phoebeisis

Many (maybe, even most) people consider cycling in traffic much more dangerous than driving.
What njkayaker suggested above is certainly true
People "think" it is more dangerous
and it sure as hell is more dangerous per mile than driving a car or taking a bus

So far we have a couple of suggestions that imply women are "less safe"
1) no bike helmet-style thing I guess-helmets are goofy looking and mess up hair- plausible
2)more likely to obey traffic laws so they get trapped by turning trucks-also plausible

kingston 

Yes. All of the women were killed by a right hook from a commercial truck. None of the men were killed that way.
9/26 Anastasia Kondrasheva, flatbed truck, right hook
8/17 Francisco Cruz, commercial van, left cross
8/16 Lisa Kuivinen, tractor trailer, right hook
7/1 Virginia Murray, Flatbed truck, right hook
6/26 Nick Fox, struck by two freight trains
6/15 Blaine Klingenberg, tour bus, cyclist did not stop at red light

phoebeisis

Right hook?
Does that London article say the same thing?
Women killed while waiting-stopped- at a light-or while turning ?

Still guessing this is just a stat. blip-or a misreading of the too small sample

wphamilton

I think it's an anomaly, because when I queried FARS nationwide for 2015 only 15% of the fatalities are women, and the percentage is even smaller for Illinois statewide.

howsteepisit

It never makes sense to solve a problem until you know what the problem is. But then again jumping to unsupportable conclusions seems to be a fad these days.

hotbike

No. They drive on the LEFT side of the road there...

hotbike

Gender or Infrastructure? Maybe there's an unwritten rule against a man using a ladies bike lane...

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest, right here right now, that maybe people should buy Tonka Trucks for their daughters, to familiarise them with trucks at an early age.

njkayaker

So, what about other years?

What about non-fatal injuries?


The article says "half" (50%) and presumes it's an unusual representation because "70%" of cyclists are male.

But with such small numbers, the unusual representation could be random.

Here's another way to spin it:

"Six bicyclists killed in Chicago this year, all involving commercial vehicles"

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...927-story.html

These fatalities are up to October.


https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago...t?oid=22808302

The fatalities occurred between late June and October.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...701-story.html

One of the women was riding a bike-share bike.

===============

https://www.rosenfeldinjurylawyers.c...tatistics.html

"Overall, males were three times more likely to be involved in a bicycle crash than females, mirroring national statistics. Males account for approximately two-thirds of all miles cycled by Chicago residents but account for 75% of injury crashes and have twice the fatality rate of females."

For years 2005-2010, twice as many males than females died in bicycle crashes in Chicago.


Why are some people here seeing a trend based on data from a single year?

==============

The specifics of the 3 female deaths in 2016 (we have no idea what other years were like) and that London data appears to mirror the Chicago data is interesting.

But no one needs deaths to tell people (not just females) not to ride up on the sides of trucks.

bhchdh 

In 2015 75% of cyclists killed in crashes with motor vehicals were men over the age of 20.
Fatality Facts

A total of 817 bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles in 2015. This represents a 13 percent increase from 2014 and the highest number of bicyclist deaths since 1995. Bicyclist deaths have decreased 19 percent since 1975. In 2015, 88 percent of bicyclist deaths were those ages 20 and older. Deaths among bicyclists younger than 20 have declined 88 percent since 1975, while deaths among bicyclists 20 and older have more than tripled. In every year since 1975, many more male than female bicyclists were killed in crashes with motor vehicles. The decline since 1975 among female bicyclists (34 percent) was larger than the decline among male bicyclists (15 percent).

hotbike

Maybe Chicago is more dangerous than other cities?

njkayaker

Maybe, it isn't?

79pmooney

A couple of observations (here in Portland): Overall, men ride faster than women. Overall women ride further to the right than men. Men on bikes probably outnumber women 5-1 in miles ridden. That last observation suggests that men should be victims of car accidents at a much higher level. But, faster riding and riding further into the traffic lane means fewer accidents from vehicles coming from behind, including right turning truck because the cyclists are noticed.

(I am guessing that men crash more often, maybe higher than the percentage of riders they represent,because of that added speed and miles but that many of the additional crashes do not involve contact with cars.)

Edit: 2006, there were two deaths in Portland from right turning trucks and a third that should have happened. A woman was killed by a right turning truck at a light. Both started as the light turned green. A man was killed by a truck turning tight at a road at the bottom of a hill. Rider was in the bike lane with speed. And a man was saved from a truck turning into a grave parking lot of a farm store. He lived because he had an angel, the passenger in the truck. That rider was me. Mine happened before the other two. I knew as that truck was turning that this was it.

Ben

kickstart

I had a cyclist startle the crud out of me about a year ago.

I was stopped at a red light about 1' from the curb with a adjacent jersey barrier. I noticed some movement in the bottom corner of the passenger side mirror, so I sat up and leaned over to get a better look and saw it was a cyclist half riding half walking in the gap between my trailer and the jersey barrier, he was so close a strap on his backpack momentarily hung up on a placard holder. Had I not noticed him, it would have been horrible. I cant imagine someone being that stupid.

Every cyclist should know what the "no zone " is, and respect it, but a rare few don't.

coominya

The numbers were good enough for me because I have had decades of watching women perform behind the wheel of cars and on motorcycles. Regardless of what a politically correct society claims, they are not as good as men at these largely mechanical pursuits.

coominya

I was just being sarcastic. Of course more women are dying than men. To keep safe out there you have to aggressive, assertive just doesn't cut it.

kickstart

Or not.
Maybe where you are, but in other places aggressiveness is answered with aggressiveness.

njkayaker

Or not. (Maybe, you are being sarcastic here too. It's hard to tell.)

For years 2005-2010, twice as many males than females died in bicycle crashes in Chicago.

It's called "confirmation bias".

bobwysiwyg

+1

coominya

Don't misunderstand me I'm not talking about ripping mirrors off like some idiots here do, it's a mindset, a jungle mindset. In the jungle there are many aggressive creatures, they stake their territory and prey upon it, but if a more aggressive animal comes along they are the first to turn tail, get away, out of harms way. That's what I do, get out of harms way when there is heavy traffic around.

I don't know why I am bothering here though, this doesn't apply in the case of most cyclists, no amount of skill or assertion or aggression is going to help people who regularly ride tens of miles up main roads and highways with cars and trucks whizzing past and turning in front of them (or over them) in a continuous stream. They just have to take their chances I'm afraid.

I best leave this advocacy and safety sub-forum to the ones who ride as I just described, because it's clear from my readings here that they have no practical interest in keeping themselves and other cyclists safe. This whole sub-forum is an exercise in politics and blaming drivers every time a cyclist gets squashed. Cyclists will never be safe around motor vehicles, the only way to keep truly safe is to ride in environments where there are very few, or none at all.

Enjoy your debates folks. Bye

njkayaker

No one is able to guess at what your private definition of "aggressive" is. You failed to communicate it and the whinge about people "misunderstanding" you.

Rollfast

It seems to me that we've previously discussed that there are probably more women out there on bikes during the entire day.


The guys are out there doing manly terminal stuff involving cars and machines and stuff.

Chris0516

Ditto

kickstart

That's very true.

The literal definition implies a certain negative aspect.

ag·gres·sive
əˈɡresiv/
adjective
ready or likely to attack or confront; characterized by or resulting from aggression.

pursuing one's aims and interests forcefully, sometimes unduly so.

njkayaker

I guess the definition in Australia is upside down.

I wonder how long he'd survive in a city like NY.

How is not riding on the blind side of trucks "aggressive"?

Given that more males are killed cycling overall (it appears), it might be that the "aggressiveness" he thinks makes have doesn't actually make them safer.

kickstart