Cyclist deaths exceed motorist deaths in Netherlands.

[User]

 

[Slick]

I don't reckon that could be described as insignificant. It may have an agenda, it may not but that number, in fact any number should never be considered insignificant.

 

[Turdus philomelos]

'A quarter of the cyclists were on e-bikes, which have an integrated electric motor to propel cycles to speeds of around 20mph.'
So is this a high case of ebike doping in an other sense? I thought European law restricts all countries to 15mph (25kph).
Or simply just a case of shoddy journalism therefor the whole article should just be ignored.

 

[swansonj]

[QUOTE 5225082, member: 259"]It's quite a small cohort and it's statistically insignificant.[/QUOTE]
I'm really not sure on what basis you say that?

 

[snorri]

An interesting blog here on the changing picture of cycling in the Netherlands. Ebikes and elderly casualties, are ebikes encouraging cyclists to cycle for longer than is safe for riders?
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2018/04/25/more-cycling-fatalities-than-deaths-in-cars/

 

[mjr]

Better that than driving longer than is safe, eh?

 

[MossCommuter]

Most accidents take place without involvement of other road users, VVN says. While people are mounting or dismounting the e-bike or when they misjudge a road turn.

Isn't that "a fall"

 

[mjr]

Isn't that "a fall"

Some of them. In the UK stats, I think it would be a fall while mounting or dismounting (so not a road casualty), but a recordable crash if you botch a turn (not that all actually get recorded in the UK). This may partly explain why our figures are lower.

 

[Pale Rider]

It seems mounting and dismounting a heavy ebike is part of the problem for the older rider.

Van der Knaap said. “We should not underestimate how many accidents happen among the elderly when getting on and off an e-bike. Such a bicycle is heavier than a regular one. Sometimes the problem starts because some older people do not take into account that their own physical possibilities are reduced.”

It's not clear, but I doubt many mount/dismount accidents are fatal.

 

[mjr]

Some of them. In the UK stats, I think it would be a fall while mounting or dismounting (so not a road casualty), [...]

Oh good grief. I've been told it's actually messier than that. A person who dismounts and falls into the path of another vehicle could be recorded as a cyclist casualty, whereas a person who fails to mount would be recorded as a pedestrian because a person holding or wheeling a cycle is a pedestrian until they have control of it while riding

Anyway, I still doubt that the Netherlands procedures are odd in exactly the same way.

 

[mjr]

Their usage would have to be 8 times ours for them to have just the same death rate (over simplistic back of fag packet calculation that may be utter cobbers).

I suspect it's even higher than that:

England and Wales Cycle to Work Rate 2.8%, Scotland 1.4% (2011 Census); Netherlands 25% (a 2014 report).

4% of the UK population cycles daily; in the Netherlands, it's 43%. https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/campaigns-guide/cycling-levels-in-european-countries

So I think their usage may well be ten times ours and I suspect among the highest-e-bike-casualty group of men aged 65+, it could well be more than that.

 

[Drago]

Are people now simply living longer than is safe?