Bicycle accident

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bicycle accident can be a solo accident - for example, when you hit an obstacle or lose your balance when driving too slowly. In the public perception, however, accidents in road traffic with other parties involved, especially with cars , trucks and pedestrians, are more significant . Defects in the vehicle, for example inadequately functioning brakes, are also often the cause of accidents.

statistics

In 2018, 88,472 accidents involving personal injury involving bicycles were statistically recorded, 88,435 cyclists were injured, 445 killed, including: 7,734 pedelec riders (max. 25 km / h) injured, 89 killed. One in five injured and one in eight fatalities in traffic was a cyclist. In 20% of the accidents with injured cyclists, there was no other party involved. In the case of accidents with injured pedelec riders even in 30% of the cases.

In the case of accidents with personal injury, the police recorded 59,939 misconduct by cycling (17% of all misconduct by all road users). The most frequent mistakes made by cyclists were illegal use of the lane or other parts of the road (7.158), incorrect behavior when turning, turning, reversing, driving in and out (5,695), incorrect behavior when giving right of way / priority (5,149), violations of the right-hand driving law ( 3.283), use of the lane against the prescribed direction of travel (one-way street) (1.902).

With a road network of 644,480 km in length, one accident with personal injury occurs every year for every 7 km of road network involving cyclists; one cyclist dies every year for every 1,450 km of road network.

Dark figure

In the case of bicycle accidents, there is a high number of unreported accidents that are not known to the police and are therefore not included in the official accident statistics. According to a study by Hautzinger in 1993, almost 99 percent of single bicycle accidents , 97 percent of accidents between pedestrians and cyclists, but also 82 percent of accidents between cyclists and cars are not included in the official accident statistics.

Accidents at intersections, junctions, driveways

Turning accidents

Frequently, especially in urban areas, accidents with passenger cars when turning right or, less often, left, where drivers disregard the priority of straight-ahead or oncoming bicycle traffic. Much rarer, but more serious, are accidents with trucks in which cyclists drive on a cycle path and are hit by a vehicle turning right. In addition to behavioral errors by the driver, such as not looking over the shoulder , impaired vision or parked vehicles all contribute to the accident.

Turning / crossing accidents with cyclists on the left

There are also numerous accidents in which "wrong", i.e., on the left side of the road, cyclists ("ghost cyclists") are hit by vehicles from side streets, at parking lot or petrol station exits, or the cyclists drive sideways into the vehicle disregarding the right of way on.

Accidents on the route

Accidents with car doors

When cycling on the lane next to parked motor vehicles, suddenly opened driver's doors inadvertently, and accordingly the passenger doors on cycle paths, can lead to an accident. This happens more often in urban areas than the accident feared by many cyclists, caused by driving into or overtaking cars too closely.

A study by the insurers' accident research based on their own accident data has shown that in around every 14th car / cyclist accident (7 percent), a cyclist collides with an opening car door, usually the driver's door. Around one in five of these accidents resulted in a serious injury to the cyclist. Mostly it is head and leg injuries. The study shows that these accidents often happen where there is no separate cycle route such as cycle lanes, cycle lanes or protective lanes, i.e. on "normal" roads (technical jargon: cycle traffic in mixed traffic on the lane), where the cyclist is often right next to the parked ones Driving vehicles. In order to prevent these door accidents, on the one hand infrastructural measures and on the other hand technical vehicle solutions are required, but also more conscious behavior of the vehicle occupants when getting out: Cyclists should be offered driving areas that are sufficiently far away from the parked vehicles. For this purpose, according to the recommendations for bicycle traffic systems, structurally differently designed safety dividing strips are marked on cycle paths , on marked cycle traffic routes or with mixed traffic on the road, right-hand boundary lines are also marked. In the case of cycle lanes and protective lanes, a design without sufficient safety separation strips (at least 0.50 m wide, better 0.75 m) no longer corresponds to the state of the art. For lanes without cycle paths separated from car traffic, on the other hand, marking with sufficient distance to parked vehicles has only rarely been implemented, for example in the Clemensstraße bicycle road in Munich-Schwabing .

The vehicle can not only warn the exiting driver, but also consistently prevent the doors from opening shortly before and while a cyclist is driving past. Such systems could be technically implemented with the sensors already installed on the vehicle for monitoring the surroundings.

With the so-called Dutch Reach (“Dutch handle”), the door is opened with the hand turned away from the door, so that the entire upper body turns towards the door and the exiting person automatically looks over the shoulder towards the street.

Solo bicycle accidents

In Baden-Württemberg in 2011 just under a quarter of the accidents recorded by the police involving cyclists were solo accidents. Here, too, the police assume that many single accidents are not recorded at all and therefore a high number of unreported cases is likely. A comprehensive international study shows that the majority of accidents involving cyclists, who therefore have to be treated as an inpatient by a doctor, occurred through no fault of their own.

In the case of such single accidents, the influence of alcohol, carelessness (especially on edges or obstacles in or near the traffic area), road damage, improper driving style (often in connection with excessive speeds, e.g. on slopes) and technical defects play a role.

In solo accidents caused by damaged or worn bicycle traffic facilities , such as potholes , breaking tree roots or pollution, there is only rarely compensation for injured persons, since due to the recognizability, a personal or at least contributory negligence is usually assumed.

Accident prevention

In general, in order to prevent single accidents with cyclists, it is pointed out that tram tracks, cobblestones or a poor road surface require increased attention, better informed about the dangers of the influence of alcohol and driver training for seniors must be promoted. The information of the most frequent groups of opponents in an accident, the drivers of cars and trucks, on the typical accident situations they caused and possible countermeasures, on the other hand, has not been widespread in Germany since The 7th Sense was no longer on television.

The Insurers Accident Research recommends using bicycle helmets , in particular mitigate serious head injuries or avoid. A study in New Zealand has shown, however, that despite the introduction of the legal obligation to use bicycle helmets, the risk of accidents has increased and that overall there has been a significant decrease in bicycle traffic.

Road space design

The number of accidents with vehicles turning right can be reduced by having a line of sight between the motorist and the cyclist, for example by guiding the cyclist on the lane, on cycle lanes or protective lanes or by bringing the cycle path to a sufficient distance before intersections or property entrances than what is known as the lane cyclist ford not deposed . Going further, a straight line of a cycle lane, to which a separate right-turn lane develops on the right, is advantageous, since then motorists usually have the cyclist in front of them and the problem of the blind spot only rarely occurs.

Accidents with cyclists driving on the left (on cycle paths or sidewalks, legally or illegally) are usually caused by waiting vehicles from side streets or property driveways. In order to reduce these accidents, an essential starting point is to keep left-hand driving as low as possible. This can be done with a sufficient number of comfortable crossings. It is also possible to give up the obligation to use or the right to use, at least for cyclists who drive on the left. In the optimal case, this is supplemented by offers for directional cyclists, e.g. B. in the case of footpaths / cycle paths that were previously compulsory to use in rural town through the installation of a protective strip in the direction of travel, where cyclists previously had to turn left. The special safeguarding of legal offers by means of signs (additional signs for cyclists in both directions) is absolutely necessary, but not sufficiently effective in practice.

Driving up or overtaking too closely can be prevented or at least significantly reduced by sufficiently wide marked cycle lanes or protective strips.

Traffic education

As a measure of the cyclists to avoid any outgoing accidents or at least reduce, as part of were traffic education of the general education schools and youth traffic schools courses offered, the established gradually successfully throughout Europe. The cycling training run by the Deutsche Verkehrswacht and other associations in Germany's neighboring countries in stationary and mobile facilities can draw on numerous traffic training areas and specially equipped theory rooms.

In terms of content and legal provisions, the training is ideally based on a systematically structured, long-term training concept that should lead from mature pedestrians to certified cyclists to qualified drivers . Like each of the three training phases , the cycling training also concludes with a learning test tailored to the specific traffic participation , the so-called cycling test . In addition to imparting theoretical knowledge of traffic and promoting technical driving skills, the leading cycling training also includes influencing behavioral attitudes. Special incentives are often used to promote participation in the publicly advertised voluntary courses.

See also

literature

  • Dankmar Alrutz, Hans-W. Fechtel, Juliane Krause: Documentation for securing bicycle traffic. In: Accident and Safety Research Road Traffic. Issue 74, Bergisch Gladbach 1989.
  • Deutsche Verkehrswacht (Ed.): The bicycle training as an integrated part of the traffic education in the school . Bonn 1989.
  • Dieter Hohenadel: Cycling lessons in elementary school and youth traffic school . Braunschweig 1997.
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz: The systematic structure of traffic education. In: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act. 6th edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2009, ISBN 978-3-8340-0563-2 , pp. 72-75.
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz: Learning objectives and learning controls in traffic education. In: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act. 6th edition. Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2009, ISBN 978-3-8340-0563-2 , pp. 23-29.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Traffic accidents: This is how at risk cyclists are on runtervomgas.de from November 1, 2019
  2. ↑ H. Hautzinger et al. a .: Number of unreported cases in accidents with personal injury. In: Reports of the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) . M 13, Bergisch Gladbach; quoted from: D. Alrutz u. a .: Safety of cycling in access roads. In: Reports of the BASt. V 37, 1997, p. 39.
  3. ^ Benjamin Schreck: Radverkehr - Accidents and state of research. In: Zeitschrift für Verkehrssicherheit 2/2016
  4. ^ A b D. Alrutz , H. Fechtel, J. Krause: Documentation for securing bicycle traffic. In: Accident and Safety Research. Issue 74, Bergisch Gladbach 1989.
  5. ↑ UDV (Ed.): Car rear and side collisions with pedestrians and cyclists
  6. ^ Road traffic accidents in Baden-Württemberg cyclists ( memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Statistics Baden-Württemberg, accessed on November 11, 2014.
  7. ↑ a b c What protects cyclists from single accidents. INOVEXX GmbH (August 25, 2014), VersicherungsJournal Verlag GmbH, accessed on November 11, 2014.
  8. ↑ Roland Huhn: Quality Management: The Influence of Liability , ADFC , June 22, 2012, p. 8.
  9. ↑ Siegfried Brockmann: Cyclists primarily endanger themselves. Accident research by insurers, February 17, 2014, accessed on November 11, 2014.
  10. ^ Colin F Clarke: Evaluation of New Zealand's bicycle helmet law. In: The New Zealand Medical Journal. Vol 125, No 1349, February 10, 2012, ISSN  1175-8716 , accessed November 11, 2014.
  11. ↑ D. Alrutz: Use of cycle paths in the opposite direction - safety improvements. Report of the Federal Highway Research Institute V 261. Bergisch Gladbach 2015.
  12. ↑ Dieter Hohenadel: cycling lessons in primary schools and youth traffic school . Braunschweig 1997.
  13. ↑ Deutsche Verkehrswacht (Ed.): The cycling training as an integrated part of the traffic education in the school . Bonn 1989.
  14. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The systematic structure of traffic education. In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act. 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009, pp. 72-75.
  15. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Learning objectives and learning controls in traffic education. In: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act. 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009, pp. 23-29.