Absolutely. Sometimes it is about asserting your position on the road. Even if you do get a honk.
Tom,
This is a tragedy. I, too, know Dan and when I was cycling on Hines Drive Sunday, late afternoon/early evening, the area was still taped off and they were waiting for another wrecker to continue cleaning up the wreckage. The damage and destruction to these “massive” machines (Harley type motorcycles) was unbelievable. To see what was left of the bicycle one would have thought that the only thing that may have been salvageable would have been a valve stem cap if there had been any on the valve stems. Everything else was mangled and totalled.
There was still a Wayne County Sheriff Deputy still there who had arrived shortly after the accident occurred. He indicated that at least at present as far as he knew, there had not been and fatalities, yet, but he made it sound as if it was touch and go for at least one of the involved victims.
The Sheriff Deputy did say that the cyclist had returned to the accident scene on crutches after he had been released from the hospital and the Deputy had seen the cyclist.
For me, that was the only good news from the scene of this unbelievable destruction and carnage.
I do not wish to diminish anything anyone has previously posted about this unfortunate accident or how this has affected so many lives.
I do wonder just how dangerous our “sport” (cycling) is in comparison to other activities. I have heard and read (absent statistics) that almost no sport or activity is more dangerous.
If one subtracts the children (say 14 yrs old and younger) from the population of cyclists and injuries/fatalities sustained so we compare adults in adult activities, just how do the dangers of cycling compare with crossing the street, running, scuba diving, ocean swimming, sky diving, flying in a private airplane, or driving on the road.
To say that by cycling one is taking the greatest risk possible, seems to me, overstated and probably not supported by statistics.
I am not trying to discount what happened to any of these victims but I do wonder how many motorists were killed on Michigan roads during the same time.
Yes, it is dangerous out there. Yes, one needs to be careful. And yes, one should try to stack the odds in ones favor.
Intersections of roads are especially dangerous and cyclists are notorious for trying to make it through intersections when lights are changing.
The same is true of 2 way and 4 way stops. Many cyclists in group rides follow, almost blindly to their surroundings, the rider in front of them through intersections rather than slowing and individually verifying that it is safe to cross through the intersection.
I hope every cyclist stops and reconsiders this practice. Its just not worth it. Its tough enough to ride safely without taking on additional unnecessary risks.
But I do not wish to give up cycling and not because I am or wish to be suicidal. I do recognize there are associated dangers inherent with cycling on the road. Even a deer bolting across the road is a significant danger to a cyclist. Almost without exception, everything else on the road outweighs a cyclist by factors of tens. At speed, these factors (kinetic energy) become geometrically increased. And anytime an automobile and a cyclist tangle, the cyclist loses. All the more reason to be careful.
It would be interesting to see how bikes and cars interact in a place like China where huge majorities of population ride bikes. Bikes are really pretty fringe in our car obsessed population but in other parts of the world are a major source of transportation.
Some comments and stats from Smartmotorist.com
A bicycle is considered a vehicle on the roadway and has exactly the same rights as any other vehicle.
Bicycling is one of the most popular recreational activities in the United States, indeed, in the world. There are over 90,000,000 cyclists in the U. S. and over 30,000,000 adult cyclists. In any given year we can expect 800 - 1000 cyclists to die on our roadways while some 500,000 will be treated for injuries. In fact, the first automobile accident in the United States occurred when a motor vehicle crashed into a pedalcycle rider in New York City in 1896!
I haven’t done any math yet, but would guess from a statistical standpoint, your odds of getting killed in a car are higher than they are riding a bike. As I believe there are about 35,000 deaths due in automobiles in the US annually assuming 300,000,000 automobile occupants. But, that’s just a SWAG. And we know statistics can be misleading. Like the odds of a typical US citizen being eaten by a shark are very low, but increase if you are a surfer. So, I imagine the more miles you ride on the open roads, the higher your chances of getting hit. I could be way off. I’m just looking for a silver lining to balance the dangers of this sport.
Would really love to see who lives the longest, the fat bastard watching Oprah and DR. Phil on the tube everyday listening to stories of our obesity epidemic in the US or the cyclist out riding the open roads - striving to get the most out of themselves.
scox43,
Thanks for the statistics. I kind of thought that.
If the figures you cited are not disputed then the risk of getting killed in a year driving on the road is approximately 1 in 10,000. Perhaps I am not up on the population of the U.S. but I didn’t think it had reached 300 million yet.
The figures you cited for cycling indicate the risk of getting injured while cycling during a year is approximately 1 in 60. This seems risky and seems higher than what I would have expected. The risk of getting killed while cycling is approximately 2.7 - 3.3 in 100,000.
This would tend to support that driving in a car is more dangerous and risky than riding your bicycle responsibly.
Thanks again for your help.
There are two factors at work in figuring out how “safe” you are: the odds of an event and then the likely severity of any event. A real risk anaylsis would require looking at what specific situations are the most likely to result in injury and then analysis the odds of particuar levels of severity of any injury.
I think most cyclists do worry about how to avoid an incident but don’t worry enough about avoiding situations where any incident is more likely to have a severe outcome.
It is possible by good route selection and consistant safety practices to reduce (but not eliminate) the risk of ending up in a funeral home. Cycling is dangerous but not all cycling is equally dangerous.
Last year I was in Holland where bicycles are a major source of transportation. Both bicyclists and cars were more aware/courteous of each other. By and large their were separate bike lanes. Cyclist went at a faily slow pace and didn’t pass each other much. Didn’t see a single helmet, but did see three people piled on one bike.
Styrrell
There is a wrestling site that mentions Todd’s passing, as Todd was a High School wrestler. It mentions the the driver was drunk.
It’s sad so many people drink and drive.