Road safety : how to avoid the falls of bike due to the rails

Screenshot (University of Tennessee)

Published the 14.08.2017 at 14h53

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No, this is not an April fool’s joke in the middle of August. Us researchers from the university of Tennessee have studied the angle with which one must approach the rails by bike, to avoid falls. They have even published their results in a scientific journal, the Journal of transport & health, a publication of serious.

Scientists have analyzed the passages of cycling at a crossroads with a railway line, which requires a crossing of the rails with a small angle. Thanks to a camera installed on the crossing, they observed the comings and goings for two months, which represents 2 000 crossings and 32 falls, sometimes heavy !

Two-thirds of cyclists are affected

Their conclusions : the critical angle is 30 °. In short, the risks of falling are important. Beyond that, they are weaker, and become zero for an angle of attack of 60 °.

The study may lend to the laughter, but the risk is real. If there is little research on bicycle accidents caused by the crossing of the rails of trains or trams (sic!), the surveys carried out show that many cyclists have been the victims.

A survey conducted in Portland (United States) had shown that two-thirds of the more than 1 500 people surveyed had already fallen across the tracks. Another, conducted in Switzerland on the users of electric bikes, found that 22 % of the injuries occurred after a fall linked to the crossing of tram tracks. And sometimes it is the main cause of falls among the urban cyclists.