2.2. Bicycle-Vehicle Collisions
2.2.1. Collision analysis
Statistics taking from Spain, United Kingdom, Germany and Netherlands show the majority of all bicycle accidents involve a motor-powered vehicle such as a car, bus, truck, tram, etc... [9]. In Germany in 2011, 10% of fatally injured road users were cyclists [13]. Bicycle-vehicle accident accounted for 60% of all bicycle accidents, while bicycle-pedestrian and bicycle only accidents make up 5~6% and 12~16% respectively [9]. Data presented in a report conducted in Germany stated, accidents involving collisions with vehicles accounted for 38% of all bicycle traumas while 26% of incidents involved the rider only [14]. The most common collision partner in a bicycle-vehicle accident was a
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fog, after dark on unlighted sections; Vehicle speed was directly related to fatality rates [3]; The bumper was responsible for 23.4% of all injuries in bicycle-vehicle accidents followed by the bonnet (20%), the bonnet edge (19.7%), and the windscreen (14.7%); The road surface (secondary contact) accounted for 59.5% of injuries (for head injuries, contact with the windscreen and bonnet were the main contributors followed by secondary impact with the road (26%)); in data presented by Peng (2012) the head struck the roof of the vehicle 4 times from 17 [6]; a more pronounced bonnet leading edge increases cyclist injury severity; although cyclists are able to travel at higher speeds, 60% of vehicle-bicycle accidents occurred at cyclist speeds of 5 km/h or less, and 90% at 10 km/h or less; in Germany, 31% of injuries were caused by impact with the road surface, also interesting were bumper (8%), windscreen (10%) and bonnet leading edge (14%); Bicycle design is unlikely to have a significant influence on cyclist injuries …show more content…
Bicycle helmets are a form of passive protection and have been proven to reduce both severity and incidence of bicyclist head injuries. Countless studies have proven the effectiveness of helmets to reduce the severity of a head injury [14], with the probability of fatal injury occurrence also greatly decreased [3]. Tests revealed that the helmet reduced the resultant peak of acceleration by 29% when compared to the unprotected form [13]. Despite these findings only a minor proportion (4%) of bicycle crash victims wore helmets at the time of incident [14]. Another study reported that 94% of cyclists involved in an accident did not wear a helmet [3]. At least 50% of the cyclist with recorded head injuries scored of 3 or 4 on the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) did not wear a helmet at the time of accident [13]. Interestingly pedal cyclists suffered more frequent head injuries than those riding a
Wearing headgear has many positives, reducing injuries is the most obvious one and it could be argued that its help reduces the chance of injuries and even death. At an elite level, Chelsea goalkeeper, Petr Cech is convinced that wearing headgear saved him from suffering extended injuries after colliding with Fulham striker Orlando Sa back in September 2011. Headgear offers a form of padding when worn. It allows juniors and elite athlete’s the reduced chance of head wounds. By this it means it allows for less “cracked skulls”, scars, wounds and so on. It gives a stronger protection on the softer part of the skull which is more prone to damage...
How well do helmets prevent concussions from occurring and prevent the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)?
("N.F.L. Players’ Union Weighs the Benefits and the Pitfalls of Helmet Sensors. This technology helps prevent a player with a concussion that he doesn’t know about from continuing to play during that game and cause more damage to his head that can last forever. Another good advancement is helmets that have a design that uses energy-managing materials and a facemask attachment system that disperses energy from frontal impacts. This helps prevent the head from taking the main part of the blow and disperses the energy to lessen the likelihood of becoming seriously injured from a hit. These types of helmets have a certain shelf life meaning you can only use them for so many years before they have to be replaced, this is beneficial so that the equipment stays up to the new standards of safety for the players as well as prevents them from becoming stressed over the years and breaking.
For children in this group, a helmet can save you or reduce the severity of the damage via 53%. The same studies, cited using the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, show a forty-four% prevention and reduction in injury among adults.
In American football, helmets are required to decrease traumatic brain injuries and have been successful in doing so. A large part in the success of helmet design is improvements in technology. The sizes of athletes have gone up to make football more dangerous. To protect against brain injury, helmets designs have changed to become heavier and wider, filled within the space are energy absorbing materials, air space and padding to protect the skull upon impact. Originally, helmets were designed to prevent only traumatic brain injuries, but technology is advancing to fill the gap of concussions. Until recently, the seriousness of concussions were not considered part of the equation that needed to be addressed, so manufactures did not utilized in constructing helmets to address this issue (Post et al. 653). Upon predicting risk of concussions in tests, by themselves linear and rotational acceleration are not suitable measurements for modern helmets. These testing measurements do not address the rotational forces and minor hits to the brain which are associated with concussions (Post et al. 654). Given the seriousness of concussions in contact sports, more attention is given to prevent and reduce concussions through testing methods and advancing technology, stronger regulation and changes to the sport. As stated in the article involving the National Football League (NFL), “The risk involved in playing sports are also very real. The NFL is struggling with serious mental and physical health problems because they sustained repeated mild traumatic brain injuries, is what concussions are called. (“Concussions and Marketing of Sports Equipment” 6).
Millions of people all over the United States choose motorcycles over automobiles for the thrill, speed, and high performance capabilities. On the other hand, motorcycles are not at all the safest way of transportation. Motorcycles do not provide the passenger with the outer protection that cars provide, therefore, when one crashes, the results are usually much more serious. Injuries to the head are responsible for 76% of fatalities when dealing with motorcycle crashes many of which could have been prevented had the rider been wearing a helmet. For this reason, many states have adopted the motorcycle helmet law. The law states that every passengers must wear a helmet at all times when riding on a motorcycle. This law has created a great deal of controversy. One side supports the law, believing that it protects motorcyclists from danger and saves the economy a great deal of money. The other side argues that the law is unconstitutional and it violates our right to freedom. However, statistics show overwhelming support in favor of the motorcycle helmet law. Although wearing helmets cannot prevent motorcycle crashes, they can greatly reduce the number of deaths caused by head injury as well as lowering taxes, insurance rates, and health care costs. Therefore, the helmet law should be put into effect in every state across the United States.
Even though the advantages of the helmet designs are extensive, the football players are put in dangerous and sometimes unexpected situations on the field. Players are running and hitting each other at full speed while not taking into consideration what they are doing, and considering the consequences. Sometimes with head related injuries, these players may not feel any symptoms until later on in the day, or even day...
American football is full of exciting competition, but do we realize the danger! Helmet safety in football remains an immense problem as the sport accounts for the highest incidence of concussions. Since leather football helmets, the technology for safer helmets has improved drastically and continue to improve. The development of newly designed helmets and technology has lowered the risk of head injuries for players. Furthermore, improvements in helmet testing methods have led to better understanding head injuries and the protectiveness of the helmet. In respect, football helmet safety still remains a challenge, such as a necessity of a proper categorization system to rank helmets and regulations to improve helmet safety. Regardless, standards and regulations attempt to address helmet safety through government intervention and a proper measuring system for football helmets. Despite the cultural perception of football, measures are taken to ensure safety, such as the reforms and education with regards to playing safer football. I intend to address the technological advances and regulation of football towards the discussion of helmet safety. Therefore the aggresivity in football’s culture should embrace stronger helmet standards and regulation that are promoted through improved testing methods and innovations because of the need to prevent further dangerous head injuries, especially concussions.
Assistant City Manager Mike Wanchick said, "A helmet seems to give a false sense of security to the cyclist, who feel less vulnerable and may ride less cautiously," He then went on to add. "As a result, riders wearing a helmet are more likely to have an accident." (Post) Now, the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute (BHSI) statistics show four states accounted for 40 percent of bicycle deaths in 2000, With Texas as one of them. Yet, Wanchick says that "our basic position is that bicycle safety is a parents' primary obligation," adding " What hurts kids are cars and we need to be working the traffic citations out there* people who are licensed to drive cars, not kids learning to ride bicycles." (Post) Even though 10 of the largest cities in Texas have bicycle-helmet ordinances including Dallas and Fort Worth. But, Richardson Texas choose to not act on this issue, but turn a blind eye to one of the silent injuries and the prevention of it by wearing a simple helmet. The BHSI says the statistics show about 800 bicyclists die in the US every year. Plus another one in eight of the cyclists injured has a brain injury.
Across numerous sports in the world, helmets are a staple of safety. Assumed to be a benefit, most athletes do not consider the risks of a helmet; both mental and physical risks. Society tells us that no matter what; a helmet will be safer than being exposed to harmful elements. There is also the idea that helmets are beneficial, but the way athletes use them causes more injuries than if a helmet had not been used at all. This culture, using your helmet as a tool, encourages more risky behavior for helmet wearers. Adventure writer and pilot, Lane Wallace argues that football culture is to blame for current helmet use, and that helmets are beneficial in her article “Do Sports Helmets Help or Hurt?” In his article “Disposable Heroes”, Neurologist David Weisman reasons that the worst helmets might be a better solution than better helmets.
Lifesaving Helmets “Horses have their own thoughts, feelings and fears,” said Katelyn Keelen a riding lesson instructor and trainer at All Starr Stables as well as Scooter’s Place, a nonprofit therapeutic riding program for children with special needs. As the sport of riding horses became more popular, the less people started to wear helmets and the more riding accidents started to occur, resulting in more people being left with lifelong injuries or even fatal incidents. Not wearing a helmet while riding a horse is dangerous; all riders should be required to wear one. When riding horses it is very important to wear a helmet because, wearing a helmet when riding could have prevented many serious brain injuries. Additionally, because of not wearing a helmet many expert riders have died or
Different ideas and creative thinking towards the prevention or lessening of damage to the body can play just as large of a role as research on repairing that trauma. Research has been conducted in the United Kingdom on the prevalence of chest trauma. From January 1998 to January 2003; the findings presented the information, “Over the six-year period, out of 25,467 trauma patients admitted in our institution there were 1,164 (five percent) patients with at least one chest injury” (Veysi, 2009). Out of those 1,164 patients with at least one chest injury, fifty-seven percent of the those patients sustained the injury due to some form of mechanical vehicle accident (Veysi, 2009). “From the fifty-seven percent of patients, nineteen percent were pedestrians, seventeen percent were drivers of a motor vehicle, and nine percent were motorcyclists” (Veysi, 2009). The majority of cases where a patient receives some form of thoracic trauma are due to vehicle accidents, meaning they were preventable in one way or another. With new technologies and the general population abiding the laws of the road, motor vehicle accidents that cause serious harm the driver or a pedestrian can be
According to a 2013 study in Brevard County, Florida, there were 57 motorcycle accident deaths, and 32 of those had helmets on, and this ratio was very similar across Central Florida for the next two years. However, according to a study at the Health First’s Holmes regional Medical Center in Melbourne, Florida, there have been over 70 studies since 2000 that “support the use of motorcycle helmets in decreasing the incidence of lethal head injuries, death, and non-lethal head injuries related to the use of helmets for motorcyclists.” This study found that the use of motorcycle helmets decreased deadly head injuries and
Many reasons for this big change in sports related head injuries, mostly has to do with the protective equipment used and the regulation...
II. According to the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, bicycle related crashes kill about 900 people a year and injure over half a million. Most bicycle deaths or accidents occur between 3-9 pm, and most often occur during the summer months. We can prevent these numbers by: wearing protective equipment, obeying the rules of the road, and being aware of your surroundings.