Originally Posted by
HiYoSilver
Closetbiker,
Cute graphic, but misleading. "heart attack is the biggest killer" is garbage in, garbage out. When you look at the numbers the heart attack numbers are low until about age 70 or 80+. All people die. All doctors have to complete a death certificate. Unknown cause of death is "heart attack". The problem with this approach is accidents, etc with higher rates in younger people, is not addressed because there isn't a good lobby for it..
True, that graph is for everybody in the US and doesn't have much of a break down, but rest assured far more
young people (say below the age of 60) of heart disease than do on bikes. If those people did ride a bike, their chances of death would be far lower.
To the issue of brain injury, there is far too much focus on traumatic brain injury when acquired brain injury is a much larger problem. In my province there are about 1,000 strokes (by definition, brain injury) to people under the age of 60 and there are about 5 deaths to all cyclists. Is there a question on what is the bigger problem (particularly when cycling is one activity that could greatly reduce the chance of a stroke)?
But really, you're not arguing that accidents outweigh deaths by diseases are you? You can't be saying that the exercise inherent to cycling is of no benefit. Accidents make up a tiny portion of deaths and according to our national newspaper, there are more people who die from choking on ball point pens than die on bicycles, but I'd say if you're drunk, riding on the wrong side of the road in the middle of the night, dressed in black and with no lights, I'd concur the odds of dying on a bike would be greater than choking on that pen.