rsbob 

Whether right or wrong, my assumption is that cyclists tend to be more cautious drivers since they have to much to lose when on their bikes. I see a lot of cross pollination between road biking and driving a motor vehicle. Did some internet research before posting this and could not find any conclusive stats on the average or median number of accidents per driver in the US over a decade. But thought it would be interesting to see nonetheless.

indyfabz

I’m an excellent driver.

livedarklions

Was this guy a bicyclist?

https://abc7.com/gas-station-pump-fi...ment/12531041/

PeteHski

I have had no car accidents in the last 38 years, ever since I had my one and only (so far) minor bump when I was 17. I honestly don't think in my case it has much to do with cycling or even being a cautious driver - which I am certainly not! I put it down to good spatial awareness, quick reactions and good hand-eye co-ordination. I have always been good at sports like football (soccer) and tennis, which generally require these skills. I also don't tend crash my bike very often for the same reasons. I'm also a very good skier FWIW.

So I think it's more a case of genetics vs whether or not you happen to ride bikes. But perhaps people who struggle more with balance, co-ordination, reactions etc are less inclined to take up cycling, which could then give you a secondary correlation between cyclists and number of car accidents.

Dino_Sore

I find that when I drive a car, I scan the road like I would if I were riding a bike. This causes me to drive a little slower and have better "situational awareness." I think all of us have experienced those moments on a bike when you just get a feeling that something bad is about to happen, and you back off, slow down, move to a safer spot, etc. I really think this translates into driving a car where I always try not to get myself into dangerous situations. (And it's not like I'm just some old fogey who drives around with the left turn signal on all the time; I used to own two race cars).

BTinNYC

I've remained lucky with crashes. I've devolved into a not-so-good driver, seems like I'm less attentive as more things are surprising me on the road. So I drive like an old fart, much slower than I used to, and really, less aggressively than I used to in my yoot.

Koyote

Why bother with a completely unscientific bf poll, which will generate zero reliable conclusions, when professionals have actually studied this?

Jughed

Zero crashes...

And I've been driving my son's driving simulator a bunch - training with the top GT3 and supercars, taking laps in F1 cars...

I can feel the difference when weaving and bobbing thru heavy traffic in my 2500 pick em up. My commute times have been significantly reduced - I can fit that truck into all sorts of situations now and recover when I get loose in the shoulder.

mpetry912 

slightly OT I have had TWO close encounters with Teslas that I beleive were on FSD.

They came up VERY aggressive, much more so than if they were under the control of a conscientious driver.

in my mirror I could see the woman behind the wheel doing... something ... on the touch screen

this thing is much worse than a bad driver. it simply does not recognize a cyclist until very close... if at all

and it has no provision in the code for the consequences of it's actions.

/markp

squirtdad

what does this have to do with cycling?

rsbob 

Absolutely nothing. Thank you for being suckered-in. And situational awareness, like in cycling, is totally irrelevant; just in case you put more thought into it than required.

rsbob 

Interesting comment/s. Had not thought about it quite like that. I too played on a tennis team, was a competitive slalom skier, played soccer, but did crash my mountain bike for the first two years testing my limits and skill building. Also have taken performance driving courses and raced on a track, if that matters. However, I would rate my reaction speed as average.

It may be a combination of reaction speed, (like the pothole I narrowly swerved around at the last minute yesterday while riding at 21 MPH), situational awareness honed through cycling and coordination.

Like others have pointed out, there is nothing in the least scientific about the survey and any conclusions would be sketchy at best. But my underlying bias was that the count of accidents would be very low.

NHTSA for 202o reported a total of 5,250,837 collisions happened over the course of a single year. There were 228,195,802 licensed drivers in the US in 2020, which yields 2.3% of drivers had accidents or multiple. Crudely extrapolating over ten years would yield 23%. So, if this poll result was far less than 23%, say, 10% it might still might have slight significance.

daihard 

Riding a bicycle has definitely changed how I drive. Not that I drive a whole lot lately, but when I do, I always look out for other, non-driving road users to make sure I don't compromise their safety. That includes stopping for people at or in an crosswalk, passing people on bike with enough clearance, etc.

Steve B.

One MVA in ‘91, not my fault. Zero before that since I got my license in 1972. So total of 1 in 51 years. 800,000 plus miles driven as well.

Koyote

I provided a link in post #7 which will take you to a list of actual studies about the connection between cycling and incidence of motor vehicle accidents. No one has acknowledged it, though, since most people on bf would rather hear themselves chatter about anecdotal experience than actually put in the work to learn things.

genejockey 

Some guy backed into me in the parking lot at Costco - I backed out, he backed out of a space on the other side of the lane. We call them "accidents", but pretty much always somebody did something wrong.

Koyote

oof. So much wrongness.

Think more carefully about these numbers and get back to us.

Calsun

I disagree and I noticed that I might be bothered by motorists when out on the road but when I got in my car my mindset switched and I was in a hurry for no reason at all. People get into accidents from driving too fast or from being distracted (smoking, drinking, eating, texting, putting on makeup, etc.) while driving.

DonkeyShow

None cause the cop ****ed up in court thankfully. Youth act also saved my ass once.

Fahrenheit531 

Ummm... no.

50PlusCycling

I live in Japan, there is no such thing as an "accident" here. Any collision here is regarded as "negligence." Any collision resulting in an injury is considered a crime, with serious consequences, any collision resulting in death will result in a mandatory prison sentence for the driver, regardless of the circumstances. Because of these, I drive carefully, as does everyone else, and it’s much safer to ride a bike in Japan than other places.

rsbob 

Happy to liven up the conversation, even at my expense. I have no stake in the numbers or my outrageous unverifiable conclusion. Just generating some stories and conversation.

Koyote did provide a good link quantifying that cyclists make better drivers. Thanks

Koyote

Okay, then.

Your calculations implicitly assume that each of those "collisions" are single car accidents...But I would expect that most involve multiple (two or more) drivers. (This could be confirmed by reading the fine print at the NHTSA website.) If so, you are already grossly underestimating the number of individual drivers who are involved in accidents in a given time period.

​​​​​​Now you are implicitly assuming that each of these drivers is involved in just ONE accident in a ten-year period, which is assuredly incorrect. Some of those drivers account for multiple accidents in any ten-year period. So, you are now overestimating the number of individual drivers who are involved in accidents in a given period.

​​​​​​Given that the NHTSA's dataset is huge, and your bf sample is necessarily tiny and (likely) heavily biased, the results would have no significance. None, as in zero.

Let's also remember that, in any auto accident involving multiple (two or more) vehicles, typically one party is over 50% at fault -- sometimes 100% at fault. Hence, using raw accident stats to draw some conclusion about people's driving abilities is specious.

Once again, I will mention that actual citations to properly done studies were provided in post #7.

rsbob 

Gee I hope you feel better getting that off your chest. And I DID mention the study you cited in my last post. Have a good evening.

Koyote

Seems like you must've added that line while I was typing...But you aren't interested in discussing it(?) So what was the point of the thread, if you're not interested in actual reliable info about the topic?