Articles Posted in Bike Accident

During the summer, more kids in San Clemente are outside riding bicycles. Yet even during the months when school is in session, children and teens in Southern California rely on bicycles for recreation, as well as for transportation. According to a recent article in Safety + Health Magazine, more than 2.2 million kids between the ages of 5 and 17 visited emergency departments for bicycle accident injuries between the years 2006 and 2015. That data comes from a recent study conducted by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Center for Injury Research and Policy.

The study was published in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention, and it underscores the need for better safety protocols when it comes to preventing child injuries in bicycle accidents in San Clemente and throughout the country.

Bicycle Accidents Lead to Serious Injuries Among Children

Many Southern California bicycle safety advocates are concerned about the rise in severe and fatal bicycle accidents in the state, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Daily News. Whether you regularly ride your bicycle in Oceanside or elsewhere in San Diego County, it is important to recognize the risks that cyclists face on the roads and to be sure that you are following safety tips to avoid a preventable bicycle collision. Of course, there are crashes that simply can not be avoided by a bicyclist’s actions no matter how careful he or she may be. When an automobile driver is careless or reckless, cyclists in Southern California can suffer the consequences.

Cycling Accidents and Hit-and-Run Crashes in Southern California

Despite the fact that traffic collisions more generally have been on the decline, the rate of severe and deadly bicycle accidents has been rising. According to the article, fatal bicycle crashes have been occurring at a startling rate, and many of them have been hit-and-run accidents. Now, as the article suggests, the Southern California “local bicycle community [is] in a ‘red alert’ state of anger and fear.

Bicycle accidents in Carlsbad happen more often than they should, and according to a recent study at the UC San Francisco, the costs of bicycle collisions are on the rise. According to a fact sheet from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), trips on bicycles account for only about 1% of all trips that are taken in the country each day. Yet proportionally, bicyclists are at higher risk of suffering a serious or fatal injury in a car accident than are motor vehicle occupants.

As the study explains, the recent rise in bicycle crash costs coincides with an overall increase in cycling popularity. While we want to encourage bicycling in the San Diego area for both health and environmental reasons, it is important to weigh the risks and rewards. The study was published in the journal Injury Prevention.

Medical Costs of Bicycle Injuries Increase by Hundreds of Billions in Two Decades