Slipping on ice found to be main cause of non-collision incidents

Slipping on ice has been found by the BetterByBike survey to be the single biggest cause of non-collision incidents. Previously focussed on respondents in the South West, the organisers now want to increase the sample size, so if you have incidents you can tell them about please visit the BetterByBike site and pass the link on to your friends. Non-collision incidents are interesting because while the majority cause no injury at all, they do cause more hospital admissions than collisions between pedal cycles and moving vehicles. Before the survey, people usually mentioned potholes, vehicles passing too close, alcohol, wet drain covers, slippy leaves and mechanical issues as being amongst the most common causes, yet slipping on ice was the single biggest cause reported in the study, accounting for 26% of all incidents. The next was slipping on wet roads - a long way back at 8%. Full analysis of the results has been published on Avonsafe's website.   For more information on cycling on ice, you might like to take a look at www.icebike.org - an American website dedicated to cycling in snow and ice that includes features on cycle clothing, bike handling skills and how to adapt bicycles to make them safer to use in these conditions by fitting studded tyres and extra wheels.