When I find out a cyclist has died in my area

[Cathryn]

This is the rational response 👍

But don't forget that it is normal to also have the irrational responses - like sadness and fear - too. They will pass in time.

It's normal AND GOOD. We should never stop being affected by the death of others, even as we have to go on living. It's part of being human.

 

[rogerzilla]

This is in no way a reference to the cyclist in the OP.

When you allow for all the cyclists with no lights at night, the kids riding straight out into the road, the Deliveroo riders trying to make as much money as possible, the red light jumpers, the dozy ones who weave all over the road, the ones with a dog pulling on a lead and the ones texting, the odds look a lot better for anyone who is even averagely careful.

 

[hatler]

To put cycling safety into perspective this is always worth a read - https://www.gicentre.net/blog/2013/11/24/risk-cycling-and-denominator-neglect

 

[davidphilips]

There have been quite a few cyclists killed on roads very close to where i live and on 2 of the places there are what you call ghost bikes and on another flowers, still can not pass them with out thinking about what happened i did know one of the cyclists, sobering thought, yet some drivers still cut very close even close to the accident spots, just cycle as safe as you can.

 

[Edwardoka]

It's tough. There was a rider killed not that far from here a couple of years ago and there was a vigil held for them. I think about them every time I go past the ghost bike.

13 years ago I lived in a rural village, and I should have been killed on the unlit A-road when someone drove through me from behind (I was well lit, as evidenced by all the cars and the bus that overtook me safely), and a few months later I ended up having to commute along that same road - it was very unnerving every time, but in the end you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it, since there was no alternative route, it was either that or give up.

Now, years later, I can't even look at that road on streetview without feeling nauseous. I certainly won't ride it again.

It took going on an organised night ride with other CCers/YACFers to make me comfortable with riding at night again.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The reaction to the death is emotional where as looking at statistics is a logic and probability assessment. It’s the emotional side that needs to have it’s time . It’s natural to feel some kinship if it was local and on a route you regularly ride.

 

[Sharky]

I've ridden the odd time trial over the years, some with U turns on busy roads, dual carriage ways (E72, 02) and sometimes you hear of riders being killed. Makes you think that following a sport you love, at early O'clock on a Sunday morning and if luck was against you you might not return.

Only happened once in a race I was in. A rider 20 minutes or so in front of me went into the back of a parked car. I passed him lying in the road with people standing round. I still remember seeing a very shocked father at the finish. Something I will always remember.

But these fatalities are rare. In over 50 years and almost 500 TT events for for only one fatality, the chances of it happening is pretty low.

 

[Drago]

Mile for mile, cycling is less likely to kill you than walking. This is why I drive my car around Millets.

 

[HMS_Dave]

Mile for mile, cycling is less likely to kill you than walking. This is why I drive my car around Millets.

Did you really link that to an affliate?

 

[cougie uk]

As I get older there's some roads I just won't ride down. I'm usually out for leisure so it's not important to me if I ride a slightly longer route. .
Fast high speed dual carriageways aren't for me. They were better a few decades ago with less traffic and no mobile phones.

 

[Gixxerman]

I had a similar experience whilst winter climbing in Scotland once. We were climbing Red Gully in Coire an t-Sneachda in the Cairngorms, and a solo climber fell from the top of Aladdin's Couloir and fell 120m or so to the bottom of the gulley to our left. I heard a rustling / flapping noise and couldn't figure out what it was at the time. Then we heard the rescue helicopter. We looked down from the summit of the climb and saw a group a people stood round a person laid on the snow and realised that something bad had happened. We later found out that a lad who was staying at the same bunkhouse as us was at the bottom of the gulley he fell down and he told us that he was still alive when he got to him, but he sadly died after a few minutes. We had the same feeling as you. Knowing that we were so close to some pour sole who had fallen to his death was very sobering. We had actually planned to do the same climb he fell off later that week, but we just couldn't face it. So we went to a different face to do some climbs instead.

 

[Drago]

Look how many people die on the toilet. Doesn't stop us when we need to go.

To be fair though, we are only human and an emotional response is understandable at times.

 

[Once a Wheeler]

Statistics suggest that by riding more oneself, one helps to protect other cyclists. This is from RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents):

The concept of safety in numbers… was first demonstrated by Smeed in 1949 with regard to motor vehicles. Smeed argued that data from 62 countries indicated that the number of road fatalities per vehicle was lower in countries with more driving. This concept is now also being applied to cycling. Research by Jacobsen (2003) suggests that when more cyclists are on the road, there are fewer collisions, with data indicating that this is the case in The Netherlands, California and Denmark.​

So when you pass an accident scene, offer up a lament under your breath, and add more kilometres to your ride. The more kilometres we ride, the more we protect each other. Cycling itself is not just personal fulfilment, it is also an act of kindness and care towards all who cycle.
https://www.rospa.com/road-safety/advice/cyclists-and-motorcyclists/accident-rates