The University of Adelaide CENTRE FOR AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY RESEARCH

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TitleInjury characteristics of bicycle crashes involving a motor vehicle in South Australia
AuthorsLindsay VL, Ponte G
Year2019
TypeUnknown
AbstractFor the period July 2015 to December 2017, the Centre for Automotive Safety Research examined all injury records for road crash casualties that presented to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Of the 2,068 cases, 204 involved cyclists in a collision with motor vehicle. The hospital records for each cyclist were examined in detail and matched to SA Traffic Acci-dent Reporting System (TARS) data. The injuries for these cyclists were coded using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS; Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, 2005) and the injury severity score (ISS) was also determined.

Almost 51 per cent of injured cyclists had at least one body region AIS score of two, with a further 17% per cent sustaining at least one body region injury with an AIS score of three or more. There were ten cases (5%) where the cyclist had an ISS of 21 or more and in two of these cases the cyclist died in the days following their collision. Length of stay for cyclists in the sample ranged from less than 24 hours for 47% of cyclists, one to three days for 29% of cyclists and 24% of cyclists had a hospital stay of four days or more.

Right and left turn crashes with vehicles crossing the path of a cyclist were very common and accounted for 24% and 13% of all injury crashes respectively. Right angle crashes were also highly represented (10%). The most common impact configuration was side impact collisions; 70 cyclists were struck on their side (20% with an ISS > 12) and 68 cyclists struck the side of a vehicle (10% with an ISS > 12). Twenty-nine cases (14%) involved a cyclist colliding with a parked vehicle, 16 of these crashes resulting from a car door being opened in front of a cyclist.

Conference Name8th Annual International Cycling Safety Conference
Conference AbbreviationISCS 2019
Conference LocationBrisbane, Australia
Conference Date18-20 November 2019

Reference
Lindsay VL, Ponte G (2019). Injury characteristics of bicycle crashes involving a motor vehicle in South Australia. 8th Annual International Cycling Safety Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 18-20 November 2019. [PRESENTED ABSTRACT]