Citation

Bruggers JHA, Mulder S. Safety Sci. 1995; 19(2-3): 87-98.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The results of an indepth research to injuries due to bicycle wheel entanglements in order to recommend effective prevention methods are given. The first part describes the results of a study into literature regarding spoke related injuries and preventive measures. In the second part epidemiological data regarding spoke injuries are given. The third part describes the results of an inquiry into spoke injuries involving children by mailing questionnaires to parents of victims of bicycle wheel entanglements under thirteen years of age that were recorded by the Dutch home and leisure accidents surveillance system (PORS) in 1988. It appeared that nearly all victims were passengers (98%). Only 2% of the victims were cycling themselves. All the passenger victims were injured by entanglement of a foot or ankle between the spokes. Most of them were sitting behind the saddle. More than half of them in a seat or having footrests. It appeared that none of the involved seats and most of the involved bicycle wheels were supplied with wheel spoke covers or overcoat guards. The common overcoat guards appeared to be too frail to guarantee effective protection. Parents are not sufficiently aware of spoke injury risks nor do they have adequate know-how to avoid this risk. It is recommended to develop safety criteria for effective spoke guards for bicycle wheels and seats combined with an information campaign to parents how to prevent spoke injuries.