briantrumpet
Legendary Member
- Location
- Devon & Die
Reading the thread here about another cyclist killed this weekend, I was at once struck by the sad inevitability of the statistics: four killed so far this year is roughly in line with what would be expected going on previous years' figures. But it also prompted me to look at the figures for Holland, so often held up as a model place for cycling. In 2010, Britain, with a population of 63 million, had 111 cycling fatalities (out of total of 1,850 road deaths); Holland, with a population of 17 million, had 162 cycling fatalities (out of a total of 640 road deaths).
In other words, in Holland, 25% of road deaths in 2010 were cyclists; in Britain, only 5% were cyclists. These are quite astounding statistics (unless my reading of them is horribly wrong), and does suggest that perhaps British drivers and traffic systems aren't as terrible as we sometimes make out.
That said, we mustn't be complacent. And though we know that we will never reduce the figure to zero (after all, this is a world where 150 people are killed a year by falling coconuts: accidents WILL happen), it doesn't absolve our society of the quest to reduce the dangers as far as we can.
In other words, in Holland, 25% of road deaths in 2010 were cyclists; in Britain, only 5% were cyclists. These are quite astounding statistics (unless my reading of them is horribly wrong), and does suggest that perhaps British drivers and traffic systems aren't as terrible as we sometimes make out.
That said, we mustn't be complacent. And though we know that we will never reduce the figure to zero (after all, this is a world where 150 people are killed a year by falling coconuts: accidents WILL happen), it doesn't absolve our society of the quest to reduce the dangers as far as we can.