Edinburgh Napier University

  Cycling infrastructure and, in particular, a well maintained pavement surface contributes to a safe and comfortable ride. However, defective pavement surfaces and insufficient maintenance can expose cyclists to excessive hand-arm vibration. Limited data is available regarding cyclists’ exposure to hand-arm vibration. Advances in low-cost electronics engineering has provided a range of vibration sensors and recording media. Instrumented probe bicycles can be constructed with low-cost apparatus to allow a broad range of data to be collected. Details of the design and construction of a low-cost hand-arm vibration measurement system are provided. Measurements comply with EN ISO 5339-1:2001 with a sample rate of 5 kHz and the application of frequency weighting filters (Wh). Partial exposure data (A(8)t ms-2 r.m.s.) are provided for a range of cycling infrastructure surfaces in Edinburgh. Preliminary findings of a medical screening survey (n = 555) are also presented. The results show that there is a potential public health issue associated with cycle delivery couriers, commuters and recreational cyclists riding on unsuitable and poorly maintained pavement surfaces for prolonged periods of time.