Characteristics, cycling patterns, and crash and injury experiences at baseline of a cohort of transport and recreational cyclists in New South Wales, Australia Poulos R.G. a, *, Hatfield J. b , Rissel C. c , Flack L.K a , Murphy S. a , Grzebieta R. b , McIntosh A.S. d a School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia b Transport and Road Safety Research Australia, Bar University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia c Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia d Australian Centre for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Australia A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 14 November 2014 Received in revised form 10 February 2015 Accepted 11 February 2015 Available online xxx Keywords: Accidents Wounds and injuries Bicycling Transportation Recreation A B S T R A C T This paper examines self-reported retrospective data for a 12 month period from 2038 adult cyclists from New South Wales (Australia), and compares cyclists according to whether they self-identify as riding mainly for transport or mainly for recreation. Statistically significant differences were found in the demographic characteristics, cycling patterns, and crash experiences between these two groups of cyclists. Transport cyclists tended to be younger, travel more days per week, and within morning and evening peak hours than recreational cyclists; recreational cyclists were more likely to identify fitness as a purpose for cycling. The proportion of cyclists experiencing a crash or crash-related injury in the previous 12 months was similar for transport and recreational cyclists, but there were differences in crash types and location which likely reflect different cycling environments. Heterogeneity within transport and recreational cyclists was also found, based on self-reported riding intensity. An understanding of the different cycling patterns and experiences of various types of cyclists is useful to inform road safety, transport and health promotion policy. ã 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction There are clear personal, social and environmental benefits of cycling, which increase as more people cycle (Dekoster and Schollaert, 1999). These include benefits for transport such as reduced congestion and demand for parking; environmental benefits, for example, reduced greenhouse gases, improved air quality and noise reduction; health benefits such as those associated with increasing physical activity; and social and economic benefits which include affordable transport and increased social interaction (Oja et al., 2011; Dekoster and Schollaert, 1999). In Australia, the proportion of the population that participates in cycling remains low, and data show that there has been a small but statistically significant decrease in participation between 2011 and 2013. The most recent national survey (2013) found that only 9.5% of adult Australians reported participating in cycling over the previous week (Munro, 2013). A similar survey in 2011 found that of those Australian adults who had cycled in the past week, just over one third (37.8%) had cycled for transport, with the remainder of cyclists having ridden solely for non-transport purposes (primarily recreation, leisure or sport) (Munro, 2011). In countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark where cycling participation levels are considerably higher than in Australia, cycling is a mainstream mode of transport (Pucher and Buehler, 2008). However, in other places like Australia and the United States, cycling continues to be mainly seen as means of recreation, rather than as a form of regular transport (Pucher and Buehler, 2008). Therefore, efforts to increase cycling participation in Australia are focused on increasing both transport and recreational cycling, with the National Cycling Strategy aiming to double cycling participation by Australians between 2011–2016 (Australian Bicycle Council, 2010). Effective promotion of both transport cycling and recreational cycling requires a good understanding of the factors which * Corresponding author at: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. Tel.: +61 2 9385 2519. E-mail address: r.poulos@unsw.edu.au (R.G. Poulos). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2015.02.008 0001-4575/ ã 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Accident Analysis and Prevention 78 (2015) 155–164 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Accident Analysis and Prevention journal homepage: www.else vie r.com/locate /aa p