Crash typology of professional cycling crashes
(2026) In Accident Analysis and Prevention 225.- Abstract
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a frequent but underreported consequence of professional cycling crashes, yet current helmet testing standards primarily simulate head-first impacts, and their representation of real-world head impact scenarios is unclear. This study explores crash typology of professional cycling crashes involving head-ground contact through systematic video analysis of 128 head impacts occurring between 2012 and 2024. Most head impacts occurred during road races (113/128, 88 %) and were associated with multi-cyclist collisions rather than single-cyclist crashes, with topple-over crashes representing the most common mechanism (49 %), followed by skid-outs. Riders predominantly landed front or front-side relative to... (More)
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a frequent but underreported consequence of professional cycling crashes, yet current helmet testing standards primarily simulate head-first impacts, and their representation of real-world head impact scenarios is unclear. This study explores crash typology of professional cycling crashes involving head-ground contact through systematic video analysis of 128 head impacts occurring between 2012 and 2024. Most head impacts occurred during road races (113/128, 88 %) and were associated with multi-cyclist collisions rather than single-cyclist crashes, with topple-over crashes representing the most common mechanism (49 %), followed by skid-outs. Riders predominantly landed front or front-side relative to their direction of travel, with 66 % of impacts occurring in a sideways body posture, and head contact most frequently involved the helmet's side and rim regions (>50 % of impacts). Notably, body-first head impacts dominated the crash profiles (92 %), with the torso or arms contacting the ground before the head, while direct head-first impacts comprised 8 % of cases. Impact severity was distributed relatively evenly across low (30 %), medium (33 %), and high (36 %) categories, with collision-related crashes being more likely to result in high-severity outcomes than non-contact crashes. These findings reveal a potential mismatch between current helmet testing protocols and the predominant mechanisms observed in professional cycling crashes. Video-based analysis provides critical insights into impact mechanisms that are overlooked by traditional injury reporting methods, particularly highlighting the prevalence of body-first impacts and side-rim head impacts. This crash typology may provide a foundation for future biomechanical studies and could support the development of helmet testing methods that better represent real-world cycling impact scenarios.
(Less)
- author
- Krbavac, Benjamin P. ; England, Rory ; Mitchell, Séan ; Sherratt, Paul ; Gildea, Kevin LU and Farmer, Jon
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-02
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Body-first impact mechanisms, Cycling crash typology, Helmet testing standards, Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), Video-based injury surveillance
- in
- Accident Analysis and Prevention
- volume
- 225
- article number
- 108332
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105023490837
- pmid:41344020
- ISSN
- 0001-4575
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.aap.2025.108332
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9ef2eda2-9929-419a-9d5a-c265f269a172
- date added to LUP
- 2026-02-16 10:37:02
- date last changed
- 2026-03-16 13:03:56
@article{9ef2eda2-9929-419a-9d5a-c265f269a172,
abstract = {{<p>Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a frequent but underreported consequence of professional cycling crashes, yet current helmet testing standards primarily simulate head-first impacts, and their representation of real-world head impact scenarios is unclear. This study explores crash typology of professional cycling crashes involving head-ground contact through systematic video analysis of 128 head impacts occurring between 2012 and 2024. Most head impacts occurred during road races (113/128, 88 %) and were associated with multi-cyclist collisions rather than single-cyclist crashes, with topple-over crashes representing the most common mechanism (49 %), followed by skid-outs. Riders predominantly landed front or front-side relative to their direction of travel, with 66 % of impacts occurring in a sideways body posture, and head contact most frequently involved the helmet's side and rim regions (>50 % of impacts). Notably, body-first head impacts dominated the crash profiles (92 %), with the torso or arms contacting the ground before the head, while direct head-first impacts comprised 8 % of cases. Impact severity was distributed relatively evenly across low (30 %), medium (33 %), and high (36 %) categories, with collision-related crashes being more likely to result in high-severity outcomes than non-contact crashes. These findings reveal a potential mismatch between current helmet testing protocols and the predominant mechanisms observed in professional cycling crashes. Video-based analysis provides critical insights into impact mechanisms that are overlooked by traditional injury reporting methods, particularly highlighting the prevalence of body-first impacts and side-rim head impacts. This crash typology may provide a foundation for future biomechanical studies and could support the development of helmet testing methods that better represent real-world cycling impact scenarios.</p>}},
author = {{Krbavac, Benjamin P. and England, Rory and Mitchell, Séan and Sherratt, Paul and Gildea, Kevin and Farmer, Jon}},
issn = {{0001-4575}},
keywords = {{Body-first impact mechanisms; Cycling crash typology; Helmet testing standards; Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI); Video-based injury surveillance}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Accident Analysis and Prevention}},
title = {{Crash typology of professional cycling crashes}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2025.108332}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.aap.2025.108332}},
volume = {{225}},
year = {{2026}},
}