As the popularity of the fatbike amongst youngsters increases, so does the number of serious accidents in which a fatbike is involved. Recent investigation shows that young fatbikers are at greater risk of suffering severe injuries. Should there be an age limit for the fatbike and, if so, should it also apply to all e-bikes? Politicians don't agree.
Almost half of the victims of fatbike accidents that end up in A&E are under 16s. Photo © Holland-Cycling.com
Since the introduction of the e-bike over a decade ago, the number of accidents involving elderly cyclists - the first group to embrace the e-bike - has been reason for concern. With the rising popularity of the fatbike amongst youngsters, a new group of cyclists is ending up in A&E with serious injuries. How big is the problem and what needs to be done to stop this trend?
Investigation
To find out more, injury prevention knowledge centre VeiligheidNL asked every A&E in the Netherlands to register all the victims of a bike accident that came in for help during the first week of October. An inventory was made of the type of bike the victim was riding (fatbike, e-bike, or regular bike), the age group of the victim, what the injury was, whether it concerned the rider or a passenger, whether the victim was wearing a helmet and if hospitalisation or an operation was required.
The outcome of the investigation shows that safety on a fatbike is a greater problem than expected. In total 1,291 cyclists ended up in A&E; 96 victims were a rider or passenger on a fatbike, 480 victims rode an e-bike and 715 a regular bike, of which 31 had been involved in a collision with a fatbike.
The figure of 96 fatbikers needing to go to A&E might not seem much, but presuming it was an average week, that would mean 5000 fatbikers a year. "I think that is a lot," says director of VeiligheidNL Martijntje Bakker. "The outcome supports the necessity of measures to reverse this negative trend."
Under 16s
The most worrying part of the outcome is the age of the victims. Almost half of the fatbikers and just fewer than 10% of the 480 e-bikers that ended up in A&E were between 12 and 15 years old. "This is the first time that the total number of accidents involving under 16s on electric bikes exceeds those on other bikes," says David Baden, chairman of the Dutch Society for Emergency Doctors (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Spoedeisende Hulp Artsen). It doesn't help that only a tiny percentage of youngsters wear a helmet.
Not only is the number of serious accidents with fatbikes high, the injuries are also more severe. 22% of the fatbikers required further treatment. Marcel Aries from Doctors for Safe Cycling (Artsen voor Veilig Fietsen) is concerned: "We're not talking about cuts and grazes, but about real serious injuries, such as broken bones, brain haemorrhages and ruptures of the abdominal organs." In other words, injuries that might have life changing consequences for the victims.
Aries explains why the injuries among fatbikers under 16 are so serious. "In comparison to a regular bike or e-bike, the fatbike is a lot heaver vehicle and it's faster." Under 16s are "particularly vulnerable" as "this group youngsters has vulnerable brains and a vulnerable abdominal wall."
A fatbike can go up to 50 km/h. We are lucky that so far there haven't been lots of deaths." As "every victim is one too many, especially when it concerns children", he hopes that the outcome of the investigation will lead to an age limit of 16 years for all bikes with pedal support. That's the same age limit as for light mopeds and mopeds.
New measures
On medical grounds experts suggest there should be an age limit of 16 for all e-bikes. However, in September the Dutch Parliament already passed a motion on new legislation for the fatbike that would make a helmet compulsory and forbid children under 14 years (the age of compulsory identification in the Netherlands) to ride an e-bike with fat tyres. The motion states that the new rules should only apply to the fatbike and not all e-bikes, as nowadays children in rural areas who have to travel long distances to school, rely on their e-bike.
Transport Minister Barry Madlener has said he will study the proposal, but warns that, for legal reasons, new rules would have to apply to all bikes with pedal support. Technically a fatbike is nothing more than an all-terrain e-bike with broad tyres that is styled like a moped. Fatbike manufacturers who care less about safety than profits, have already said that if new legislation is introduced for the fatbike, they will simply offer new type of bike: the slimbike.
Illegal vehicles
Hopefully the Minister will take the outcome of the investigation by VeiligheidNL seriously and put safety first. He has implored parents not to buy a fatbike for children under 14. He has also said that a minimum age for fatbikes does not address the problem of illegally enhanced fatbikes that can exceed the legal speed limit of 25 km/h and don't require pedal support.
This summer, as many as 16,500 illegal and easy-to-modify fatbikes from Chinese manufacturers were confiscated. Their owners could easily, with a simple code or an app on their smartphone, enhance their maximum speed to 35 or 45 km/h.
"Their frame, brakes and tires have not been tested with, or been designed for these high speeds,” the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) said. “This leads to dangerous situations and a massive risk of accidents and injuries.” There is a “growing number of cheaper, unsafe and untested bikes (or mopeds) on the Dutch market.” It looks like the ‘big fat problem’ is not going to be solved any time soon.
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