Originally Posted by closetbiker

Accidents kill only 4% of people dying and motor vehicle accidents make up almost half of that total. Deaths on bicycles are a tiny slice (less than 1%) on par with falling out of bed and choking on food. Far more prevelant are choking on other objects (more people die choking on pens than crashing on bicycles here in Canada), dying in a fire, or falling down stairs.

Much larger in the picture (almost half of all deaths) are from conditions cycling helps prevent, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.

So people perceive one thing while reality paints a different picture.