Study shows cyclists at greater risk of accident than car drivers

[BentMikey]

Yes it does - if you, as a regular cyclist, are likely to live on average 2 years longer than the rest of the population, it means that it's more dangerous not to cycle than it is to cycle.

 

[hackbike 666]

Does Debra Rolfe cycle?

If I get to 65 without copping it I think I would probably agree.

Till then.

 

[the reluctant cyclist]

I read somewhere that you should give a cyclist enough room when you are overtaking them for them to fall over and you still not squash them!!

I liked that one!

I think the HC should say "pretend the cyclist is a car at all times"

We would all be okay then!!!!

 

[hackbike 666]

That's the basis I look at it.As long as there are nutters in tin boxes I won't count my chickens as
jimboalee

quotes.

 

[Chamfus Flange]

The article is a little misleading. There stats are for cyclist and peds. There is no breakout for cyclist or peds, they are just lumped together. So the article show be headlined

"Roads should be made safer for cyclists AND PEDESTRIANS, hospital study suggests".

 

[hackbike 666]

Ok I never did see the answer for why have they taken away those railings at traffic lights in London?

Any ideas?

 

[jonesy]

Ok I never did see the answer for why have they taken away those railings at traffic lights in London?

Any ideas?

It's been answered several times. Railings present a risk of being trapped to cyclists, barring their escape route. They restrict pedestrian movements quite unnecessarily, treating people like farm animals. They encourage drivers (and some cyclists...) to go too fast and pay less attention as they assume no-one wil be in the road. And they uglify the street environment, treating it solely as providing passage for road vehicles rather than being places for people.

 

[hackbike 666]

It's been answered several times. Railings present a risk of being trapped to cyclists, barring their escape route. They restrict pedestrian movements quite unnecessarily, treating people like farm animals. They encourage drivers (and some cyclists...) to go too fast and pay less attention as they assume no-one wil be in the road. And they uglify the street environment, treating it solely as providing passage for road vehicles rather than being places for people.

Thankyou,now I know.

Only thing is they have been there for so long they were like part of the furniture.

It's strange to see something that has been there on my commute for the last twenty years suddenly disappear.

 

[Crankarm]

Debra Rolfe, campaigns co-ordinator of CTC, the national cyclists organisation, said: "It's important to remember that the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks by a factor of 20:1. Cyclists live two years longer than non-cyclists, have the health of someone 10 years younger and take 10% fewer sick days.

CTC's Safety in Numbers research has shown that in places where more people cycle the risks of cycling is lower. In order to get more people cycling, we need to address the fears that deter people from cycling."

Oh oh ................. the flawed CTC campaign again to boost their coffers.......get more people cycling and joining the CTC more like it.....

If cycling is so safe why oh why is this forum peppered with endless accounts of cyclists endangered by car, van, bus, coach, truck drivers, pedestrians and dogs? Eh??? Not to mention all our bretheren who have lost their lives this year on the UK's roads.

We've had this debate recently about the flawed view that cycling in the UK is a safe and enjoyable means of transport in this country and the flawed main campaign of the CTC "safety in numbers". Yes it is most of the time but only if you are constantly watching or observing second guessing the whole time what motons are doing.

Only last night in the heavy rain I had two chavs try and run me off the road again. One in a white Vauxhall banger who drove right up to my back wheel and blew the car's horn at length. Feck 'em I say.

People in the media writing these stories and those who compile these surveys/stats are clueless. How many miles a year do they cycle on UK's roads and where?

It's all very well being healthy and looking 10 years younger, but pretty useless if you are knocked down and killed in your prime .

 

[very-near]

According to ROSPA a cyclist is 25 times more likely to get seriously injured and a m/cyclist 51 times more seriously injured than a car driving occupant per KM traveled. Living life is risk at the end of the day.

We lose 2500 people on the roads in the UK for 30 million vehicles. India loses 100,000 for about 50 million vehicles each year. I think we don't do so bad given how bad it could be and is testament to the driving standard generally which the uk drivers attain.

 

[Crankarm]

According to ROSPA a cyclist is 25 times more likely to get seriously injured and a m/cyclist 51 times more seriously injured than a car driving occupant per KM traveled. Living life is risk at the end of the day.

We lose 2500 people on the roads in the UK for 30 million vehicles. India loses 100,000 for about 50 million vehicles each year. I think we don't do so bad given how bad it could be and is testament to the driving standard generally which the uk drivers attain.

So you saying losing 2500+ lives a year is acceptable for the freedom the motor vehicle gives us to make all those journeys ?

 

[very-near]

So you saying losing 2500+ lives a year is acceptable for the freedom the motor vehicle gives us to make all those journeys ?

What I am saying is that you cannot have vehicle movement without associated risk. If you banned the motor vehicle and everyone went by foot or cycle, it wouldn't be long until the peds started demanding the banning of the cycle - they are half way there already with this if you believe what is written in the papers about cyclists

 

[Crankarm]

What I am saying is that you cannot have vehicle movement without associated risk. If you banned the motor vehicle and everyone went by foot or cycle, it wouldn't be long until the peds started demanding the banning of the cycle - they are half way there already with this if you believe what is written in the papers about cyclists

A typical politician's answer .

 

[Arch]

Oh oh ................. the flawed CTC campaign again to boost their coffers.......get more people cycling and joining the CTC more like it.....

If cycling is so safe why oh why is this forum peppered with endless accounts of cyclists endangered by car, van, bus, coach, truck drivers, pedestrians and dogs? Eh??? Not to mention all our bretheren who have lost their lives this year on the UK's roads.

Because by and large, we only report the bad stuff. I could post every day, saying "Nothing much happened today", but that would be very very dull.

The point about cyclists living longer (and more importantly, to me, being more active and healthy for longer) is a statistical fact. For every person who dies, say, 20 years early, you only need 10 people to live 2 years longer to balance it out and 11 to tip the scales in the favour of cycling, and I can say (now, here's a jinx) that I know many more than 10 regular healthy cyclists, many of them fit and active at ages when others are starting to complain of 'old age' and not one, personally, who's been killed cycling.

The point is, that statisitics deal with the big picture. However distressing even one death is, it's outweighed in the totality of the data.

Of course, you have to decide if the increased health of many is 'worth' the damage to a few - in stark monetary terms it probably is, assuming that those who cycle would otherwise be costing the nation a fortune in healthcare due to obesity and so on. That's the choice that faces any social animal - herding saves many wildebeest, even if a few get picked off round the edges.

That's not to say of course that everything shouldn't be done to prevent deaths - it should.

 

[Alien8]

Cyclists live two years longer than non-cyclists, have the health of someone 10 years younger

How does that work then? Or is there not much correlation between health and when you die?