Originally Posted by
closetbiker
some guesses are more accurate than others (for a number of reasons)
Obviously, but that one (how many miles and hours cyclists put in) has a
huge amount of uncertainty in it.
it sounds here like you are concurring that because of a cars speed, the car is a more dangerous vehicle.
That is a fine example of selective reading!
The speed makes a car more dangerous all around. The metal all around you, the seat belts, the air bags, the crumple zones, the safety glass, the padded dash, the collapsible steering wheel and similar things make it safer for the occupants. Overall, the statistics seem to show that you are more likely to survive a trip of a given distance if you go by car rather than bicycle. (And the statistics don't really look at injuries (as they're not carefully tracked), but I'll bet the odds of an injury are significantly higher on a bike.)
Now, this talks about safety for the occupant. For people not in the car, the increased speed makes it more dangerous. Most of the safety features don't help people outside, though anti-lock brakes (and more effective braking in general) and better lighting and the noise do help to some degree -- and the increased size hurts. But ultimately, when you decide how you're going to make your trip -- you get to decide how you get there, and you don't get to decide how everybody else gets around.