“According to a study by the British Medical Association, the average gain in “life years” through improved fitness from cycling exceeds the average loss in “life years” through cycling fatalities by a factor of 20 to 1.”
Yes… in countries where the infrastructure is so poor as to require cyclists to ride in traffic (or in the door zone). In places where this is not the case (see Europe) I’d be interested in seeing if those stats are the same.
Even in Europe, places where you don’t have to drive in traffic / door zone are incredibly rare. Bike paths are cool, but as currently implemented they mostly serve to annoy both drivers and pedestrians alike, and there is still a default assumption that where there is no bike path, you’ll be driving with traffic.
As a cyclist, I think biking is probably more dangerous than driving...
But… have you framed “danger” apprppriately?
“According to a study by the British Medical Association, the average gain in “life years” through improved fitness from cycling exceeds the average loss in “life years” through cycling fatalities by a factor of 20 to 1.”
From http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/cyclists-live-longer.html.
That’s an interesting quote. There are probably other ways to achieve the same fitness benefits though.
Yes… in countries where the infrastructure is so poor as to require cyclists to ride in traffic (or in the door zone). In places where this is not the case (see Europe) I’d be interested in seeing if those stats are the same.
Even in Europe, places where you don’t have to drive in traffic / door zone are incredibly rare. Bike paths are cool, but as currently implemented they mostly serve to annoy both drivers and pedestrians alike, and there is still a default assumption that where there is no bike path, you’ll be driving with traffic.