BICYCLE INJURIES IN A TROPICAL CITY (TOWNSVILLE)

On average, 3000 people each year are killed on our roads in Australia , and of these 85 (3.5%) are cyclists1. Townsville, Australia's larges t tropical city, is recognized by some authorities as Australia's numb er one cycle city2. Along with other major cities of Australia it has adopted the 4 E system for bicycle use (i.e. education, enforcement, e ngineering, and encouragement). Despite this, however, 254 cyclists we re injured in accidents, some seriously, over the 12 month period (Jun e 1987 to June 1988). We report the findings of a prospective study of the nature, causes and extent of those injuries.