Rooney wrote:
> Not in a discussion about safety, it isn't.
So you always take the train rather than drive when it's a realistic
option? No? Then this isn't just a discussion about safety, is it?
> If you can draw some comfort from the fact that, although you're far
> more likely to be killed on a bike than in a car per n miles, this is
> partly because you take longer on the bike, then go ahead.
I don't get overly hung up about my safety on a bike, any more than it
bothers me that I'm more likely to have a fatal accident ski touring or
sea kayaking than if playing table tennis, because it's safe /enough/ to
be basically reliable if I take a little care and it confers significant
benefits to me.
To quote from BMJ 2000;321:1582-1585, Three lessons for a better cycling
future, Malcolm J Wardlaw
"One problem with comparing the safety of driving and cycling is that
the population that cycles differs from that which drives. The average
driver is trained, tested, will have about two decades of experience,
and is to a degree regulated. The average cyclist is young, male,
untutored, unregulated, not wealthy, riding a badly equipped machine on
busy urban streets, and in the minority. Nearly half of all cyclists
ride only occasionally, and most regular cyclists will do so for only a
few years. Clearly there are potent risk factors here that confound
comparisons based on averages. Adults aged 17-20 in the United Kingdom
are probably less likely to be killed per hour cycled than hour driven
and the danger inflicted on others will be fractional. Experienced
cyclists, like experienced drivers, have far better accident rates,
suggesting that a given individual should not be at greater risk of
death or serious injury per hour cycled than driven. There are not
enough skilful, experienced cyclists on Britain's roads, however.
Notwithstanding the above, it still takes at least 8000 years of average
cycling to produce one clinically severe head injury and 22 000 years
for one death"
If you're so hung up about safety then there are safer things you can do
than drive, and safer hobbies than recreational walking. Any more red
herrings you want to wave about?
You may wish to note that typically about a person a day is killed
falling downstairs or tripping, so I hope for your sake you live in a
bungalow and use protective clothing on any other stairs you might
encounter...
Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net
[email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
