E-bike injuries on the rise even on well protected Dutch roads

Image: VeiligheidNL

According to a new study, e-bike riders have a higher risk of injury than riders on ordinary bicycles. More research is needed to identify the underlying causes.

The Netherlands has a lot of infrastructure designed to keep riders separated from other vehicle traffic. Bicycle safety is taught to children in school, and many cities have enjoyed bicycle-first cultures for decades.

According to the report, e-bike riders in the Netherlands were 1.6 times more likely to end up in the emergency room than an ordinary bicyclist. The percentage of injured riders on e- bikes was higher in 2016 than in 2015. The risk of an emergency visit for e-bike riders aged 12 to 17 increased by 22 percent. Almost half of e-bike victims were women over 55.

The main culprit in all bicycle injuries was the rider's own behavior, with 42% of them being steering errors. The majority of the accidents affected the rider. Cyclists were the majority of traffic victims in Dutch hospitals last year.

New riders were brought onto the roads for the first time with the increase in bicycle sales. In the Netherlands, electric bikes accounted for 52 percent of all bikes sold in 2021, up from 29 percent in 2016 and 15 percent in 2011. There has been an increase in e-bike injuries.

There were 582 deaths in traffic accidents in the Netherlands last year, the lowest level since 2015, according to a report by the Dutch national statistics office. There were 22 fewer cyclists killed in traffic accidents in the year after that.

As a resident of Amsterdam for more than two decades, I have seen how dedicated cycleways have been transformed by e- bikes. Due to the asshole factor, there is now a wider disparity of speeds on bicycle lanes, which is worsened by the many companies that make it trivial to circumvent the EU speed limit. Due to an increase in bicycle usage, the protected bike lanes are more congested. The Dutch don't wear helmets for vulnerable groups like children or the elderly, and officials aren't keen to mandate them because it might curtail bicycle usage.