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A number of members of the Calgary biking neighborhood say they imagine elevated ridership may very well be driving a rise in bike-related accidents in Alberta between 2020 and 2021.

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The Canadian Institute for Well being Info (CIHI) launched knowledge exhibiting that between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, the variety of hospitalizations for biking accidents in Alberta jumped to 813 from 595, a 37 per cent improve over the earlier yr. Throughout the identical time interval, the variety of emergency-room visits for biking accidents rose to just about 13,000, up from 8,734. 

Hank Hansen, bike store supervisor at Two Wheel View, stated he hasn’t heard of or seen a rise within the variety of reported accidents or bike accidents regionally. He stated the leap in hospitalizations might stem from extra folks driving bikes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“From the early days of the pandemic up till now, there’s been an actual elevated curiosity in biking, each for recreation and for transportation functions,” stated Hansen. “I think about that the numbers by way of accidents are most likely in fairly shut proportion to an elevated variety of folks which can be out biking.”

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The CIHI knowledge reveals that the rise in accidents was not particular to Alberta — throughout Canada, hospitalizations from biking accidents elevated to 5,255 from 4,190, a 25 per cent improve.

Bob Grunewald, advertising director for Bow Cycle, stated the actual fact Alberta’s improve was bigger than the nationwide leap could also be attributed to the actual fact that there have been fewer restrictions in place for a lot of the pandemic within the western province than in locations equivalent to Ontario and Quebec.

“In Ontario and Quebec, for those who had a motorbike, you’re good, but it surely was very troublesome to get a motorbike as a result of a whole lot of the retailers had been shut down,” stated Grunewald. “We most likely had a greater progress of biking or extra bicycle gross sales.”

Grunewald stated he additionally believed that elevated ridership most likely had a big impact on the elevated variety of accidents, noting he had not heard of a rise in folks getting harm.

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Hanson additionally identified that biking infrastructure has sometimes lagged behind ridership numbers throughout North America and that the pandemic improve in riders might have exacerbated congestion.

“Infrastructure can’t sustain, and if it was already in want of some enchancment earlier than it’s definitely going to take time to catch as much as to the wants of extra folks out driving,” stated Hansen.

Hansen stated riders must be conscious of others whereas driving on shared paths but additionally famous drivers must be conscious that there are extra cyclists on the highway.

EMS spokesman Stuart Brideaux urged Calgarians to put on a helmet whereas they trip and bike inside their limits. He stated most of the metropolis’s pathways have posted pace limits that should be adopted, and urged everybody to get their bikes inspected and tuned up in the event that they haven’t already.

CIHI representatives had been unavailable to touch upon the newest knowledge Tuesday.

dshort@postmedia.com