Bicycle Safety Part 2

1. Do you agree that using a helmet while riding a bike can help a bicyclist to reduce the number of road crashes and injuries by 50%? Please, select one of the answers below: yes, indeed; to some extent; maybe; not sure; and absolutely not.

One of the major aspects of safety on the road for the bicyclists is the helmet. Hence, it was important to know who wears the helmet when riding a bike. The answers are the following: 39% of people indeed wear helmet, 25% of people do it sometimes, 18% of people may not wear it, 12% of people are not sure and 6% of people do not wear the helmets when riding a bike across the countries.

Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 12.

Graph 12.

2. Do you wear a helmet to be safe on the road when biking? Please, select one of the answers below: yes, no (males and females).

The consequent interest was towards the gender of people who does wear a helmet and who does not. The outcomes are the following: 7% of males and 8% of females wear it in Europe, 9% of males and 12% of females wear it in Canada, 11% of males and 13% of females wear it in the United States, and finally 5% of males and 6% of females wear it in Asia Pacific.

 

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Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 13.

Graph 13.

3. Which age of the bicyclist do you consider at the most risk of crashes and injuries on the road? Please, select one of the alternatives below: 1-14 years old, 15-18 years old, 19-22 years old, 23-35 years old, 36-46 years old, 47-57 years old, 58-69 years old, and 70-84 years old.

The next aspect of concern is the age at which the bicyclists get under the most risk of crashes and injuries. The answer is from the age of 25 till 35 years old, which is the most risky age across the countries for the bike riders. The rest of the ages vary but these 10 years require people to think of the bike safety in the first turn.

Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 14.

Graph 14.

4. Based on your experience, what is the average time for the road incidents? Please, select one of the options below: 12 am - 3 am, 4 am - 7 am, 8 am - 10 am, 11 am - 2 pm, 3 pm - 6 pm, and 7 pm - 11 pm.

The next aspect is the time to get into the road incident. The safest time for the ride is from 12 am till 3 am (7% of road incidents) and from 7 pm till 11 pm (9% of road incidents). The most risky time is from 3 pm till 6 pm (31% of road incidents). The other time varies. Also, it is important to pay a special attention to the road from 11 am till 2 pm (23% of road incidents).

Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 15.

Graph 15.

5. Based on your experience, what is the day of the week for the vast majority of the road incidents? Please, select one of the options below: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

In order to get the whole situation under control, it is also important to know the days of the week that are more safe for the bike ride. The outcomes of the survey claim that Thursday is the most risky day of the week and Saturday is the safest day of the week. The other days vary.

Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 16.

Graph 16.

6. Based on your experience, what is the month for the vast majority of the road incidents? Please, select one of the options below: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December.

Finally, it is important to know the month of the year for the vast majority of the road incidents. The outcomes claim that August is the most dangerous time (15% of road incidents), the next are July (14% of road incidents), September (13% of road incidents), and June (12% of road incidents). The safest time of the year goes towards January, February, March, and December, the other months vary across countries.

Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 17.

Graph 17.

7. Based on your experience, what are the crash types by percentage of occurrence in your country? Please, select one of the options below: only cyclist, bicycle and vehicle, bike and bike.

One of the important types of any crash and injury and the percentages of its occurrence in your countries, in particular, the cycling crash types happens 15%; bike and bike 7 %; and bike and vehicle 78% across countries.

Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 18.

Graph 18.

8. To your opinion, what are the factors that add more likelihood to the crashes and injuries on the road for the bicyclists, drivers and pedestrians? Please, select one of the options below: insufficient light at night, inability to see each other at night, oncoming traffic, speeding, poor attention to the road, forceful behaviour, stop sign violation, media appliances, construction zone, other.

In addition, it is important to find out the reasons of such accidents and incidents on the road. The findings claim that 18% of them go towards the insufficient light at night, 16% goes towards inability to see each other, 14% goes towards the oncoming traffic, 12% goes towards the speeding, 10% goes towards the no attention to the road, 7% goes towards the poor attention to the road, 6% goes towards the forceful behaviour, 5% goes towards the stop sign violation and 4% go towards the usage of media appliances, construction zone and other reasons across the countries.

Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 19.

Graph 19.

9. To your opinion, what percentage of responsibilities attribute to the cycling incidents on the road in your country? Please, select one of the options below: bicyclists, drivers and pedestrians.

The aspects of responsibility are different from person to person; the idea is to understand the perceptions of people. The outcomes claim that 52% of people think that bicyclists take the most responsibility, 34% of people think that drivers are also responsible and 14% of opinions go towards the pedestrians across the countries.

Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 20.

Graph 20.

10. What is the approximate number of accidents by severity in your country? Please, select one of the options below: very serious, serious, not serious, no injuries, other.

Finally, it is also important to know the severity of accidents and based on the research, only 4% are very serious, 10% are serious, 47% are not serious, 35% are with no injuries and 4% belong to other cases across the countries.

Please, see below the table and graph for more details:

Table 21.

Graph 21

Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusions

All the information in the research addressed both aspects of concern such as the key facts and figures about the bicycle safety, including all the other implications that are important for the study. The analysis addressed the compilations of the literature resources and their analysis. In addition, there are challenging outcomes that were described based on the primary data findings.

The value of the research findings is that it covers the aspects of both primary and secondary data through the literature review and an independent online survey. The literature review was conducted on the basis of the existing information about the means of cycling and its health implications.

In particular, the research determines the biking potential that could be used on the basis of the research outcomes, including the theoretical concepts and practical implications. Thus, all the data was analysed from the position of research models, problems solving, challenges, and other future implications that could become important in terms of safe biking.

Hence, the research did not cost much money for the reason that it was conducted electronically with the purpose to save time and at the same time provide the maximum value for the bikers. All the information was provided with the willingness to make a contribution to the research. All answers obtained were analysed taking into account all concerns of the representatives when they wanted to continue their participation in case there is a need to get into more details.

The limitations of the study are that some of the aspects were analysed not in a full volume; the others were not mentioned for the reason of the lack of information or confidentiality. In fact, it was possible to get the detailed bike safety information analysis from the Statistics companies, but it is paid. Also, the obtained data could have some inaccuracies, as well as the overall conclusions as they also comprise the findings from the survey, which may not be fully trusted.

5.2 Recommendations

The best practices of cycling address the following aspects of bicycle safety through the aspects such as safety equipment, handling skills, riding in traffic, obstacles and road surfaces, cycling and the law, and what is new in the areas of safety bike riding. Therefore, the implications of the above practices can serve as a means of recommendations for the bicyclists all over the world. Such information will offer more details for the safety solutions below (Johnson 2011).

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Safety Equipment. The sizing of a bike is extremely important from the position of cosines and control on the road. For this reason, it is important to think of the bike that would be the most comfortable and will also fit the person in terms of the safety matters. Also, the frame of the bike should be fit to the body so that height of the bike corresponded to the height of the person (Jacobsen 2003).

The seat should also be properly adjusted in order to maintain the best efficiency of biking with no strains on the knees. The handlebars are also very important for the reason that they help a person to achieve a good balance of weight. The final element is the most important to check, which is the helmet (Hunter et al. 1995).

It should be of the best quality; it also should be put on properly such as that there should be a two-finger distance between the eyebrows and the helmet. It should be of the right size and tightened properly. The overall idea is to check the bicycle for safety by according to the above recommendations (Langley et al. 2003).

Handling Skills. The right gear is the most important factor that helps to manage the skills of the safe biking. At the same time, there is a must to ride only through the straight line despite the traffic and the parking lots. Another aspect is to perform a so-called shoulder check, which means that one should always check what is behind both shoulders before the ride begins (Langmaid 2011).

Besides, signalling is very important in order to be safe on the road. The proper signalling can save life in the vast majority of cases. In case there is a need to turn left or right, there is a need to perform a sequence practice. This means that the biker should perform the signalling, shoulder checking and straight line practices all the time (MetroPlan Orlando 2010).

The final step is the breaks, which means one should always be ready to stop at any time of the ride, especially in the emergency case scenarios. The idea is to save the life of oneself and protect the life of another person on the road and traffic. In all, the idea of the bicycle safety addresses the ability to adequately react in the most dangerous situations (Teschke et al. 2012).

Riding in Traffic. The overall idea of the traffic ride is to adhere to the same rules for all the kind of transportation, including the bikes. It is important to ride one meter to the curb close to the right; the thing is to maintain the speed of movement towards the traffic. In case there is a highway, better to use another road in order to slow down the speed, as well as to be safe (Rogers 1995).

It is significant to always go straight ahead in line with the traffic. Also, in case there is a need to go towards the parked cars, the distance to them should also be one meter in order to avoid the crash of any kind. The lane of movement should also be chosen according to the road traffic. If there is a need to change the lane, there should be appropriate movements with hands in order to indicate the need to change the lane of riding (Pucher, Dill & Handy 2010).

In other words, this is called the right turning traffic where the bike rider should perform a shoulder check, signal, and another shoulder check and only then go ahead. In case of intersections, it is important to stay one meter to the curbs, it is better to take the lane before the intersection. The idea is to make sure that the right-turning drivers stay behind (Rodgers 1994a).

The aspects of the right-of-way are aimed to determine who goes first through the intersection. It is important to let the pedestrians and other vehicles go first and only then ride by oneself. If there is no traffic control, the same check is needed. In case of the all-way stop situation, it is important to let the cars go first while standing on the ground with the both feet (Lopez et al. 2012).

The right turns should be dealt with in the way of a shoulder check, signal, scan of the road and then turn when path is clear. The left turns should go with the shoulder check, signal, another shoulder check, centre of lane direction, and inclination to go when the road is clear. Finally, it is important to perform the shoulder check again, signal and return to right side of road. In case of the multi-lane left turns, there is a need to perform the following actions over again every lane: shoulder check, signal, another shoulder check and a turn (National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy 2011).

In case of trucks and busses, there is a need to either catch the attention of the driver or stay far enough behind the vehicle to be protected. If there is another truck and the following intersections, there is a need to stay far from the vehicle and perform the ride only after the truck. It is not secure to try to pass through the lane to the right or left as the driver of the other vehicle may not see the bike, which may result in the crash and injuries. In order to avoid such negative consequences, it is important to follow the above rules (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2012).

In case of the group travelling, it is important to ride in a single line on two-lane roads based on the traffic. At the same time, it is important to have the same meter distance from the other bike riders of the group. Besides, it is significant to have additional space between the vehicles in the front, especially in case of going downhill. The speed control is also an important element to keep the safety of oneself and the group as a whole (Nicaj et al. 2006).

Obstacles and Road Surfaces. In terms of the railway and streetcar tracks one should be very attentive for the reason that such cases are rather dangerous. In order to face them with safety, it is important to ride based on the following directions: do the shoulder check, signal, another shoulder check, move left, one more shoulder check, signal, another shoulder check and only then cross at the right angle of the road. In case of riding on the sidewalks, it is important to ride slowly, always signal when approaching a person and be ready to stop the bike, especially over the crosswalk (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency 2012).

The next aspect is the surface hazards. In order to overcome them, it is important to always watch for the holes and / or raised surfaces that can ruin the wheels, avoid the slippery surfaces as it is possible to lose control of the rode and keep track of the sharp objects that can cut the tires and result in the crashes of any kind. It is important to overlook the nails, tacks, glass, staples, wire, pins, sharp rocks and sharp pieces of metal to be secure on the road

(SCOT Standing Committee on Transport 2010).

Also, it is important to mind the weather hazards in terms of breaking, cornering, puddles, metal, paint and wood. In all, the final aspect of concern is the visibility on the road. The fact of the eye contact makes the most contribution into the aspects of health and safety on the road, especially in case the bikers are the beginnings (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 1994).

Cycling and the Law. The major idea of this aspect is that any bicyclist should obey the same rules as any other vehicle on the road. In other words, while riding a bike, there is a need to fulfil the same responsibilities, including the traffic laws, fines, offences, etc. The idea is to follow the rules and regulations to be safe on the road (Rodgers 1994b).

What is New. The life changes every day and the same is the road and its rules. Therefore, in order to be safe and sound on the road, one should always be interested in the new rules and regulations that are updated on the regular basis. The idea is to constantly learn and practice the above skills and experience to protect oneself on the road and guarantee bicycle safety (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency 2012).