Cyclists in North America are from seven to 70 times as likely to be injured as a car occupant, per trip taken, according to Cycling in Cities, a research program at the University of British Columbia. While fear of being hurt is what keeps many people from biking more often in their city, evidence from around the world suggests that increasing the number of cyclists on the road is one key to making cycling safer.

The Cycling in Cities researchers note that North American cyclists are two times as likely to be killed and eight times more likely to be seriously hurt than German cyclists. They are three times more likely to be killed and 30 times more likely to have serious injuries than cyclists in the Netherlands.

The good news, however, is that Canada’s cycling injury rates have been declining and that it’s safer to cycle in Canada than the U.S. Plus, the researchers add, if cycling is safer in Europe, it can be made safer here. The risk of injury needs to be set against the significant individual and public health benefits of cycling.

They found the two big differences between North America and the European countries with lower cycling injury rates were the much higher numbers of people there who regularly cycled (e.g., in the Netherlands, most people cycle regularly) and the cycling infrastructure.  Dedicated bike routes are much more common in Europe.

The researchers are currently looking at injury risk factors in the cycling environment by studying bike injuries among adults who go to emergency departments in Vancouver and Toronto. Early data suggests that in Toronto, streetcar tracks are the top injury cause, blamed in over a third of bike injuries, followed by collisions with cars and being hit by a vehicle door. In Vancouver, where there are no streetcars, the top cause is collisions with cars.

For more information visit Cycling in Cities or see a Globe and Mail article discussing the research.