Severe Bicycle Injuries

I read an interesting article pertaining to the severity of bike accidents being on the rise. With gas prices so high and the low economy, a lot more people are becoming more sensitive to the environment. Researchers at the University of Colorado, found that over the past 11 years, bike injuries have increased along with the severity of the injuries. Some of this is caused by bikers NOT wearing helments. (33 out of 329 bikers) Chest injuries, spleens, livers, rib fractures and internal bleeding are making hospital stays much longer. Denver is a biking community with great infrastructures and this study was conducted in Denver. The researchers came to one conclusion that the lack of good infrastructures may be an important part of this problem. They think if it is a big problem in Denver, that it has to be even larger for poor infrastructures. Dr. Kashuk would like to obtain funding to further this study nationally. He makes a point to say how far we have come with safer highways, so why not use just a small percentage of that money for bikers to be safe? "On a local and national level, people need to be aware of the fact that a push for bike transportation for the sake of health, the environment, and lower transportaion costs has real potential to raise medical costs because our infrastructure may not be ready for it, Dr. Kashuk said." ScienceDaily (October. 17, 2009)