Bicycle accidents and injuries

To determine the incidence of bicycle-related accidents and injuries in a given population 1,200 questionnaires were sent to a random sample of college students. Seventy-one percent of the students responded. Of the responders, 62% were bicyclists and 13% of these had been involved in an accident in the previous 1-year period. Sixty-two percent of those involved in an accident sustained an injury and 32% were significant enough to require medical attention. Only 8% of accidents were police-reported. If these trends hold true for other populations, studies based on hospital or police records fail to give a true picture of bicycle-related accidents and injuries.