Originally Posted by
Road Fan
So, TG, if you're not willing to capture any of this normalizing information, what is the value of just knowing how many cyclist fatalities occurred and their breakdown? How do you expect this to result in motivating anyone, and to what?
As I said in my last post when responding to the question "why did I post the links and information?": for awareness.
The IIHS & NHTSA FARS data are data sources (period). However, it's a data source that's used extensively, e.g., the IIHS data is based on FARS and the NHTSA has a hand in quite a few bicycle safety programs that feed off of their annual data and trends; more info
HERE.
I don't disagree that there needs to be a lot more data fed into a normalized data base to get more meaningful information and there are resources on the Web that do that for various different countries. However, it was not my intent to delve into that.
My interest in the FARS data actually comes from being a motorcyclist as well as a cyclist and making a point of trying to stay abreast of the motorcycle-related data and trends as a point of reference when non-motorcyclists cite mortality data that almost always comes from the NHTSA FARS data. My assumption is, most non-cyclists -- including journalists doing background for stories -- also go to the IIHS and FARS data and regurgitate it based on face value.
It is what it is.... I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that it would be of interest. In retrospect I should have omitted the extracts -- since they've been what many have focused on -- and omitted my poorly-worded attempt to address some of the demographics that are captured in the FARS data based on my own life experiences and observations.