How Safe Is Cycling in the UK Today?

[jarlrmai]

Safer than it feels sometimes.

 

[Chris S]

Apparently it's safer than gardening.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/jun/29/bike-blog-cycling-safety

 

[srw]

How Safe? An impossible question to answer, but it is quite clear that the UK has failed to improve safety for cyclists to the same extent as improvements have been made in motor vehicle occupant safety.

Is it? I assume you've got some solid evidence to back up this quite startling and definitive claim?

 

[rualexander]

I like this graphical representation of the risks of cycling http://www.gicentre.net/blog/2013/11/24/risk-cycling-and-denominator-neglect

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Is it? I assume you've got some solid evidence to back up this quite startling and definitive claim?

It doesn't seem startling to me. While I don't have figures to hand, passenger and driver safety have consistently improved - seat belts, air bags, crumple zones, all that paraphernalia. The bike rider's chief protection is little more than his or her wits. And a glance at the star ratings on euroncap's pages (http://www.euroncap.com/home.aspx) will show how all the red dangerous bits on cars are now on the outside of the car. Danger has, to a large extent, been exported.

 

[srw]

It doesn't seem startling to me. While I don't have figures to hand, passenger and driver safety have consistently improved - seat belts, air bags, crumple zones, all that paraphernalia. The bike rider's chief protection is little more than his or her wits. And a glance at the star ratings on euroncap's pages (http://www.euroncap.com/home.aspx) will show how all the red dangerous bits on cars are now on the outside of the car. Danger has, to a large extent, been exported.

Well. I did a trawl which showed bike casualty rates falling by 75% since 1970, and motor casualties falling by the same proportion. I got bored at that point, and will bore even myself if I bat on one more time about the difficulty of estimating cycling distances, and thought that the poster might like to justify his assertion.

I'll happily accept that to some extent danger has been exported, but by and large increases in the safety of road traffic has been good for all road users, not just those encased in metal. That's not supposition, that's data.

 

[John the Monkey]

Safer than it feels sometimes.

Yup. Safe, but pretty shoot at times would be my assessment, especially for the commuter.

The degree to which one has to compensate for the impatience, inattention, and occasionally malice of drivers limits the appeal, as does the idiocy of "facilities" designed by people who give every appearance of never having seen a bicycle, let alone tried to ride one to actually get somewhere.

Things may well be different in other parts of the country, however. (I've ridden in London exactly twice - once was very pleasant, the second time I was nearly wiped out twice by f*ckwit taxi drivers anxious for their vehicle to occupy a space I was currently occupying).

EDIT: Ha! Pretty shoot eh? Well, it doesn't lose the alliteration, I guess.

 

[fossyant]

Wot he said ^.

 

[psmiffy]

In the UK I feel pretty safe - but I dont ride on trunk roads these days which I did when I was younger - in big towns and cities you have to be on your game all the while - but that was the same when I was a kid. I think these days that it is not so much the standard of the driving that concerns me (I can mitigate against that by riding in a smart way) so much as that there is small malevolent minority of drivers.

 

[snorri]

I'll happily accept that to some extent danger has been exported, but by and large increases in the safety of road traffic has been good for all road users, not just those encased in metal. That's not supposition, that's data.

Provide a reference for the data please.

 

[fossyant]

Commuting is a different kettle of fish. Just getting back to normal after my recent smash. Just glad I ride so much, the other fella that came off smashed his elbow to bits. Never ever put your arms out. I feel like a crash test dummy.