woman cyclists more likely to have accidents?

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theclaud

Openly Marxist
Location
Swansea
Bradley Wiggins himself recommends the occasional wobble for exactly that reason.

Yebbut he talks cobblers about road safety. :smile:
 
It's an odd one, this. The usual shortcomings of anecdote and observation apply, whilst the evidence is simultaneously striking and inconclusive. That we have a culture that rewards assertiveness in men and punishes it in women seems obvious, and it is a small leap from this observation to conclude that, in general, we produce men who tend to be more assertive than their female counterparts...

Edited for brevity.

My daughter, 18 and just back from a year overseas, is I think an assertive and confident cyclist.

She missed bicycles while overseas and is enjoying getting back on.

I hope that society doesn't punish her for being confident and assertive.

I sometimes wish she was a little less assertive and a little more inclined to use a vacuum cleaner, but that may just be my middle age and her teenagerness.
 

theclaud

Openly Marxist
Location
Swansea
Edited for brevity.

My daughter, 18 and just back from a year overseas, is I think an assertive and confident cyclist.

She missed bicycles while overseas and is enjoying getting back on.

I hope that society doesn't punish her for being confident and assertive.

I sometimes wish she was a little less assertive and a little more inclined to use a vacuum cleaner, but that may just be my middle age and her teenagerness.

That's a bit rich!

I applaud her aversion to vacuum cleaners, and I'm pleased to hear about her confidence on the road. As I said, I think this will work to her advantage - I'm merely pointing out that, whilst things are getting better in many respects, there is often a backlash. When people comment on incidents in which women are killed (by lorries) there is often a lot of speculation about whether their road behaviour was sufficiently assertive. Whilst there are also (quite rightly) questions raised about how lorry drivers interact with cyclists, I rarely hear anyone wondering aloud whether a driver might have behaved differently towards a cyclist because of her sex.
 
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