Originally Posted by
John Forester 
There has never, to my knowledge, been a study specifically of this point. However, the general car-bike collision statistics (the Cross study) show that a great many more car-bike collisions are associated with cycling close to the edge of the roadway than are associated with, or reasonably caused by, taking the lane.
Originally Posted by
hagen2456
The measurements of overtaking clearance distance that Hagen believes demonstrate his statement "Unlikely" have nothing whatever to do with the general car-bike collision statistics to which I referred. Therefore, his claim that my statement is unlikely to be correct is supported by no evidence whatever. However, the great big problem in Hagen's discussion is why on Earth he happens to believe that these measurements of overtaking clearance distance have relevance to conclusions drawn from the general car-bike collision statistics? The two sets of data are just not comparable, yet Hagen evidently believes that they are.