Originally Posted by
Bicure
Wow - GREAT responses all!
It kind of reflects what I've come to believe, which is that despite our strong sense of vulnerability & profound awareness of the general insanity of kar kulture, biking is, on any measurable level, not significantly more dangerous than driving a car.
I considering the danger of cycling to involve the way in which one cycles (and that includes looking out for those who are not careful and avoiding them as you often can).
Check out this report on the death of cyclists.
http://www.helmets.org/bcstudy.htm
At the bottom, there are brief descriptions as to what the circumstances were that led to the deaths. I think any reasonable adult could have avoided the vast majority of them. If you could eliminate those tragically avoidable (stupid) deaths, there hardly would be a death toll at all. The fact that even if you include these incidents, and then consider just how many people ride, and the benefits still outweigh the risks, I'd have to wonder why all those people are taking the (by comparison) huge risk of driving everywhere.