Road characteristics and bicycle accidents

In Umea, Sweden, defects in the physical road surface contributed to nearly half of the single bicycle accidents. The total social cost of these injuries to people amount to at least SEK 20 million (SEK 60,000 or about USD 8,500 per accident), which corresponds to the estimated loss of ''eight life equivalents a year''. Improved winter maintenance seems to have the greatest injury prevention potential and would probably reduce the number of injuries considerably, whereas improved road quality and modification of kerbs would reduce the most severe injuries. A local traffic safety program should try to prevent road accidents instead of handling the consequences of them. In accordance with Parliament decisions on traffic we would like to see increased investment in measures favoring bicycle traffic, where cycling is seen as a solution, not as a problem.