Originally Posted by tarwheel

Your apprehension about riding on roads is very common, and there is nothing wrong with restricting your riding to trails. However, you are undoubtedly inflating the risks of riding on roads and missing a potentially rewarding activity. No activity is risk-free, and almost everyone engages in risky behavior that they minimize due to familiarity. Driving on roads is a prime example. People are so familiar with driving that they minimize the inherent risks, even though thousands of people are injured or killed in traffic accidents every day. In my opinion, cycling on roads is no more dangerous than driving -- assuming that you take proper precautions, just as a prudent driver would do...

As others pointed out, riding on trails is not risk free either. In some ways, riding on trails can be more dangerous if you let down your guard...

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

I once read a post on BF, with which I agree, that non-cyclists see street cycling as dangerous from the point of view of a car driver, and indeed, a bicycle does appear as a vulnerable vehicle from the driver’s seat of a heavy duty enclosed car. Yet for me and probably most cyclists, we usually feel pretty safe if attentive to our surroundings.