I don't think its guaranteed you will fall. But ah haven't you fallen before from your bike for any reason - bad angle with a railway track, slippery patch due to rain, whatever? It pretty much feels the same to fall with clipless as it does to fall without clipless. Although I guess your bike ends up falling a bit more on top of you than otherwise if you're still somewhat attached to it.

When I got clipless I was super conscious about unclipping since people said everyone falls. I didn't fall at all in the first while I had them. Then I was on a wooden bridge, needed to stop and I keep twisting but the shoe was stuck in the cleat. Since there was a train passing the bottom of the bridge I decided falling would be better than keeping on going. Wood does not hurt as much as asphalt

Usually a clipless fall is an insufficient speed fall, so its nowhere near as much force if you fall while flipping over some road hazard you didn't notice going fast.

Thanks GoBlue, I was getting worried that I might be the only person ever to have not fallen because of cleats and that I was facing some kind of impending doom.

I do tend to rock into trackstands at stops though, or lazily go for a grab point which might be a key to my unblemished record.

I began riding clipped in two years ago when I bought my first road bike in thirty years.

Each time I crashed while going fast, time slowed down as I watched it happen and each time I was surprised how smoothly my feet clipped out without my having to do anything, just from the violent forces of the crash. I broke bones each time from the forward crash did no damage to my knees or hips from being clipped in.

Each time I fell over while clipped in, I held onto the bars and was unhurt. Three times I simply continued the motion and rolled over onto my back and ended up holding the bike directly over me still clipped in. Two or three times I happened to go over on the side where my pedal was down and the pedal hit and dramatically slowed the fall. Two or three times my pedal was up and because I held onto the bars, the impact was absorbed by my upper arm and torso side. The first couple times I fell over, I stayed on the bars because I froze. Now, I do it on purpose because sticking out my arm is likely to break my collarbone or blow out my shoulder.

MY ADVICE IS STAY ON THE BARS WHEN YOU FALL OVER.

In a way, the clipless becomes more safe, because of all the extra attention you are paying to things around you.

I am 6' 2" and 220 lbs. I tell you I have not felt off yet. I followed the advice here, and set the tension low and practice. Now, I have the tension at medium tension, and I am fine.

Obviously, it depends on where and when you fall. No traffic remote location - minor scrape. In traffic wrong time - death. So the question is: Is the miniscule efficiency gain you receive from clipless pedals worth your life? The answer, in my case, is "not a chance." I use platform pedals even for LONG rides, and will continue to do so. Your life - your choice.

I haven't fallen on pavement since I was a kid jumping off homebuilt ramps. I've taken a few spills mountain bike riding, but always in leaves and grass...sometimes mud =)

Pavement riding is, in general, something I'm learning all over again. I used to everywhere as a teenager, but got out of the habit in college. Still went off road from time to time...but I started hit the roads and paved trails almost exclusively in the last year or so. Even then, it's been my MTB up to this point, and it's nothing if not stable

Long story short...I'm not used to falling down. It's something you just do a lot less of as an adult. As a kid, my knees were always scabby...now I'm just a big wussy.

I went about 15 years between being a kid and crashing and then crashing as an adult. I was suprised at how well i can still bounce off the ground.

I road plain pedals, then toe clips, then new mt bike, the Shimano SPD's, then new road bike with Ritchey SPD's, now Campy road pedals. Never any problems falling over, but it could still happen. The Campy's are slightly more difficult to release the the SPD's. Just ride and unclip a foot if it looks like something might happen (intersection, etc...)

John