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Injuries resulting from bicycles, scooters, skateboards, and inline and roller skates account for more than 500,000 emergency room visits for children younger than 14 years.
Bicycle/Helmet Facts
- Head injury is the most common cause of serious disability and death in bicycle crashes.
- Bikes are associated with more childhood injuries than any other consumer product, except the automobile.
- Each year, the estimated number of bicycling head injuries requiring hospitalization exceeds the combined total head injury cases related to baseball, football, skateboards, kick scooters, horseback riding, snowboarding, ice hockey, inline skating, and lacrosse.
- Children and adolescents make up more than 20 percent of all bicycle-related deaths and nearly 60 percent of bicycle-related injuries.
- On average, some 250 children in the United States younger than 14 years die annually in bike crashes, while nearly 300,000 are treated in the emergency room.
- In 2005, children under 15 years of age accounted for 53 percent of bicycle injuries treated in emergency departments.
- In 2008, 107 bicyclists under 15 years of age were killed and 12,000 were injured.
- A properly worn bicycle helmet can reduce the risk of head injury by as much as 85 percent.
- A child wearing a poorly fitting helmet is twice as likely to suffer a head injury as one wearing a properly fitting helmet.
- Fewer than half of cyclists wear helmets all or most of the time.
- Non-helmeted riders are 14 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than helmeted riders.
- Direct costs of cyclists’ injuries are estimated at $81 million, and indirect costs are estimated at $2.3 billion.
- Head injuries account for more than 60 percent of bicycle-related deaths, more than two-thirds of bicycle-related hospital admissions, and about one-third of hospital emergency room visits for bicycling injuries.
Inline Skating Facts
- In 2002, nearly 36,300 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for inline skating-related injuries, and an estimated 28,400 were treated for roller skating-related injuries.
- Since 1992, at least 87 children ages 14 and under have died from inline skating injuries; the majority were from collisions with motor vehicles.
- Skaters instinctively extend their arms to prevent head impact; however, skaters commonly reach speeds of 10 to 17 mph or more. At high speed, arm strength is insufficient to prevent the head from hitting the ground.
- An estimated one-third of accidents could be prevented with the use of wrist guards.
Skateboard/Scooter Facts
- Skateboard-related injuries account for an estimated 50,000 emergency department visits and 1,500 hospitalizations among children and adolescents in the United States each year.
- Six out of 10 skateboarding injuries occur among children ages 14 and under.
- In 2002, nearly 51,300 children ages 14 and under were treated in hospital emergency rooms for non-powered scooter-related injuries. Children ages 5 to 14 accounted for nearly 75 percent of these injuries.
Sources: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, Children’s Safety Network the National Highway Safety Administration, Safe Kids USA, Snell Memorial Foundation, and American Academy of Pediatrics
Last Published: 10/21/2009 Print this page
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