Are both panniers equally at risk of damage when a bike goes down? Or might there be figures to say more people fall to one side rather than the other? If I take my good camera, I'd like to minimize the risk.

Only speaking for myself but most of my falls have been on the left. I can't think of any reason for that except that I lean left passing someone, and maybe move left around obstacles more than right. Seems kind of slim reasoning though, so it could be random and just stacked up that way.

You are kidding right? Does a coin come up heads more often or tails?

Just don't fall. Problem solved. I can count on less then one hand the times I have fallen in about 20 years. You probably stand a better risk of dropping your camera taking it out of the bag.

I'd be more worried about getting hit on the left side than the right side (in right-side driving countries).

I carry my camera and other valuables in an Ortlieb handle bar bag. The camera is protected and easily accessible.

I don't talk about crashing. Bad luck.

I don't know left or right, but when I run a single pannier for local riding I put it on the right rear with the idea that it might protect the cassette & derailleur a bit if the bike goes down on that side. Note that I'm thinking more of a static fall when I'm off the bike rather than a crash, I don't want to think about crashes.

On tours I've caused my camera problems off bike, e.g. dropping the camera or getting sand in the mechanisms.

Having the bike fall over, either unattended (parked improperly) or while riding is rare and not a normal operating mode. In the few times it happened, camera and other sensitive bits were not the only things in that pannier and those other things often cushion impacts.

On times I recall the last few years the bike has fallen, it has been inconclusive, e.g.
-- Got doored in Arequipa Peru in 2017. The right front pannier took brunt of the impact. The bike then fell to the left.
-- Right crank snapped in Texas in 2018. The bike fell to the right.
-- Parked against a wall leaning right. Wind came up and pushed bike to fall over to the left.
I expect the G forces in those isolated incidents were less than some of the rough washboard roads in South America.

And do you stand a better chance of flipping forward or backward when you flip? Maybe it would be safer in a trunk bag?

I have seen just as many panniers fall off of a bike as I have seen bikes loaded with panniers fall over. Numbers are so small that anything I remember is not statistically relevant.

I usually use a waterproof point and shoot camera for touring, sometimes also carry a superzoom camera with a fixed lens if I expect a lot of wildlife on that trip. I leave my really good cameras at home when bike touring or camping.

It does not take a fall , you can scrape against the curb with a pannier and abrade a hole in your pannier..

my first thought seeing this topic was exactly what Doug said.....I have always kept a camera in a handlebar bag, easy to get to and if the bike falls over, it doesnt impact the ground.
Certainly a downside to a larger camera that wont fit in a hbag, and exactly why Ive always used point and shoots , smaller cameras than real bodies and larger lenses, both in the film era and digital (plus I dont want the weight and worry about an expensive doohickey).

I fall more often to the left. Failure to unclip, tires slipping (road camber in the US) and I am more clumsy to my right so I do my best to avoid right hand falls and so take right turns more carefully. Edit: also falls to the right are often to a lower level and therefore more dangerous (road camber again, ditches, etc. Some of my clumsier spills have been to my right and might well have been a bigger deal for a camera.

not a tourer but I had 2 falls this past autumn both to the left & one time cpl yrs ago had to bail & dump the bike by hoping off to the left. fwiw, I carry an extra camera in my pocket, or in a mountain feed bag on the bars

My first thought was it should be a coin toss, but after thinking about it for a moment, most all of my more memorable falls have me going down on the left side. Does that mean I'm due for some crashes to the right or has some poor sod out there already balanced the scale ?

The first rule of falling club....

better to have a camera in a handlebar bag, more padding and shock protection.


or maybe trunk back? depends if you're more likely to be hit from behind or run into a cow.

We don't have enough data for a proper analysis.. Please fall more.

LOL

I ran into a couple of cows in northern Italy / Southern Austria, Two men in lederhosen (complete with the hats) were driving a couple of cows down the bike path. The cows were blocking the path. There was a narrow strip of path to the right of the cow on the right. To the right of the path was a ditch. I had to balance myself on the cow as I slowly passed to keep from falling into the ditch.

My buddy repeated what I had done. It was one of those photo ops that you regret not taking an opportunity for a phoo.

Ridding away, I couldn't help thinking how I was going to answer that question, that you get one a list of questions when reentering the US, if I have been around livestock during your stay.

fall club.

Don't be a smartass, what if it's in May, then it would be spring club.