Cylists

[MarillionFan]

Cyclists wearing headphones plugged into a phone which they're using to text. What's that about?

That's Suityou trying to give a running commentary of his latest bike ride on CUK.

'Just hit 4mph. Wind lashing my face. Scared. May slow down'

[TimberWolf]

Cycling is relatively dangerous no matter how you look at it:

There are three main statistics which may be used to compare the safety of various forms of travel:

Deaths per billion  	Deaths per billion  	Deaths per billion 
passenger-journeys 	passenger-hours 	passenger-kilometres
---------------------	--------------------	-----------------------
Bus: 4.3 		Bus: 11.1 		Air: 0.05
Rail: 20 		Rail: 30 		Bus: 0.4
Van: 20 		Air: 30.8 		Rail: 0.6
Car: 40 		Water: 50 		Van: 1.2
Foot: 40 		Van: 60 		Water: 2.6
Water: 90 		Car: 130 		Car: 3.1
Air: 117 		Foot: 220 		Bicycle: 44.6
Bicycle: 170 		Bicycle: 550 		Foot: 54.2
Motorcycle: 1640 	Motorcycle: 4840 	Motorcycle: 108.9
---------------------	--------------------	-----------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_safety#Accidents_and_incidents (might be Yankland oriented)

So die every 6 million journeys, 2 million hours or 22 million kilometres on average (whichever comes first). Hmm, cycling feels more dangerous than that. Presumably nasty injuries are far more common.

[PRC1964]

Cycling is relatively dangerous no matter how you look at it:

There are three main statistics which may be used to compare the safety of various forms of travel:
 
Deaths per billion      Deaths per billion      Deaths per billion 
passenger-journeys     passenger-hours     passenger-kilometres
---------------------    --------------------    -----------------------
Bus: 4.3         Bus: 11.1         Air: 0.05
Rail: 20         Rail: 30         Bus: 0.4
Van: 20         Air: 30.8         Rail: 0.6
Car: 40         Water: 50         Van: 1.2
Foot: 40         Van: 60         Water: 2.6
Water: 90         Car: 130         Car: 3.1
Air: 117         Foot: 220         Bicycle: 44.6
Bicycle: 170         Bicycle: 550         Foot: 54.2
Motorcycle: 1640     Motorcycle: 4840     Motorcycle: 108.9
---------------------    --------------------    -----------------------
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_safety#Accidents_and_incidents (might be Yankland oriented)

So die every 6 million journeys, 2 million hours or 22 million kilometres on average (whichever comes first). Hmm, cycling feels more dangerous than that. Presumably nasty injuries are far more common.

to the motorcycle figures there.

Sorry to hear of your friend NAT.

Just today I took my 8 year old twins out for their first real cycle on the roads (15 minutes on fairly quiet roads). I've seldom been so aware of the dangers on the road.

[SueEllen]

There are lots of cyclists in my area of London and what scares me more than anything is the fact that you see children out with their parents, and it's the parents who don't know how to position themselves around motor vehicles.

Kids in lots of boroughs in the UK can have free cycling lessons paid for by the local council. They actually follow the rules until they get above 13/14 when they turn into dangerous little tulips.

BTW any person walking, cycling or running with headphones in who can't hear their surroundings is an idiot and deserves to be run down. You can have your music at a level where you can hear background noise but also hear your music.

[Moscow Mule]

Sadly, I think there will be a lot more of this sort of thing for a few more years yet.

There are a lot of people taking up commuting on a bike who did their proficiency test 20 plus years ago who's only road experience is in a metal cocoon.

You need to be 100% aware of your surroundings the whole time, if not you get hit - as I found out twice before I learned my lesson.

The simple fact is that a lot of drivers drive like *****, and you need to be aware of it.

[NotAllThere]

OTOH, drivers who've cycled to any extent, are generally much more aware of road conditions. My sister in law terrifies me whenever she drives - she just doesn't look.

[NotAllThere]

...oh poor old me, I'm just being picked on for having a different point of view. I'm the victim here...

[doodab]

Sad news. Sorry to hear about your friend.

[dang65]

Sadly, I think there will be a lot more of this sort of thing for a few more years yet.

Yeah, till the oil runs out. Then there will be a sudden massive drop in the number of cycling deaths, for some reason.

[SueEllen]

OTOH, drivers who've cycled to any extent, are generally much more aware of road conditions. My sister in law terrifies me whenever she drives - she just doesn't look.

Two motorcyclists I know call it "Look but don't see".

The person looks like they are looking but other road users, normally the most vulnerable in that particular circumstance, don't register in their brains.