Via yesterdays Age (and few other places)
Regarding this article, and gender issues aside for a moment, probably the most important point is made in the last two sentences.
" .. The researchers also married hospital statistics with emergency reports over the period and found "significant under-reporting" to police.
"There's a real gap there, showing people will go to hospital but they don't necessarily alert authorities," Dr Dent said. .. "
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Boys dominate cycling accident figures
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Boys-dominate-cycling-accident-figures/2006/11/20/1163871313646.html
November 20, 2006 - 1:10PM
Boys riding bikes on the road and peak hour traffic make the most catastrophic combination for cycling accidents.
A Victorian study of emergency department records has found that almost half of all cycling accident victims are aged five to 15 years old.
And they are almost four times more likely to be male than female.
Melbourne researchers analysed 13,157 presentations to the state's hospitals in 2004 and 2005 for a comprehensive look at who hurts themselves on bikes, when and what kind of injuries they sustain.
Overall, almost 80 per cent of victims were male, and most were aged between five and 39 years.
"Young men are at a far higher risk of injury," said lead researcher Dr Mark Dent, from Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Most injuries occurred between 6am and 9am or between 3pm and 6pm during the warmer months of the year.
"These seem to be the times that more people are likely to ride bikes so I guess it makes sense that they're more likely have accidents then too," Dr Dent said.
More than half of accidents happened on the road, with about 15 per cent in sport and recreation areas, and 18 per cent at home.
"That's mostly the under fives falling off their bikes in the backyard," he said.
The study, presented as a poster at the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine conference in Sydney this week, showed just over 70 per cent of the injuries were minor.
The rest were regarded as serious, and one per cent were fatal.
Victims were most likely to hurt their arms, most commonly a fracture, followed by leg injuries, usually cuts and open wounds.
The head or neck was injured in almost one in five accidents.
The researchers also married hospital statistics with emergency reports over the period and found "significant under-reporting" to police.
"There's a real gap there, showing people will go to hospital but they don't necessarily alert authorities," Dr Dent said.