Casualty risk of e-bike rider struck by passenger vehicle using China in-depth accident data

Objective: Traffic deaths involving e-bike (electric bike) riders are increasing in China. This study aims to quantitatively investigate the association between e-bike rider casualty and impact speed in electric bike-passenger vehicle collisions based on China in-depth accident study data. Methods: According to the collision location and driving direction of the e-bike and the vehicle, electric bike-passenger vehicle collisions are divided into five collision types: frontal collision, e-bike side collision, vehicle side collision, scrape collision and rear-end collision. Since e-bike side collision (the side of e-bike impacted with the front of vehicle) is the leading type and has the highest likelihood of severe or fatal injury in all collision types, e-bike side collisions are further selected to build the casualty risk functions of e-bike rider in relation to the rider age and the impact speed (vehicle impact speed and e-bike impact speed). Results: The analysis results show that, as for e-bike side collisions and e-bike impact speed is 20 km/h, the fatality risk of riders is approximately 2.9% at vehicle impact speed of 30 km/h, 23% at 50 km/h, 50% at 60 km/h, and 90% at 80 km/h. Rider age is also significantly associated with a higher risk of severe and fatality injury. The e-bike impact speed is not significantly associated with the severe and fatality risk in e-bike side collisions. Conclusions: The findings of this study provide meaningful insights to formulate effective policies especially for speed limit management to improve the safety of e-bikes.