4 February 2025
Ian Guy
[FYI request #29676 email]
Kia ora Ian
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-037385 Thank you for your email of 3 January 2025, requesting information about road cycling injury claims
under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Please find our responses to each of your questions below.
Our response
According to this press article https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/acc-pays-
165m-for-bay-of-plenty-road-cycling-mountain-biking-swimming-surfing-
claims/I7PJNATQBVHYTDOPT4SYBFAVVI/ It is stated that in the year 2023 there were 2706 ACC claims for 'road cycling' - this would
suggest that every day at least 6 claims are made in relation to an accident involving a road
cyclist; in comparison the article states there were 596 for mountain biking.
Please can you provide some detail as to how the figure of 2706 was calculated? Is this based on entries as per the ACC claim forms?
The 2706 figure for Bay of Plenty was taken from road cycling claims information which we produced
in November 2024. Please find a copy of this information attached (Appendix 1).
The information provided was derived from claim lodgement forms. The details of how the specific
claims were identified is provided in the Appendix 1 notes.
How many of these were actually involving 'road cyclists' as opposed to say, children falling off
a bicycle in a playground?
As mentioned in the notes tab in Appendix 1, the claims identified for that request were based on
specific information which is captured at claim lodgement. In collating that information we did not
review each claim individually to identify the specific circumstances of the accident. Specific detail
for each claim, to the level of children falling off a bicycle at a playground or similar, would require a
manual review of claims.
Furthermore, there is a free-text field on the ACC45 claim lodgement form where a person can provide
a brief description of how their accident happened. This field is not mandatory to complete and not
every client does so.
As such, we are refusing to provide this information as it would require substantial collation and
research. This decision has been made under section 18(f) of the Act. In doing so, we considered
extending our timeframe to respond and charging (as allowed under the Act). However, it was
1
determined that the resources required to extract the data would have a significant impact on the
everyday functions of the team(s) involved.
Instead, we have extracted further breakdowns related to the 2706 claims in 2023 for the Bay of Plenty
region, including accident scene and age. This may provide more insight into the circumstances of the
claims. Please see Tables 1 and 2 of Appendix 2.
How many of these were as a result of a motor vehicle striking a road cyclist?
We have extracted claims for road cyclists where there was a collision with a motor vehicle. Please
see Tables 3 and 4 within Appendix 2. We have provided claims for both all of New Zealand, and Bay of
Plenty, and claims from 2019 to 2024. Please refer to the notes tab when interpreting the data.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public ACC may publish a copy of this response on ACC’s website. All requester data, including your name
and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released response will be made available
www.acc.co.nz/resources/#/category/12
If you have any questions about this response, please get in touch You can email me at
[email address]. If you are not happy with this response, you
can also contact the Ombudsman via
[email address] or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Ngā mihi
Christopher Johnston
Manager Official Information Act Services Government Engagement
GOV-037385 Page 2 of 2
