News - Figures from the Dutch Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) show child cyclists are most at risk from head/brain injuries

The Netherlands remain one of the safest countries in the world in which to cycle thanks to the significant investment that has been made in cycling infrastructure. However the report published in The Netherlands by SWOV goes onto consider that

• Of the cyclists with serious injury who are admitted to hospital following a crash with motorized traffic, almost half (47%) are diagnosed with head/brain injury. After crashes not involving motorized traffic this is the diagnosis for just under one third (29%) of the cyclists.

• Proportionally, head/brain injury occurs most frequently among children and youths. In crashes with motorized traffic more than 60% of the young seriously injured cyclists (0-17 years old) have sustained head/brain injury, compared with an average of 47%; in the case of crashes not involving motorized traffic

• Approximately three-quarters of all head/brain injury sustained by cyclists are the consequence of crashes not involving motorized traffic (n=2,229). For young children (0-5 years old) as many as nine out of ten head/brain injuries are the consequence of bicycle crashes not involving motor vehicles. These are mostly cyclist-only crashes, i.e. crashes without another road user being involved,

The report concludes that helmets are particularly effective for preventing head and brain injury amongst child cyclists.

SWOV Fact Sheet 2012