Period covered
Year and severity
Age and gender
Time of day, day of week and month
Urban - rural split
Distance from home and road class
Collision types
Light and weather
Other vehicles involved
This report was produced 28-02-2014 and is based on the “stats19” police records of crashes, where the police either attended the scene of the crash or someone involved reported it to the police at a later date. The police do not attend all crashes and there is no legal requirement to report accidents (personal injury or otherwise) if details are exchanged by those involved at the scene.
This analysis extracts data from the reports of the 2960 cyclist casualties in Surrey that were recorded between 01-01-2008 and 31-10-2013.
Within this period there have been 400 cyclist casualties in Guildford, which is 13.5% of the County total. The casualties in Guildford occurred between 05-01-2008 and 26-10-2013.
The following definitions are from DfT Notes and Definitions pdf file
Serious injury: An injury for which a person is detained in hospital as an “in-patient”, or any of the following injuries whether or not they are detained in hospital: fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushings, burns (excluding friction burns), severe cuts, severe general shock requiring medical treatment and injuries causing death 30 or more days after the accident.
Slight injury: An injury of a minor character such as a sprain (including neck whiplash injury), bruise or cut which are not judged to be severe, or slight shock requiring roadside attention. This definition includes injuries not requiring medical treatment.
An injured casualty is recorded as seriously or slightly injured by the police on the basis of information available within a short time of the accident. This generally will not reflect the results of a medical examination, but may be influenced according to whether the casualty is hospitalised or not. Hospitalisation procedures will vary regionally.
Cyclist casualties by year and severity
| CasualtySeverity | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serious | 4 | 9 | 8 | 19 | 17 | 16 |
| 2 | Slight | 65 | 54 | 48 | 64 | 52 | 44 |
Of casualties of all ages, 78% are male.
Please note the low numbers on the y-axis for the 'by day of week and time of day' chart, as this analysis breaks down the total number of casualties in detail.
Urban areas are those defined by Ordnance Survey in their 'Meridian 2' dataset (the 'developed land use area'). Overall in Guildford:
Split between urban and rural casualties
| Number of Casualties | Urban or Rural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 108 | Rural |
| 2 | 292 | Urban |
Distance from home is measured 'as the crow flies' between the crash grid reference and a grid reference derived from the casualty's home postcode. The latter is not recorded in all stats19 records.
The following table shows the distance from home of each casualty in Guildford, along with the age and class of road where the crash occurred:
## Warning: Removed 1 rows containing missing values (geom_point).
Of the 354 instances in Guildford where distance from home was recorded, in 300 cases casualties were within 5km of their home. The number by class of road is shown below:
| Number of Casualties | Road Class | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 202 | A |
| 2 | 35 | B |
| 3 | 46 | C |
| 4 | 117 | D |
'Collision type' is not part of the police's stats19 form. Instead, the collision types have been derived from the description of each crash that does form part of the stats19 records. So, for example, the description, “Cyclist pulled his front brake too hard this caused him to fall off resulting in his injury” has been put in the category,“no other road user involved or collided with cycling companion”. The description, “V1 approached roundabout and stopped. Believing it to be clear V1 pulled onto roundabout and as got to left side was blinded by sun. V2 cyclist already cycling round roundabout hit V1 wing mirror making him fall off and hit the road” has been put in the category, “vehicle emerges from 'give way' junction or private access into path of cyclist”.
Although quite often there is not enough detail in the crash description to enable further classification, there is enough to be informative:
| number of casualties | Collision sub-type | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | insufficient detail in description |
| 2 | 12 | road surface irregularity |
| 3 | 11 | slippery surface (leaves, ice, debris) |
| 4 | 9 | collided with fixed object inc. kerb |
| 5 | 5 | lost control at speed or whilst braking |
| 6 | 4 | alcohol-impaired |
| 7 | 4 | collided with cycling companion |
| 8 | 4 | foreign object caught in wheel |
| 9 | 3 | crossing between footway and carriageway |
| 10 | 3 | mechanical failure |
| 11 | 2 | other |
| 12 | 1 | medical episode |
Although quite often there is not enough detail in the crash description to enable further classification, there is enough to be informative:
| number of casualties | Collision sub-type | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 33 | vehicle emerges from T-junction or crossroads |
| 2 | 30 | vehicle enters roundabout |
| 3 | 6 | cyclist on carriageway, vehicle emerges from private access |
| 4 | 2 | cyclist on footway or cycle path, vehicle emerges from drive |
| 5 | 2 | other |
Most cyclist casualties in Guildford occur in daylight:
| Number of Casualties | Day, Night and Streetlighting | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 135 | Day - Street Lights |
| 2 | 100 | Day - No Street Lights |
| 3 | 59 | Daylight |
| 4 | 52 | Dark - Street Lights - LIT |
| 5 | 33 | Day - Street Lights - unk |
| 6 | 10 | Dark - No Street Lights |
| 7 | 8 | Dark - Street Lights - unk |
| 8 | 2 | Dark - Street Lights - LIT |
| 9 | 1 | Dark - Street Lights -UNLIT |
As well as being in the light, most cyclist casualties occur in fine weather:
| Number of Casualties | Weather | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 323 | Fine (no high wind) |
| 2 | 32 | Raining (no high wind) |
| 3 | 30 | Unknown |
| 4 | 9 | Other weather |
| 5 | 4 | Fine with High Winds |
| 6 | 1 | Fog (or Mist if hazard) |
| 7 | 1 | Raining with High Winds |
As the table below shows, in collisions resulting in cyclist casualties in Guildford, cars are most often the other vehicle. 'No vehicle or not recorded' includes the instances when there was no other vehicle involved.
| Number of casualties | Other vehicle in collision | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 247 | Car |
| 2 | 103 | no vehicle or not recorded |
| 3 | 15 | Pedal Cycle |
| 4 | 11 | Goods vehicle 3.5 tonnes maximum gross weight (mgw) and under |
| 5 | 5 | Goods vehicle over 3.5 tonnes and under 7.5 tonnes mgw |
| 6 | 3 | Bus or coach (17 or more passenger seats) |
| 7 | 3 | Goods vehicle 7.5 tonnes mgw and over |
| 8 | 3 | Other Motor Vehicle |
| 9 | 3 | Van/Goods vehicle 3.5 tonnes maximum gross weight (mgw) and under |
| 10 | 1 | Car,V3 Car |
| 11 | 1 | Minibus (8 - 16 passenger seats) |
| 12 | 1 | Motorcycle 50cc and under |
| 13 | 1 | Motorcycle over 125cc and up to 500cc |
| 14 | 1 | Motorcycle over 500cc |
| 15 | 1 | Motorcycle over 50cc and up to 125cc |
| 16 | 1 | Ridden horse |