Originally Posted by Helmet Head
The irony is that the better you get at defending against hits-from-elsewhere, the lower becomes the difference between the two probabilities.
Agreed.
Originally Posted by Helmet Head
But the hit-from-behind possibility remains fairly constant no matter what you do, short of not getting on the bike in the first place.
No, as soon as you move from the sidewalk to the road your hit from behind possibility increases from near zero to some unknown but certainly non zero value. Sidewalk riders know this which is one of the reasons they select the sidewalk (while being ingnorant of or working around the much increased hit from everywhere else scenario, while avoiding only a very small accident scenario, not a good trade off)
Originally Posted by Helmet Head
Why worry about something over which you have no practical or reasonable control, and the probability of which is neglible anyway?
I am not worried about it per se, but it needs to be better understood
with data what the chance of being hit from behind is if one rides in center of lanes vs. to the right. VC proponents have no data, only thought experiments, that suggest that riding further into the lane is safer from a hit from behind perspective.
BUT - I understand you point that even if there is a slight difference in chance of being hit from rear between center of lane vs. right side of lane, that being hit from behind is rare enough so as not to be a consideration as to riding on the road or not - i.e. relative to other scenarios it should be low on the list of concerns.
Al