Originally Posted by
RubeRad
OK, you can give an anecdote, I can give an anecdote. I have a friend who lives just a few miles from work. Sometimes he jogs to work, but it's a hassle to deal with showering and clothes. I suggest to him biking, because a bike can have a rack or you can wear a backpack, and immediately his wife who is right there explodes "There's no way I could ever let him ride his bike to work, not on that road, the cars drive so fast, I would be in constant fear every day and eventually lose my husband yadda yadda yadda..."
This guy not biking, not because he's lazy (if he were lazy he'd bike instead of run!), he's not riding because of fear (and not even his!)
I already ceded above that laziness is certainly the #1 real underlying reason people don't bike. But fear is a real factor as well.
Technically he's not riding because of his wife's fear, so I really can't count that. My children and I don't get to do a lot of things due to my wife's (irrational) fears too.
Nevertheless, while our evidence is only anecdotal, I'd guess the vast majority of those driven by fear are really driven by laziness (or both), or they'd be jogging to work and we wouldn't be a nation where being overweight is the norm.