What characterizes bicycle and e-scooter accidents not included in official accident statistics? Lessons learned from the ReCyCLIST project in Agder, Norway
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55329/prfq7240Keywords:
bicycle and e-scooter accidents, infrastructure-related crashes, undereporting of accidentsAbstract
This study explores the characteristics of bicycle, e-bike, and e-scooter accidents that are not included in official Norwegian accident statistics, focusing on findings from the ReCyCLIST project in Agder County. Traditional accident reporting systems overlook most incidents involving vulnerable road users (VRUs), particularly single accidents, which represent the majority of such cases. ReCyCLIST introduced a digital self-reporting tool deployed in hospitals and clinics, collecting 671 accident cases between June 2022 and April 2024. The study analyses 487 incidents that occurred in traffic environments, revealing that 73% were single accidents, predominantly caused by infrastructure issues or loss of balance, rather than collisions. The data also highlight demographic differences in accident patterns by age, gender, and vehicle type. Notably, women were more frequently involved in e-scooter accidents, and men were overrepresented in racing bike collisions. Multivariate analysis shows that vehicle type, especially racing bikes, is a strong predictor of collisions. The findings emphasize the critical role of underreported single accidents and provide actionable insights for urban planning and policy development aimed at improving micromobility safety.
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Author Biographies
Torkel Bjørnskau, Institute of Transport Economics, Norway
Dr. Torkel Bjørnskau has more than 30 years’ experience in traffic and transport safety research at the Institute of Transport Economics. He has been involved in numerous research projects covering a broad range of safety relevant issues. Dr. Bjørnskau’s doctoral dissertation was on the application of game theoretical models to study road user interaction. Currently he leads two major projects for The Research Council of Norway, focusing on the underreporting and location mapping of accidents involving cyclists, pedestrians, and e-scooter riders.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing.
Ingeborg Storesund Hesjevoll, Institute of Transport Economics, Norway
Research psychologist Ingeborg Storesund Hesjevoll works with traffic safety and transport safety research at the Institute of Transport Economics, Norway. Her research interests include evaluation of measures, thematic analyses of accident statistics, the under-reporting of accidents and road user behaviour. She is involved in the work on the continuous updating of the Handbook of Road Safety Measures, and ample experience with survey research and systematic literature reviews for topics related to traffic safety, transport safety and resilience.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Software, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing.
Rikke Ingebrigtsen, Institute of Transport Economics, Norway
Dr. Rikke Ingebrigtsen received her PhD in Mathematical Sciences at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The doctoral work was within the field of spatial statistics. At the Institute of Transport Economics, she has been involved in research projects on traffic safety, urban planning, and transport modelling.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Software, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing.
Katrine Karlsen, Institute of Transport Economics, Norway
Research psychologist Katrine Karlsen works with active mobility and traffic safety research at the Institute of Transport Economics. Karlsen is currently a PhD-student at the University of Oslo and researches pedestrian risk perception and pedestrian accidents and their impact on walking behaviour and quality of life.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing.
Petr Pokorny, Institute of Transport Economics, Norway
Dr. Petr Pokorny is a traffic safety researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics. He has a Doctoral degree from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Trondheim) on topic of truck-cyclists safety. His current research focuses on video observations of interactions between automated vehicles and other road users in mixed urban traffic, evaluation of bicycle infrastructure measures and safety impact analyses of CCAM solutions for logistics (EU project MODI).
CRediT contribution: Investigation, Methodology, Resources.
Hanne Beate Sundfør, Institute of Transport Economics, Norway
Dr. Hanne Beate Sundfør received her PhD in Public Health from the University of Agder. The doctoral work was within the field of health effects of physical activity, in particular about effects of using regular vs. electric bicycles. Dr. Sundfør has for many years worked with active with active mobility and traffic safety research at the Institute of Transport Economics.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing.
Kjell Vegard Weyde, Institute of Transport Economics, Norway
Dr. Kjell Vegard Weyde holds a degree in Psychology (PsyD) from the University of Oslo (UiO). He completed his PhD at UiO and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) in 2018, titled ‘Environmental noise exposure and children's sleep and health—using the MoBa cohort’. He then worked as a Senior Research Fellow at NIPH, studying in utero exposure to metals and elements and the association with child health. He currently works as Research Psychologist at the Institute of Transport Economics, mainly with topics on traffic safety and topics related to cycling. Key interests also include epidemiology and statistical analyses.
CRediT contribution: Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing.
Odd Mjåland, Hospital of Southern Norway, Norway
Dr. Odd Mjåland, Consultant Surgeon, PhD, FRCS-England Scientific Research mainly in the field of Fast Track surgery (enhanced recovery after surgical procedures). His main hospital affiliation has been Oslo University Hospital and Sorlandet Hospital Trust. Dr. Mjåland is a bicycle enthusiast. He has published an article about in-hospital admitted bicyclist accidents at Sorlandet Hospital Trust. For the last 12 years he has had regular surgical missions in Low Income Countries. He took the initiative for the present project together with Torkel Bjørnskau.
CRediT contribution: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Torkel Bjørnskau, Ingeborg Storesund Hesjevoll, Rikke Ingebrigtsen, Katrine Karlsen, Petr Pokorny, Hanne Beate Sundfør, Kjell Vegard Weyde, Odd Mjåland
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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