E-cargo bicycles: on cycle path of carriageway?

To ensure that e-cargo bicycles and other light electric vehicles are technically safe and used safely, an Approval Framework for Light Electric Vehicles (LEV framework) is being developed in The Netherlands. The LEV Framework also governs the place on the road of LEVs. Sessions with road authorities in the preparation of the LEV framework in 2020 showed that some road authorities were concerned about heavy e-cargo bicycles on bicycle paths because of their size and the mass difference with cyclists. For this reason, it was investigated what the most suitable traffic rules are for the place on the road of heavy e-cargo bicycles for transporting goods or children with a maximum construction speed of 25 km/h: the cycle path, the carriageway or, depending on the traffic situation, a tailor-made solution in between

The safety of physically separated cycle tracks compared to marked cycle lanes and mixed traffic conditions in Amsterdam

Bicycle infrastructure is utilised to improve cycling safety and encourage bicycle use as a sustainable and healthy transport mode. This study sets out to assess whether providing physically separated cycle tracks along distributor roads, as prescribed in Dutch design guidelines and the Sustainable Safety vision, yields the expected safety benefits for cyclists. Therefore the safety of physically separated cycle tracks is compared to marked or painted cycle lanes and to mixed traffic conditions at distributor roads with a speed limit of 50 km/h in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The study also includes the presence of the risk factors curbside parking and trams. Since police records are known to underreport single bicycle crashes and other crashes without a motor vehicle involved, ambulance records are used in this study instead. Also, both motor vehicle volumes as well as cyclists counts are taken into account in the crash analysis. By doing so, this study aims to address two weaknesses of previous research, i.e. the lack of control for exposure of cyclists and the use of police recorded crashes which miss the majority of bicycle crashes without motor vehicles.  Results show that, controlled for kilometres travelled by bicycle and by motor vehicle, 50-60% less bicycle crashes occur on distributor roads with cycle tracks compared to those with cycle lanes. Curbside parking and trams are related to an increased likelihood of bicycle crashes, a difference of a factor 2 and 1.7-2 respectively. The authors therefore recommend to favour physically separated cycle tracks over cycle lanes and to take out curbside parking from the cross section as this presents the possibility to introduce cycle tracks in existing cross sections and mitigate an important risk factor concurrently

An experiment on the lateral steering behaviour of cyclists on narrow bidirectional cycle tracks

Cycling contributes to public health because it requires physical effort [1] and offers economic and environmental advantages over motorized transport [2]. However, 41,000 cyclists die every year in traffic crashes, 3% of the total worldwide [3]. Most fatal bicycle crashes are collisions with motor vehicles. Severe injuries among cyclists, however, are mostly due to single bicycle crashes and their numbers are increasing [4, 5]. An international review showed that the share of hospitalised casualties due to single-bicycle crashes varied from 3% to 41 % of the total number of hospitalised casualties [ 6]. ... The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between cycle track width and lateral position. We conducted an experiment in which the cycle track width was manipulated to determine its effect on lateral position. The results have been compared with previous findings from literature. [From: Introduction

Safe System approach for cyclists in the Netherlands: Towards zero fatalities and serious injuries?

More than one third of all road deaths in the Netherlands and more than two thirds of seriously injured casualties are cyclists. In recent years these shares have increased, despite the fact that the implementation of Safe System principles has been leading in road safety policy and has been successful in reducing the total number of road deaths. However, the annual number of fatalities among cyclists failed to decline and the number of injuries among cyclists has been increasing, especially in single-bicycle crashes. This raises the question why until now Safe System implementation has failed to contribute to the reduction of the number of casualties among cyclists. This question is urgent because of the goal to reduce the number of road deaths and serious traffic injuries in the Netherlands to (virtually) ZERO by 2050. This ambition is in line with the objectives of the European Union. The causes of the unfavourable developments in road safety for cyclists in the Netherlands and which problems require a solution are examined. This raises two questions: can improved implementation of Safe System measures reverse the negative trend, and can this result in ZERO cycling casualties in the future. The discussion involves investigating three dimensions: exposure, crash risk, and injury risk. The opportunities that technological developments may offer in future decades are also considered. It is concluded that Safe System implementation will include opportunities to make cycling considerably safer in the Netherlands. However, we face too many uncertainties to allow for developing scenarios that show how close the Netherlands will be to ZERO cyclists casualties

Analyzing the impacts of built environment factors on vehicle-bicycle crashes in Dutch cities

Cycling safety policy and research have mostly focused on cycling infrastructure, cyclists' behavior, and safety equipment in the past decades. However, the role ofbuilt environment characteristics (BECs) in the safety of cyclists has not yet been fully examined. For the Netherlands, this is rather surprising given the significant modal share of bicycles in daily trips, the importance attributed to urban spatial planning, and it being one of the most planned countries in the world. Despite the considerable improvements that have ta1cen place in traffic safety over the decades, the ( actual) number of cyclist deaths between 2011 and 2020 increased by on average 2% per year; the cyclists bad a major portion oftraffic death (followed by passenger cars); also, almost onethird of traffic death happened in built-up a.reas (about 25% of fatalities occurred on 50km/h roads in urban areas) in this period. Considering the aim of construction of on average 75,000 new homes per year until 2025, as weil as promoting bicycle use in as a healthy and sustainable mode of transport in the N etherlands, underst.anding the relationships between the BECs and cycling safety is invaluable for improving the safety of cyclists

Evaluation eines modularen Tumor- und Revisionssystems vom Typ proximaler Femurersatz als „Salvage Procedure” in der Revisionsendoprothetik

In dieser retrospektiven Studie wurden im Zeitraum von 2004-2015 insgesamt 25 Patienten nachuntersucht, die aufgrund des Versagens einer primär implantierten bzw. mehrfach gewechselten Hüftgelenks- bzw. Kniegelenksprothese revidiert werden mussten und mit einem MUTARSÆ-System vom Typ proximaler, distaler oder totaler Femurersatz versorgt wurden. Im kurz- bis mittelfristigen Verlauf zeigte sich eine Komplikationsrate von 24 Prozent, wobei davon drei Patienten einen Reinfekt, zwei Patienten periprothetische Frakturen und ein Patient eine Traktuslücke aufwiesen. Vier dieser Patienten konnten erfolgreich revidiert werden. Einem der Patienten musste die Prothese ersatzlos entfernt werden und ein Patient suizidierte sich im Rahmen einer depressiven Episode nach mehrfachen Reinfektionen. Insgesamt haben wir im beobachteten Zeitraum keine radiologischen Lockerungszeichen feststellen können. Der Harris Hip Score stieg um durchschnittlich 53 Punkte (28 auf 81) und liefert somit ein für dieses Patientenkollektiv sehr gutes Ergebnis. Schlussfolgernd ist zu sagen, dass das modulare Tumor- und Revisionssystem MUTARSÆ, bedingt durch seine Modularität, eine sehr gute Möglichkeit der intraoperativen Defektadaption bietet und den internistisch deutlich vorerkrankten Patienten, den Vorteil unmittelbar postoperativ voll zu belasten und dabei die untere Extremität zu erhalten

Percutaneous treatment of displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures

Background. The outcome after displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures is influenced by the condition of the surrounding soft tissues. To avoid secondary soft tissue complications after surgical treatment, several less-invasive procedures for reduction and fixation have been introduced. The percutaneous technique according to Forgon and Zadravecz is suitable for all types of displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures and was therefore introduced in our clinic. The aim of this study was to evaluate the lon

Do electric bicycles cause an increased injury risk compared to conventional bicycles? The potential impact of data visualisations and corresponding conclusions

The increasing number of bicycle crashes leading to injuries in the Netherlands is frequently related (e.g., in the media) to increased use of the electric bicycle. For this reason, policy makers face the challenge of selecting and implementing the most promising countermeasures including those focused on electric bicycles. It may be questioned, however, to what extent the electric bicycle itself is a (direct) cause of crashes leading to injuries or whether other factors are important for explaining the increased number of bicycle injury crashes. On the basis of an abbreviated list of criteria by Elvik (2011), this paper illustrates the potential influence of factor inclusions, analysis selections, and data presentations on the general impression about crash causation with the electric bicycle as an example. The aim is to provide a ‘best practice guide’ by taking into account (1) a theoretical explanation of causal mechanisms, (2) control for confounders, and (3) a statistical association of sufficient strength and consistency in the expected direction. We conclude that an apparent increased risk of electric bicycles may be explained by factors such as age, exposure, health factors, and gender of the cyclist. A relatively simple analysis, by comparing fatality numbers of conventional and electric bicycles, showed that including or excluding these factors may lead to vastly different interpretations of fatality causes and the relative risk of electric bicycles compared to conventional bicycles