This document summarizes a study of bicycle accident fatalities in New Hampshire from 2003-2015. It finds that most victims were male over age 50. The highest numbers of accidents occurred in Rockingham and Hillsborough counties on sunny summer days. Half of victims wore helmets, while the other half did not. The majority (16) of accidents involved collisions with vehicles. The conclusion suggests that bicycle safety could be improved through more cautious riding, such as proper signaling and use of reflectors, especially at night. However, larger national studies are needed to make more accurate assessments of trends.

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Neil Laruan
Seacoast School of Technology
Exeter, New Hampshire
Bicycle Accidents in the State of New Hampshire

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Acknowledgement:
Kim Fallon: Officer of Chief Medical Examiner, Concord, NH
Table of Contents:
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..........3
Materials and Methods…………………………………………………………………………….3
Results:………………………………………………………………………………………….3-5
Graphs:
Gender………………………….………………………………………………….3
Age………………………………………………………………………………...3
Counties………………………………………………………………………...…4
Helmets……………………………………………………………………………4
Weather……………………………………………………………………………5
Incident Type………………………………………………………….….….……5
Months…………………………………………………………………….………5
Conclusion….………………………………………….………………………………………….6
References.….………………………………………….………………………………………….6

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Acknowledgement:
Kim Fallon: Officer of Chief Medical Examiner, Concord, NH
Carolyn Kelley: Biotechnology Instructor, Seacoast School of Technology, Exeter, NH
Introduction:
In the state of New Hampshire, it is common to see a lot of bicyclists around the warm
days after a long winter. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in
2013, there were 48,000 reported bicycle accidents. These include falls, Out of these accidents,
743 bicyclists were killed. States like California, Texas, and Florida had the most bicyclists
killed. This epidemiological investigation focuses on the trends on accidents only in the State of
New Hampshire. 25 cases were applicable throughout 2003-2015. This is done by reading and
analyzing confidential files such as the cause of death, time of day, and most importantly
wearing helmets as well as other important factors that led to the fatal accident. This research can
help improve and make regulations to ensure safety on bicyclist on the roads.
All the data has been collected from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner. This includes
storage for numerous boxes and cabinets full of files of each death case throughout the state of
New Hampshire. Each file includes, if applicable, death certificates, accident reports, autopsy
reports and other files written and signed by authorized officials.
Methods and Materials:
1. Collect files from database relating to bicycle deaths in the state of New Hampshire.
2. Reading through each file, analyze the specific interests, such as wearing helmets, COD,
time of day, drug use and age and inserting them into an Excel Spreadsheet or a similar
program.
3. With the data collected, interpret the data and create graphs.
4. Create a PowerPoint to present results formally.
Results:
Once all the data has been analyzed from the Excel Spreadsheet, the results shows the
following:
Out of the twenty-five cases, nineteen of them were male while six were females in which ages
over 50 to have the most deaths of fourteen.
Figure 1: Gender Figure 2: Age
Pie chart showing that they were more men who died in a
bicycle accident.
Pie chart showing the divisions of range of age on the accident.

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The locations of the accidents where split up by counties of New Hampshire. Rockingham and
Hillsborough had the most with a total of nine out of twenty five.
Figure 3: Counties
The main interest was to see whether the accident had the person wearing a helmet or not.
The results are about 50-50 as ten killed were wearing helmets while nine not wearing helmets
with six that are unknown.
Figure 4: Helmet
Pie chart showing the distribution of accident location in New Hampshire. Coos and Belknap had no cases from 2003-2015.
Pie chart showing if the bicyclist killed was wearing a helmet or not. The six unknown were
because the files on the specific cases didn’t specifyif they were wearing a helmet or not.

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Another area that was noted was the type of accident, time of the year and also the type of
weather the day of the accident was. As expected, the sunny summer days have the most
accidents while unflavored weather such as rainy cold days had the least.
Figure 5: Weather Figure 6: Type of Incident
Figure 7: Deaths per Month
Chart showing the different types of weather during the incident.
Pie chart showing the different ways the accidents occurs. The most
common with sixteen is with a crash with a vehicle while the rest are
accidents not involving another vehicle.
Bar graph visually showing all the number of deaths

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Conclusion:
As the results show, bicyclist accidents occur because of a combination of one or more
factors that cause the accident. The issue with helmets has been a recurring topic concerning
safety. A research from 2003 states that wearing them can reduce the risk of head injuries by
60%, showing they can be helpful. However, it has been claimed that wearing helmets increase
your risks of neck injury, as it will only protect areas of the skull and not any other areas on the
face. There have been many claims that the helmets being made today, ones with soft padding
on the inside and air holes to provide extra comfort have been said to be less effective than
older helmets with harder shell. This project can’t make very accurate observations, as the
sample size is very small. Having a higher number can make each data less significant as one
unusual result can change the whole analysis. However, this can help show that the majority of
these accidents are at the biker’s fault. The files read that many of the accidents, including
vehicle collision or falls, the bike either failed to signal their turn, riding their bike at the wrong
time such as riding without reflectors at night, and going downhill at uncontrollable speeds.
This somewhat shows that if a biker is very cautious about their safety and methods of riding
their bike, their chances of getting an accident should be very slim. Lastly, this project can be
broadened, using national data with each having specific details and factors; a more accurate
reading can be made. For example, if the 743 killed had all files read and analyzed, trends can
be seen more easily, and regulations and actions, such as increasing the biker’s lane, can be
effectively and wisely made.
References:
Boas, A. (2013, December 10). Bike helmets are less effective than we think. Retrieved January
11, 2016, from http://sciencenordic.com/bike-helmets-are-less-effective-we-think
Bicycles. (n.d.). Retrieved January 11, 2016, from http://www.nhtsa.gov/Bicycles