This report looks at injury hospitalisations for pedal cyclists in 2015–16, as well as trend information for deaths and hospitalisations from 1999–00 to 2015–16.

In 2015–16:

• about 12,000 cyclists were hospitalised due to injuries sustained in a crash—this was 1 in 5 of the 60,000 people hospitalised due to injury in a land transport crash
• nearly 6 in 10 of hospitalised cyclists were injured in an on-road crash (6,900 or 58%), and the rest were injured off-road
• nearly 6 in 10 hospitalised cyclists had sustained a fracture, with the most common injury being a fractured upper limb.

Between 1999–00 and 2015–16:

• 651 cyclists died, an average of 38 deaths a year
• of cyclists who died, nearly 8 in 10 were aged 25 and over, and 9 in 10 were male
• nearly 160,000 cyclists were hospitalised, an average of more than 9,000 each year
• across all ages, the rate of hospitalisation rose by an average of 1.5% each year
• the proportion aged 25 and over rose, while the proportion aged under 25 fell
• modelling showed a non-statistically-significant decline in cyclist deaths of 1% per year.

Hospitalisation rates rose for cyclists, but fell for other road users

The overall rate of hospitalisation due to pedal cyclist injury rose between 1999–00 and 2015–16, though year-to-year fluctuations varied. The modelled trend for the whole period shows an average rate rise of 1.5% per year, though this rise was faster over the more recent 6-year period (an average increase of 4.4% per year).

This pattern differs from that for motor vehicle occupants, which fell by 1.3% per year, and for pedestrians, which fell by 2.2% per year.

While the hospitalisation rates of pedal cyclists for on-road and off-road crashes fluctuated over the 17 years, both rates recorded similar increases since 2010–11, of 4.7% per year for on-road and 4.3% for off-road.