Another Cyclist's Death

Reading these things saddens me. another rider gone.

Every time I finish a road ride I have that "I've cheated
death again" feeling.

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Dan)

wrote in part:

Quoted message said:

Every time I finish a road ride I have that "I've cheated
death again" feeling.

Why? Do you feel the same way when you survive a day at the
beach? You're more likely to drown than to die on your bike.

Regards, Bob Hunt

Quoted message said:

Why? Do you feel the same way when you survive a day at
the beach? You're

more

Quoted message said:

likely to drown than to die on your bike.

Regards, Bob Hunt

I find that hard to believe. I personally think times have
changed. At least where I live, people are in a big hurry,
on cell phones and are very aggressive. IMHO, these times
are much more dangerous than 5-10 years ago. I think it is
going to get worse and worse. It seems people are getting
more and more stressed out. Not sure why, unless you watch
or listen to the news all the time. That can stress you out
I guess. Wish there were some bike lanes around here, but
there is only one road in all of Pittsburgh that has one
that I know of.

It surprises me when I hear of someone getting killed
while in a group of riders. You would think people would
pay closer attention when they see a group. Strange an
experienced rider went into on-coming traffic as the
story states.

It is sad to be sure, Curt

"curt" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Why? Do you feel the same way when you survive a day at
the beach?

You're

Quoted message said:

more

Quoted message said:

likely to drown than to die on your bike.

Regards, Bob Hunt

I find that hard to believe. I personally think times have
changed. At least where I live, people are in a big hurry,
on cell phones and are very aggressive. IMHO, these times
are much more dangerous than 5-10 years

ago.

Quoted message said:

I think it is going to get worse and worse. It seems
people are getting more and more stressed out. Not sure
why, unless you watch or listen to

the

Quoted message said:

news all the time. That can stress you out I guess. Wish
there were some bike lanes around here, but there is only
one road in all of Pittsburgh

that

Quoted message said:

has one that I know of.

It surprises me when I hear of someone getting killed
while in a group of riders. You would think people would
pay closer attention when they see a group. Strange an
experienced rider went into on-coming traffic as the
story states.

It is sad to be sure, Curt

Here are a couple of perspectives:

I was hit by a car quite severly about 14 months ago now.
Ironically, the docs told me I probably wouldn't have
survived it were I not in such phenomenal physical condition
from riding my bike. Today I'm averaging about 275 miles a
week on the bike and I feel like I'm in as good a condition
as I was before the crash. I went through a lot to get back
to this point, but I'm probably WAY more fit than 99% of the
other folks that are anywhere near my age (48). The point
being that, despite the dangers, the benefits from cycling
are pretty awesome.

When the wreck happened, I lived in a town that, ten years
before, had been a small, quiet, almost semi-rural
community. In 10 years it grew incredibly. The road
infrastructure couldn't keep up. So there started to be WAY
too many cars on sub-standard roads. Add to that the cell
phone factor and it became near bedlam. (Incidentally, I was
hit by a 17 year old female driver who was talking on a cell
phone and made an unsignaled left turn directly into my path
... hitting me head-on.) Today I still go to that town to do
a weekly training ride with friends. We've abandoned most of
our old routes 'cuz they're just too dangerous now. We have
one way we can sneak out to the rural areas and even that is
pretty hairy.

But I've moved to a very rural area. I can ride in a vast
region where there is no cell phone service. I rarely see a
car and, when I do, I never see a driver on a cell phone. I
can do a 50 mile ride and count the number of cars that pass
me in my direction on a single hand. It almost seems I'm in
greater danger from the threat of deer charging out of the
woods, or wild turkeys (I've almost had unpleasant
encounters with both).

Bottom line, I think it's very naive to think you're as safe
riding a bike on the road as you are lying on a beach (or in
the surf). But if you use some common sense about
where/when/how you ride, you can reduce the risks. And, the
benefits are so enormous. I'm absolutely certain that most
people who had been through what I went through a year ago
would be living on disability and limping around on a cane
or walker. I'm riding 275 miles per week and I also keep up
a 22-acre farm. Praise the Lord!

Bob C.

Quoted message said:

Why? Do you feel the same way when you survive a day at
the beach? You're more likely to drown than to die on
your bike.

Good question. I suppose it is because I feel that it is
hard to control the risk on a bicycle when near traffic.
Maybe drivers are harder to predict than the ocean at the
beach. On some roads, it feels more like Russian roulette
than fun. More like surfing with great whites swimming by
ever few minutes.

But I do ride and I do enjoy it. I avoid the most dangerous
roads much like I would avoid swimming in riptide conditions
at the beach. To get from my house to my favorite routes, I
have to travel a 1-mile straight stretch with no shoulder, a
deep ditch and a fair amount of traffic.

Have you ever felt a bit nervous when you hear a car coming
up from behind as you crouch along the fog line trying to
make yourself small?

"curt" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Why? Do you feel the same way when you survive a day at
the beach? You're

more

Quoted message said:

likely to drown than to die on your bike.

Regards, Bob Hunt

I find that hard to believe. I personally think times have
changed. At least where I live, people are in a big hurry,
on cell phones and are very aggressive. IMHO, these times
are much more dangerous than 5-10 years ago. I think it is
going to get worse and worse. It seems people are getting
more and more stressed out. Not sure why, unless you watch
or listen to the news all the time. That can stress you
out I guess. Wish there were some bike lanes around here,
but there is only one road in all of Pittsburgh that has
one that I know of.

Bike lanes are not going to greatly reduce your chances of
death although perhaps they will make your ride less
stressful. The vast majority of bike accidents occur at
intersections, and bike lanes still intersect with roadways.
In fact they probably increase the odds as often they
increase the confusion of lane selection at intersection.
Accidents of getting hit from behind or sideswiped are
relatively rare though bike lanes should help but not
eliminate those.

In article <[email hidden]>,

curt said:

Quoted message said:

Why? Do you feel the same way when you survive a day at
the beach? You're

more

Quoted message said:

likely to drown than to die on your bike.

Regards, Bob Hunt

I find that hard to believe. I personally think times have
changed. At least where I live, people are in a big hurry,
on cell phones and are very aggressive. IMHO, these times
are much more dangerous than 5-10 years ago. I think it is
going to get worse and worse. It seems people are getting
more and more stressed out. Not sure why, unless you watch
or listen to the news all the time. That can stress you out
I guess. Wish there were some bike lanes around here, but
there is only one road in all of Pittsburgh that has one
that I know of.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Curt

I've been riding my bike to work some dozen years now and I
think I'm going to agree w/ Curt here. It seems to me that
things *have* really declined in the last three years or so.
I think cell phones have been a huge cause of this. Seems
like every third car has a girl w/a big dopey grin on her
face w/ a cell phone plastered to her ear. People are
looking right at me more and more yet not seeing me; seeing
me but not caring anyway and just more 'nasty' in general.

Admittedly, this is all subjective except that I can
quantify that there are more and more people turning in
front of me and running lights.

Pureheart

Quoted message said:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Curt

I've been riding my bike to work some dozen years now and
I think I'm

going

Quoted message said:

to agree w/ Curt here. It seems to me that things *have*
really declined in the last three years

or

Quoted message said:

so. I think cell phones have been a huge cause of this.
Seems like every third car has a girl w/a big dopey grin
on her face w/ a cell phone plastered to her ear. People
are looking right at me more and more yet not seeing me;
seeing me but not caring anyway and just more 'nasty' in
general.

Admittedly, this is all subjective except that I can
quantify that there

are

Quoted message said:

more and more people turning in front of me and
running lights.

Pureheart

I'll quantify the cell phone thing for you.

one compression fracture of the spine one fractured pelvis
one severely broken hip three titanium screws to repair
said hip one severely broken ankle two titanium screws and
other assorted hardware to repair said ankle 57 stitches
in lacerated calf/shin 7 staples in ankle 9staples in hip
8 days in the hospital 4 months in rehab one seventeen
year old girl behind the wheel of a car with a cell phone
in her hand.

Bob C.
(P.S. The happy ending ... I'm all better now and the
insurance settlement was VERY nice. But I was lucky
enough to be hit by someone who had sufficient
insurance. I was also lucky enough not to be killed.)

Dan said:

Every time I finish a road ride I have that "I've cheated
death again" feeling.

Seriously???

I think you've got a _very_ exaggerated idea of the dangers.

--
-------------+ Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's
between "at" and "cc"]

In article <[email hidden]>,

mrbubl said:

Veteran cyclist dies in crash with truck
10:49 PM CST on Saturday, March 13, 2004

To put this in perspective, you could list some of the ~75
people killed in cars on the same day?

David Kerber said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Number of US cyclists killed in 2000: 693 (FARS data)
Number of US accidental drowning deaths in 2000: 3,482
(USCDC figures)

So much for naivete.

What are these numbers on a per participant-hour?

From magma.ca~ocbcOpen ↗

down in the "SOURCES AND SITES" footnotes, under "{4}
Failure Analysis Associates Inc, Comparative Risk of
Different Activities, Design News, October 4, 1993" :

COMPARATIVE RISK OF DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES

Estimates of Fatal Risk

fatalities
Activity per
million hrs
-------- ------------
--- Skydiving
128.71
General
Aviation
15.58 On-road
Motorcycling
8.80 Scuba
Diving 1.98
Living (all
causes of
death) 1.53
Swimming 1.07
Snowmobiling
.88 Passenger
cars .47
Water skiing
.28 Bicycling
.26 Flying
(scheduled
domestic
airlines) .15
Hunting .08
Cosmic
Radiation
from transco-
ntinental
flights .035
Home Living
(active) .027
Traveling in
a School Bus
.022
Passenger Car
Post-
collision
fire .017
Home Living,
active &
passive
(sleeping)
.014
Residential
Fire .003

Compiled by Failure Analysis Associates, Inc. (Design
News, 10-4-93)

--
Frank Krygowski [To reply, omit what's between "at" and
"cc"]