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news
Body armour users suit up to tackle the mean streets of Calgary (CC licenced by U.S. Army Materiel Command)Canadian study suggests road cyclists should wear body armour as well as helmets
A study of injuries to road cyclists and mountain bikers in Canada has concluded that both groups should be urged to wear body armour as well as helmets.
The study, published in a recent edition of the Canadian Journal of Surgery, looks at incidence, risk factors and injury patterns over a 14-year period among 258 severely injured cyclists in southern Alberta.
“Trauma to the head is still the No. 1 injury in both cycling groups, which underscores the importance of wearing a good-quality, properly fitted helmet,” said Dr Chad Ball, the senior author of the research paper.
“At the same time, almost half of the injuries we noted were either to the chest or abdomen, suggesting that greater physical protection in those areas could also help reduce or prevent serious injury.”
The study examined riders with severe, multiple injuries from 1995 to 2009, as recorded in the Southern Alberta Trauma Database, which tracks trauma patients admitted to Foothills Medical Centre.
In that period, 209 road cyclists were severely injured, and 49 mountain bikers.
“Street cyclists were often injured after being struck by a motor vehicle,” said Dr Derek Roberts, lead author of the study.
Some might therefore think it odd that the surgeons suggest protective equipment rather than improvements to cyclist road safety. In the words of a commenter on Calgary TV’s coverage of this story: “Maybe governments should start doing their job and make streets safe for people to cycling on. Networks of separated bike lanes would be a good start.”
As for the idea of wearing body armour, Dr Roberts told CBC News there's not much research around chest pads, but it is something for cyclists to think about.
He said: "Although we don't know exactly how effective they are, I think that they are something we can give to bicyclists that they can consider to use."
According to the study, the cyclists sampled were just 2.2 percent of 11,772 admissions with severe injuries in the study period. The majority of the other 97.8 percent were probably pedestrians or motor vehicle occupants so it’s curious that the researchers chose not to direct their attention to the road users who might most benefit from being studied.
Researchers say that helmet use frequency could not be determined from admission statistics. However it seems likely that most riders would have been wearing helmets, especially the mountain bikers. It’s therefore interesting to note that researchers found the incidence of traumatic brain injury was identical to a 1975 study in Calgary, well before the widespread adoption of cycling helmets.
Here's Dr Chad Ball talking to CBC News about the study. To be fair, in this clip, he does point out that he thinks it's unreasonable to ask road cyclists to wear body armour.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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45 comments
Ok sure, why not wear a crash helmet for driving while we're at it. If you crash your bike, you're probably going to get injured. If this frightens you, pick another sport....
One small point, not all cyclists are involved in sport, just like many motorists are not racers. Lots of people ride bikes to get from A to B. "pick another sport" could be translated to "take the car instead, its safer" and many already subscribe to this mindset.
Friend of mine is currently in hospital with traumatic brain injury. He was wearing a helmet. Helmets don't prevent it.
Sorry to hear that; better than being dead though. Helmets don't prevent accidents, they mitigate injury during accidents.
I'd rather die than be permanently brain damaged.
Fair enough; you take your chances and let the cards fall where they may.
Another pointless study provides more pointless recommendations and completely misses the blindingly obvious again
In other news.....your picture is back to front
No it isn't! US flag (when worn on sleeves as in that pic) is always worn with the stars & stripes upper forward corner. Stems from the days when flags were carried into battle, streaming out behind the flagpole, that's the direction the flag would take when seen from the right.
/fascinating fact of the day
Yeah, I saw that article and immediately thought that if you could move the armour bit forward, then add some more a little bit behind you and then hold it all together with a roof...
Basically it says "DON'T LEAVE THE HOUSE, IT'S DANGEROUS!!"
I stand corrected
The flag might not be the wrong way around, but it is WRONG for a caption about Calgary, Alberta (where I grew up). NOT in the USA.
I would like to refer the people who carried out this study to read Dr Ian Roberts book, The Energy Glut, in which he states that when he worked as in A&E, he was of the opinion that because of the injuries he was seeing, everyone should be mandated to wear helmets and protective gear.
When he moved into public health research, his opinion changed with seeing the evidence that our over-dependence on cars is what needs to be dealt with instead. It is not about being dumb and treating the symptom but dealing with the cause.
As Chris Boardman said, if there was a gun problem in your neighbourhood, you wouldnt start demanding everyone wears body armour.[/ur]
It is probably a must riding their winters.
Let's all wear sumo suits & it will all be ok . . . yeah right!
I'm sure more than 258 admissions to the Foothills Medical Centre (over 14 years) didn't get perfect treatment - why not concentrate on improving that first?
A study of injuries to road cyclists and mountain bikers in Canada has concluded that both groups should be urged to surround themselves with a steel safety cage with at least four wheels for stability.
The clinicians involved acknowledged that this might be inconvenient for some but suggested that the extra weight could be offset by addition of an engine...
Quote: 'Canadian study suggests road cyclists should wear body armour as well as helmets
"Cyclists were often injured after being struck by a motor vehicle," says researcher'
Or maybe:
'Motor vehicles to be fitted with hi-viz padding and speed limiters'?
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