How Dangerous Is Cycling?

[Jezston]

Following the various threads where people have described accidents they've been involved in recently, it's made me wonder - how dangerous is cycling then? The only times I've ever come off my bike where once when I slipped on ice at walking pace and had a bit of a sore neck for a day or two, and once where I dismounted like an ass and fell over and was unscathed.

Is it actually really safe and accidents are rare, or is it just a matter of time before some plonker sends me to hospital?

 

[Theseus]

Depends on your definition for many or a few years, mine was at least 3, possibly 4 years ago so I am calling it many. Minor damage (scrapes) to bike, but a bit of road rash for me (pictures available on request)

 

[mark barker]

This forum presents a really bad impression of cycling... Accidents happen, but as they make a more interesting topic than "nothing happened again this morning", they tend to get written about a bit more. Its the same with all forums... If you visit a modified car forum you'd be forgiven for thinking that every car on the road is stopped on a daily basis by the police.

 

[fossyant]

Coming up to two years ago. Before that, quite some time.

 

[gaz]

If you look at my videos and think 'god there are a lot of crappy drivers out there that put cyclists at risks'. Then you would be correct but most of my commuting is done at rush hour in central london. I get passed by a massive amount of vehicles and most of them do nothing wrong. No point making videos about them.

I've only been hit once and that was a year ago.

There is a problem with this poll. Whilst it gives you a general idea about crashes and how often they might happen. You really need to take into consideration the amount of miles cycled p.a for each cyclist. If the people have never been hit only cycle 1 mile a year, then the vote doesn't weigh much.

 

[magnatom]

If by accident you mean hitting or being hit by something else, then I haven't had any accidents at all.....unless you count my gentle slide into the back of a car in the wet. It certainly wasn't dangerous so I wouldn't count that.

So no. Cycling isn't dangerous.

Now if you were to ask the question, do other road users do things that increase the risks for me, then the answer would be yes. Do I also sometimes make mistakes that increase my risk, yes. How does this compare to other risks that we all take in everyday life, I would suggest that the risks are pretty small for cycling.

 

[Hacienda71]

I'm not sure that I want to vote as I might be tempting fate!

 

[Amanda P]

Cycling's not dangerous.

Spending time in the same environment with a whole lot of nutters in motor vehicles, many of whom aren't fully paying attention to what they're doing has its risks though.

 

[ChrisKH]

Cycling per se isn't dangerous, it's the perception that cycling is a dangerous activity. Usually by non-cyclists.

Having said that, my personal experience is driving in my home town is more dangerous (ie an accident is inevitable over time) than riding in Central London. Mostly because the place is full of a-holes and riskier thoroughfares.

 

[ianrauk]

Last accident I had was last november due to a rlj.

Over 7500 cycling miles this year to date and no accidents

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Never - I do tend to fall off at least once a year though.

 

[buddha]

Both of my 'accidents' in the last year didn't involve other traffic and were mainly down to bad luck or lack of concentration: going down on black ice in a country lane and taking a corner too fast in windy conditions.

 

[Matthames]

If you were to read this forum you would generally get the idea that every motorist drives like a plank and that the roads are a very dangeous and hospitible place.

My general experience has been somewhat different. I do get the occasional idiot, but a lot of the time it is due to their bad driving practices that have crept in over the years. This is where I would see the value of additional driver training over the course of a drivers driving career.

 

[classic33]

There is a problem with this poll. Whilst it gives you a general idea about crashes and how often they might happen. You really need to take into consideration the amount of miles cycled p.a for each cyclist. If the people have never been hit only cycle 1 mile a year, then the vote doesn't weigh much.

Going on this basis, how bad does 1 in 50,000 miles sound.
Drink driver(no licence) in unisured car, no VED or MOT, who thought I was a bus, so decided to pull out onto the main road.

There have been a few deliberate attempts to force me off the road, no injury sufferred by myself in these.

 

[clarion]

Without the unwelcome and illegal intervention of motor vehicles, I would have had one off since 1987 (and that was when I pulled in to let a car go the other way along a narrow road).

Conclusion: It's not cycling that's unsafe; it's driving.