Bicycle accidents and injuries: a pilot study comparing hospital- and police-reported data

Bicycle accident and injury data collected by two different samples of North Carolina hospital emergency rooms during the summers of 1985 and 1986 are examined and compared with state police-reported bicycle accident data for the same time periods. Of the 649 emergency room treated bicyclists, 62% were children aged 5-14 and 70% were male. Nineteen percent of the riders suffered moderate or worse injuries (AIS greater than or equal to 2), and 6% were hospitalized. In contrast, less than half of the police-reported accidents involved riders under 15 years of age, 85% of the riders were male, and two-thirds suffered moderate or worse injury. Whereas virtually all of the police-reported accidents involved a motor vehicle, less than a fifth of the emergency room cases did. Only 10% of the emergency room cases were duplicated on the state accident files. It is estimated that 800 children ages 0-19 are hospitalized annually in North Carolina for bicycle-related injuries, and an additional 13,300 children receive emergency room treatment.