Originally Posted by
PaulRivers
Except that there are 2 major considerations you didn't mention:
1. Cars are often travelling at 60-75mph, where as bikes and cars using the same streets are typically on streets where the speed limit is 25-40mph.
2. Cars always have to be on the streets, whereas bikes can be on separate bike-only bike trails. A biker going down at 20mph or hitting another bike head-on at that speed is bad, but 200lbs of biker + bike hitting something (perhaps another 200lbs of biker + bike) is very different than a 3,500 pound car hitting another 3,500 pound car.
If everyone is biking on streets with cars I could understand. I cannot believe that cars on streets have a worse fatality rate than bikes on bike paths. I would agree with what you're saying, theoretically, in car vs bike collisions.
How many people can commute to work entirely on bike paths? Mine is about 1/2 to 2/3rds and I think I'm fortunate that I can do that much.
Even though cars are often traveling at 60+ mph, my guess is that most collisions (car or bike) occur at intersections which are more frequent in areas where the speed limit is 25-45 mph.