Originally Posted by
Allister
... the number of cars isn't the only criteria. But as for the relative danger of rural/urban roads - it's not something that I think is a worthwhile line of contemplation. Once you start thinking a particular road is safe, or at least safer than another one, there's the danger of falling into complacency, and realistically, I think all roads deserve the same amount of vigilance.
No disagreement on behalf of the cyclists behavior, but I'd like to consider the educational aspect for motorists and policy makers. If on a per car basis, the stats demonstrate that rural motorists have much more reckless behavior than urban motorists, maybe we need to change the focus of education towards motorists in these areas...? As I'm presently in Whitehorse, Yukon, I notice motorists weave all over the road, over lane lines, just because they can basically. Also, multi-use paths here are falsely considered the safe option as at most of the shared intersections, the path is actually invisible from the stop sign location, either because of trees or dirt piles or 3D configuration in general... City planners have cut out huge swatches of nature in order to "give safety to other users" and yet, the place is more dangerous than before...