URL: http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycle crashes; Bicycle travel; Crash injuries; Injury severity; Pedestrian traffic; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Sustainable transportation
• Geographic Terms: Toronto (Canada); Vancouver (Canada)
• Subject Areas: Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I84: Personal Injuries;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01323976
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 29 2010 7:26AM