Child and adolescent bicycling injuries involving motor vehicle collisions

Abstract Background Bicycle-related injuries are among the most common recreational injuries for children in Canada; moreover, bicycle-motor vehicle collisions often result in serious injuries. This study seeks to examine environmental, motorist, and bicyclist characteristics of bicycle-motor vehicl...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tona M. Pitt, Alberto Nettel-Aguirre, Gavin R. McCormack, Andrew W. Howard, Camilla Piatkowski, Brian H. Rowe, Brent E. Hagel
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2019-03-01
Series:Injury Epidemiology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40621-019-0185-z
Description
Summary:Abstract Background Bicycle-related injuries are among the most common recreational injuries for children in Canada; moreover, bicycle-motor vehicle collisions often result in serious injuries. This study seeks to examine environmental, motorist, and bicyclist characteristics of bicycle-motor vehicle collisions that resulted in police reported severe injuries in youth (< 18 years old) bicyclists, in Alberta, Canada. Findings Using Calgary and Edmonton police collision reports, 423 youth bicycle-motor vehicle collisions were identified from 2010 to 2014. Forty-three (10.2%) of these collisions resulted in major/fatal (severe) injuries. These severe injury cases were compared with the 380 youth bicycle-motor vehicle collisions resulting in minor or no injury (controls) using classification tree and logistic regression analyses. There were no driver or bicyclist characteristics with a significant effect on the odds of severe injury to youth bicyclists; however, lower odds were found on each of: divided roads with no barrier (aOR = 0.36; 95% CI: 0.13–0.97) or during peak traffic time (aOR = 0.44; 95% CI: 0.16–0.99). Conclusion Personal and environment characteristics should be considered in future research and interventions focused on reducing severe youth bicycle-motor vehicle collision injuries.
ISSN:2197-1714