Fat bike users in accidents are young and have more serious injuries

Half of the people who were taken to hospital after an accident fat bike Are under 16 years oldsays safety institute VeiligheidNL on Wednesday after a week long monitor of A&E recordings.

All 82 hospital accident and emergency departments checked recordings of bicycle accidents between September 30 and October 6. In total they treated 1,291 victims, 96 of whom were on a fat bike at the time of the accident, and 480 on another type. of the e-bike and 715 on a regular bicycle.

“We now have a much better picture of the situation factual number of accidents involving e-bikes and fat bikes in particular,” said SafetyNL director Martijntje Bakker.

Almost a quarter of the fat bike cyclists were hospitalized, compared to 16% of e-bike riders and 13% of regular bicycle users.

“We are not talking about abrasions here,” says Marcel Aries, chairman of the doctors’ action group Safe Cycling Doctors for Safe Cycling. broadcaster NOS. “These are serious injuries, broken bones, brain hemorrhages And damage to internal organs.”

The accident reports also recorded the type of accident, the severity of injuries, the age of the cyclist And whether or not they were wearing a helmet. Only 3% of fat bike and 6% of e-bike riders wore An.

If the figures are extrapolated over an entire year, they point to around 5,000 fat bike riders per year could end up in A&E. “That’s a lot,” says Bakker.

Fat bikes are currently classified as normal e-bikes, meaning users do not need an e-bike license or a helmet to use one. There are no age limits.

Security activists and a majority of parliamentarians have called for action. Last month, MPs voted in favor of a motion calling for compulsory helmet use and an age limit of 14 years. SafetyNL wants a ban on all e-bikes for young people under the age of 16.