Perspective on Cycling Safety

[Tuckervill]

:::Standing O!:::

I've been thinking about this thread for a while. Thank you, Mr. Silver for starting it.

First, where I'm coming from. I work in a rehab hospital and ride a bike (duh!).

I have noticed that at any time there area multiple people on "my" units that have been severely injured by a car. Not all, by any amount of means, but a bunch. There was a particular period when Younger Daughter was starting driving that there were 4 rooms on one hall with teen driving victims.

In addition to the auto injuries, we also get our share of heart problems, diabetes, renal failure and lung disease, among other problems. The stroke victims go to other units. A good number of these problems are lifestyle induced. I've yet to talk to one of these people who are active athletes.

In the six years I've worked there, I know of exactly one person in the whole hospital who was injured on his bike.

Now, I know that the plural of anecdote is not data, but gee, it seems as though bikes are a pretty safe lifestyle. (Note that I didn't say perfect. If people do it, there will be disasters. File this under Sad but True)

One other thing. This group keeps its members informed of cycling deaths and disasters pretty much world wide - as do other online cycling groups. It can look pretty scary, but do we inform each other of random strangers killed by cars? Or heart attacks? Or, well, 'most anything else?

So ride like you're invisible, don't do things that defy the laws of physics, wear your helmet, keep the rubber side down, and know that as long as you are actively cycling, running, walking, kayaking, Moving Your Body, fer the love of Pete! you will be less likely to have a Total Hospital Experience - which is No Fun. But don't let an idiot driver in, say, Perth keep you from riding in, say, Minnesota.

Don't let yourself be ruled by fear.

Oh, and stay out of the way of cars. Seriously.

/lecture.

Thank you, I feel much better now.

[OakLeaf]

Okay, obviously I phrased something wrong. I didn't mean to get on anybody's case or say that certain things "shouldn't" be talked about - what I meant is they aren't relevant. Talk about whatever you want. But I bet the person who posted the comment I replied to knows what I'm talking about, since they're obviously a motorcyclist too.

Re: "last clear chance," that's an old-fashioned legal term, but I meant it in a common usage sense. On a motorcycle, if you crash, it is ALWAYS your responsibility. You ALWAYS could have avoided it, no matter WHAT some car driver might or might not have done. (Sure there are exceptions, meteorites falling from the sky, pianos dropped out of skyscraper windows, things no one could possibly anticipate, but they're extremely rare.) On a much less powerful bicycle, that's not always the case. You're traveling much slower than (for example) the car that's turning left in front of you. You didn't necessarily have the option to not enter the intersection until they'd done whatever they were going to do - you may already have been in the intersection before they approached - and you definitely can't goose the throttle and go around them to the outside.

Other than the fact that we don't have a protective cage around us and we need to put a foot down when we stop (and we lean the *correct* way going around a turn) bicyclists and motorcyclists really don't have that much in common. (In a civilized country, I would have my velo and my moto, and nobody would be confused by them both being called "bike." ) Anybody who's crashed both motorcycles and bicycles (raising own hand wildly) can tell you that the dynamics are completely different. Bicycles throw you down to the ground, hard. Motorcycles do that (albeit in a different way) when you highside, but the much more common lowsides and impacts throw you in the direction of travel, and then the issue is mainly whether or not you hit anything solid in your path. And despite the fact that we wear protective gear on the same parts of our bodies (other than back protectors and earplugs, and let me tell you it took me a long time to get used to not putting in earplugs when I get on a bicycle), our gear just really gets subjected to different kinds of stresses and impacts. Honestly? Although I do neither, I would much rather ride a motorcycle without a helmet than a bicycle, precisely because when you crash a bicycle, it throws you down on your head, hard, whereas on a motorcycle you're much more likely to slide out on some less critical part.

When you're talking about fatalities, motorcycle fatalities in the present day are usually the result of somebody missing a turn and flying off the road, all by themselves. Bicycle accidents are unlikely to be fatal unless there's a car involved.

Mainly, I just got my back up about the comment that motorcycle fatalities are up because of car drivers' cell phone use. That stinks of ABATE sophistry and it is just plain not true. If bicycle fatalities are down, that's great, but we're on the same roads with the same phone-addicted SUV soccer moms, and somehow, we're surviving it when the motorcyclists aren't. /Soapbox off.