By Charles Pekow — More trail riding doesn’t automatically mean more injuries — at least not in Northwest Arkansas.
Researchers at the University of Arkansas found that even as bicycle use surged across the region, emergency room visits tied to bike crashes did not increase at the same rate.
The university operates the area’s only Level II trauma center. Between 2015 and 2019, trail use climbed 36 percent, yet admissions for bicycle crash victims did not rise proportionally.
In fact, just 1.9 percent of admitted trauma patients were injured while riding bicycles. Among the 191 bicycle-related cases reviewed, 82 percent involved male riders, and head trauma ranked as the most common injury pattern — findings consistent with prior research.
Researchers concluded: “No significant annual increase in bicycle-related hospitalizations, injury severity, or reported crashes from police data was observed despite greatly increased bicycle usage.”
They also emphasized that most serious bicycle injuries occur on roads, suggesting that shifting more riders onto dedicated trails may improve overall safety — a key consideration for transportation planners investing in cycling infrastructure.
Read the full study, Bicycle-Related Trauma Trends in a Region of Expanding Cycling Infrastructure, here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00031348251405546
