Electronic bicycles seemed to be continuously going on the top trend of most used and purchased technology devices in the world. In 2013 on the US alone, Americans bought over 185,000 e-bikes in the market. Globally, the study shows that 130 million e-bikes are expected to be sold between the years 2020 and 2023. Research also stated that other electronic cars will be easily outnumbered by e-bikes riders for the next years to come.
However, despite all these positive researches, a study also shows that owners of the said device must be alarmed on using e-bikes more often. Why is that? Here's why.
E-Bikes Are More Dangerous--Why is that?
According to research published by Injury Prevention Research in Nov, the study shows that e-bikes are way more dangerous than what you think. From the year 2000 to 2017, researchers of the said firm created a comparative analysis of injury patterns and trends that has to do with riding these three in-demand types of vehicles: e-bikes, e-scooters, and bikes.
Based on them, 17 percent of persons using e-bikes are more likely to suffer from internal injuries compared to the traditional bikers and even e-scooters riders. The study also shows that e-bike riders have three times more likely to have collisions with pedestrians than either group.
More to that, several cases of e-bike injuries accounting to 3,075 per 10,000 vehicle accidents were actually reported. However, this is a much smaller rate compared to 130,797 involved powered-scooter accidents and 9.4 million pedal bicycle injuries.
Charles DiMaggio, the study's lead author, explained these findings. According to him, even though e-bike accidents had slimmer numbers compared to the two vehicles, the injuries that e-bike riders experienced with their accidents were said to be more serious when hospitalization occurs.
DiMaggio also shared that the speed of e-bikes compared to traditional bikes might be one of the factors why it is more accident-prone.
"With the power assist engaged, e-bikes are capable of speeds well over 20 miles (ca. 32 km) an hour," DiMaggio pointed out. "By contrast, average speeds for more traditional bikes like the New York City (rental) Citi Bikes are less than 10 miles (ca. 16 km) an hour. This near-doubling of potential speeds may be why e-bike injuries can be more serious," he said.
Anne Lusk, a research scientist at Harvard Chan School of Public Health in Boston, shared an interesting insight on why this study seemed to have more basis. As explained by her, the absence of bike lanes is mainly the reason why the numbers of accidents occur for e-bike riders.
Who's More Prone to E-Bike Accidents?
Since Americans seemed to love the idea of e-bikes everywhere, the rate of accidents involving this type of vehicle continues to rise. As a study founds out, the average age of 31.9 years old e-bike riders was more prone to accidents compared with 29.4 years with powered scooters and 25.2 years with traditional bikes.
Males were also more likely to be injured overall, accounting for 83.3% of e-bike injuries, 60% with powered scooters and 72.4% with pedal bicycles.
However, children that are 10-14 years old were more prone to accidents when they use powered scooters.
