Canadian study suggests road cyclists should wear body armour as well as helmets

I do worry about this safety culture that is thrown at us. My kids use power tools to build stuff ride there bikes - invented skeleton skateboarding down our close.

Maybe I should just wrap them in bubble wrap, sit them on a chair and place an exclusion zone round them which allows for nothing to enter the zone.

i wonder where the balance is

Some great research conclusions there...
"“Trauma to the head is still the No. 1 injury in both cycling groups, which underscores the importance of wearing a good-quality, properly fitted helmet,” said Dr Chad Ball"

Followed by
"researchers found the incidence of traumatic brain injury was identical to a 1975 study in Calgary, well before the widespread adoption of cycling helmets."

So they're obviously making a difference then...

All new cars should be made of marshmallow, that way you could combine a collision with a quick snack

The helmet lot seem unusually quiet on this one, given there doesn't seem to be any objective difference between the suggestions here and their ideas.

Why do I get they'll have conveniently forgotten this next time some oppurtunity to tell someone about how you split yours in two once comes up.

Maybe the next step should be making Wiggo wear armour. After all if he doesn't he's got no one else to blame? Am I right?

The best improvement in road safety would come from removing all seat belts and air bags from cars and installing a large and lethal spike in the centre of the steering wheel in place of the horn button. Might make drivers a little more respectful of road conditions.

Batch.

Why are doctors and other self-appointed "experts" on traffic safety so obsessed with cyclists?
What about pedestrians? Should they be wearing body armour, too? No doubt it would save even more lives.
The idea would be incredibly popular with general public.

The whole study is just a waste of time and a distraction from the real problems.

CanAmSteve read Crazy-Legs post further up. But yes it is an 'Merican' flag

Result of study: Cyclists should start driving cars instead

Bicycle riders need to be endowed with supernatural powers to enable the cars of dangerous and rude drivers to be lifted up and safely placed nose down in a ditch.

The 26-68x injury rate per kilometre cycling vs motor vehicle stat is the kind of thing that gets quoted around and feeds the "cycling is dangerous" mindset. These numbers have to be carefully controlled though, and these smack of an apples to oranges comparison - a km to km comparison of car vs bike incidences (including large numbers of motorway kms for a car, and large numbers of tiny bike kms for kids) is clearly meaningless.

The source of the numbers are in many ways flagging Toronto as worse than other places (abstract below). Also the fact that they find falls & injuries are more common on sidewalks suggests to me that they are including kids cycling to school on the pavement/sidewalk, short distance, low skill, many accidents. If you lump these into your commuter cyclist accident rate it's no wonder the data looks crazy.

"This analysis uses data from a survey of Toronto commuter cyclists that collected information regarding accident history as well as regular commute route to work or school. By relating the route information of the 1196 respondents to facility attributes in a Geographic Information System (GIS), defensible estimates of travel exposure on roads, off-road paths and sidewalks were developed. The rate of collision on off-road paths and sidewalks was lower than for roads. The relative rates for falls and injuries suggest these events are least common on-road followed by off-road paths, and finally most common on sidewalks. The rate of major injuries, an injury that required medical attention, was greatest on sidewalks and the difference between paths and sidewalks was negligible. These rates suggest a need for detailed analysis of sidewalk and off-road path bicycle safety. The absolute event rates per bicycle kilometer were found to be between 26 and 68 times higher than similar rates for automobile travel, re-confirming the urgent bicycle safety crisis. Examination of rates for sub-groups of cyclists suggest that experience is an important factor in bicycle safety. The same survey conducted in Ottawa, Canada found event rates much lower than Toronto. This result may confirm urban form, traffic levels and attitude do affect bicycle safety. The analysis also demonstrates a successful method to quantify bicycle travel exposure information and should be considered for further use as complement to other existing techniques."

This has got too dull....Sighs...

Great choice of photo - not only is it American, but flopped so the flag is backwards. I know, Blame the UK!

I have a plan, If I ditch the cycle clothing and ride as the Michelin Man its win win. I could get free tyres from Michelin as a mobile advert and then when some dippy car driver puts me on the deck I can walk-cycle away unscathed, result!!

Stop driving cars into cyclists and we wouldn't need it!

Sorry I saw the title then the picture of the 'Merican' soldiers and I cant get the 'Blame Canada' song out of my head

Initially I thought that this study was just making the same rookie mistake that most safety studies carried out by doctors make - drawing conclusions only from the consequences of injury without looking into the real world risk of receiving that injury in the first place. Then I spotted this, quoted in the second section...

Quote:

Absolute injury event rates per kilometer for street cycling range from 26 to 68 times higher than those for motor vehicle travel.

...which changed my conclusion completely. I've decided that the only way for me to stay safe in the future is to never ride my bike in Canada.

"Bubble wrap, bubble wrap, come and get your lovely bubble wrap.

You can use it single thickness or double thickness or even 4x thickness.

This product is a one hit wonder and should only be used once. The application of any kind of sticky tape or anything else will immediate void the warrenty. The use for anything else other that it should be used for will void the warrenty. This product is guaranteed pointless."

Horse riders are already wearing air jackets so im sure its only a matter of time before we are being pressured to wear them too.
Does the assertion from this horse rider also sound tediously familiar?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23983566

I have noticed that many accidents involve a mismatch in vehicle size, and invariably the larger vehicle's occupants come off best.

I therefore conclude that the best way to reduce occupant injury is to limit road use to only vehicles weighing as much as the heaviest available.

I'm starting design work now on a 44 ton shield that will fit over a bike, car or van to protect it when hit by a fully fully laden artic.

In the event of a large take up of ex-MoD Challenger tanks I will upgrade the shield accordingly.

“Street cyclists were often injured after being struck by a motor vehicle,” said Dr Derek Roberts, lead author of the study.

Obvious conclusion: no one should cycle, it's far too dangerous. And don't even think about walking anywhere without full head to toe body armour.

Oh, I know, cars should have external air bags fitted so that when they mow down people, they hurt them as bit less.

And the car could drop a mobile phone which calls for an ambulance because stopping is such an inconvenience.

sometimes road.cc, I suspect you're trolling us with articles like this.

"Although we don't know exactly how effective they are"

This is from a person qualified as a doctor; ask yourself, would he recommend a medicine in the same way?

Fool.

And what is the likelyhood that a cyclist wearing bodyarmour would be exposing themselves to a higher risk of heat stroke in hot weather.

Is it 1st April???

I have considered whether or not to wear body armour while riding. After careful consideration of the pros and cons, I have decided to limit my use of it to lift-assisted mountain biking where the advantages of the added protection are most obvious, and where the considerable weight and comfort disadvantages are off-set by the bulk of the height gain being mechanically-assisted.

Next.