Originally Posted by
njkayaker
It's a common rhetorical tactic to use the word "often" to make a problem appear worse than it is.
It's not exactly "honest".
If "only 10%" are the problem. it leads to the question of why you are ignoring the other 90%.
First, it's not "only 10%" (I said "even if [it's only 10%]", and, second, I'm not ignoring the other 90% (or whatever surely smaller-than-90% it is). As I originally said, "...and even where motorists were at fault some prudent defensive practices often would have saved the cyclists or pedestrians. " And in that case by "often" I believe it's "almost always". Yes, there are the crazy unpredictable situations with drivers driving up onto sidewalks or whatnot, but the vast majority of cyclist deaths where the motorist is at fault involve the well-known crash types (right hook, left cross, pullout, etc.) all of which have well-known practices for avoidance. Pedestrians who are hit when they have the right of way often could have avoided it by checking for red light runners, etc.