Under-reporting bicycle accidents to police in the COST TU1101 international survey: Cross-country comparisons and associated factors

D Shinar; P Valero-Mora; M van Strijp-Houtenbos; N Haworth; A Schramm; Guido De Bruyne; V Cavallo; J Chliaoutakis; J Dias; O E Ferraro; A Fyhri; A Hursa Sajatovic; K Kuklane; R Ledesma; O Mascarell; A Morandi; M Muser; D Otte; M Papadakaki; J Sanmartín; D Dulf; M Saplioglu; G Tzamalouka

doi:10.1016/j.aap.2017.09.018

Under-reporting bicycle accidents to police in the COST TU1101 international survey: Cross-country comparisons and associated factors

Accid Anal Prev. 2018 Jan:110:177-186. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2017.09.018. Epub 2017 Oct 26.

Authors

D Shinar¹, P Valero-Mora², M van Strijp-Houtenbos³, N Haworth⁴, A Schramm⁵, Guido De Bruyne⁶, V Cavallo⁷, J Chliaoutakis⁸, J Dias⁹, O E Ferraro¹⁰, A Fyhri¹¹, A Hursa Sajatovic¹², K Kuklane¹³, R Ledesma¹⁴, O Mascarell¹⁵, A Morandi¹⁶, M Muser¹⁷, D Otte¹⁸, M Papadakaki¹⁹, J Sanmartín²⁰, D Dulf²¹, M Saplioglu²², G Tzamalouka²³

Affiliations

¹ Industrial Engineering and Management, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Instituto de Tráfico y Seguridad Vial, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, Netherlands. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Queensland University of Technology, Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Queensland University of Technology, Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Department of Product Development, Faculty of Design Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ IFSTTAR, France. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁸ Dept. Of Social Work, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Greece. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁹ Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁰ Centre of Study and Research on Road Safety, Dept. Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹¹ Institute of Transport Economics, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹² University of Zagreb, Faculty of Textile Technology, Zagreb, HR, Croatia. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹³ Lund University, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁴ CONICET/U of Mar del Plata, Argentina. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁵ Instituto de Tráfico y Seguridad Vial, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁶ Centre of Study and Research on Road Safety, Dept. Public Health, Experimental and Forensic Medicine, University of Pavia, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁷ Working Group on Accident Mechanics, Zurich, CH, Switzerland. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁸ Accident Research Unit, Medical School Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁹ Lab. Of Health and Road Safety, Dpt. Of Social Work, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Greece. Electronic address: [email protected].
²⁰ Instituto de Tráfico y Seguridad Vial, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: [email protected].
²¹ Cluj School of Public Health, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania. Electronic address: [email protected].
²² Dept. Civil Engineering, Süleyman Demirel University, Turkey. Electronic address: [email protected].
²³ Dept. Of Social Work, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Greece. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 29102034
DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2017.09.018

Abstract

Police crash reports are often the main source for official data in many countries. However, with the exception of fatal crashes, crashes are often underreported in a biased manner. Consequently, the countermeasures adopted according to them may be inefficient. In the case of bicycle crashes, this bias is most acute and it probably varies across countries, with some of them being more prone to reporting accidents to police than others. Assessing if this bias occurs and the size of it can be of great importance for evaluating the risks associated with bicycling. This study utilized data collected in the COST TU1101 action "Towards safer bicycling through optimization of bicycle helmets and usage". The data came from an online survey that included questions related to bicyclists' attitudes, behaviour, cycling habits, accidents, and patterns of use of helmets. The survey was filled by 8655 bicyclists from 30 different countries. After applying various exclusion factors, 7015 questionnaires filled by adult cyclists from 17 countries, each with at least 100 valid responses, remained in our sample. The results showed that across all countries, an average of only 10% of all crashes were reported to the police, with a wide range among countries: from a minimum of 0.0% (Israel) and 2.6% (Croatia) to a maximum of a 35.0% (Germany). Some factors associated with the reporting levels were type of crash, type of vehicle involved, and injury severity. No relation was found between the likelihood of reporting and the cyclist's gender, age, educational level, marital status, being a parent, use of helmet, and type of bicycle. The significant under-reporting - including injury crashes that do not lead to hospitalization - justifies the use of self-report survey data for assessment of bicycling crash patterns as they relate to (1) crash risk issues such as location, infrastructure, cyclists' characteristics, and use of helmet and (2) strategic approaches to bicycle crash prevention and injury reduction.

Keywords: Bicycle crashes; Bicycle helmets; Bicycles; Cycling attitudes; Cycling behaviour; International survey of cycling; Under-reporting.

MeSH terms

Accidents, Traffic* / statistics & numerical data
Adult
Bicycling* / injuries
Communication*
Croatia
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Female
Germany
Head Protective Devices
Hospitalization
Humans
Israel
Male
Police*
Risk
Safety
Self Report
Socioeconomic Factors