Three out of five wear a helmet when cycling
Published: Tuesday, Oct 29th 2024, 12:20
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Cycling helmets are on the rise. In 2024, an average of 59% of cyclists wore them - a new record. However, usage varies: people wear them most often in their leisure time, at 64%. When shopping, the figure is 30 percent.
This means that the carrying rate on shopping trips remained the same as in the previous year, as the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BFU) announced on Tuesday on the basis of its traffic survey. However, there was an increase of 13 percentage points for leisure time.
The helmet wear rate on electric bikes was still higher than on conventional steel bikes. On fast e-bikes with pedal assistance up to 45 km/h, 86 percent wore a helmet. This means that 14 percent disregarded the mandatory requirement. On the slower e-bikes up to 25 km/h and without a helmet requirement, 70 percent wore their head protection.
The BFU sees the development as positive, but regrets that the bicycle helmet is not as commonplace as the ski helmet. Helmets reduce the risk of serious head injuries by up to 70 percent, it wrote.
In contrast to wearing a helmet, according to the BFU there is a problem with the lights on e-bikes, which have been mandatory since 2022, even during the day. Almost one in three people on an e-bike did not switch on the light.
In addition to the bicycle helmet rate, seat belt use in the back seat also reached a new high in 2024. 92% of passengers buckled up. In the previous year, the figure was 85%. In the front seats, 96% of drivers and 95% of front-seat passengers complied with the seat belt requirement.
The AAIB collects standardized traffic data annually at various locations throughout Switzerland according to defined sampling plans.
©Keystone/SDA
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