Deaths per million according to insurance company - swim, bike, run

Triathlon Forum
1

Per Million (rationalizing the continued swim, bike and run).

Cycling 7.1, Running 1, Swimming 1

https://www.finder.com/life-insurance/odds-of-dying

Cycling does approach sky diving odds 9.89 though.

From a Michigan law office https://buckfirelaw.com/case-types/bicycle-accidents/common-causes/

"How Bicycle Incidents are Caused
There are, unfortunately, countless ways that a bicyclist can be injured. However, some common causes of bicycle accidents in Michigan include:
FallsBicyclists hit by cars—including sideswipes, cut-offs, and hit-and-run accidentsDog attacksRoad defects
Many of these accidents are the result of another person’s negligent behavior. No matter the reason for a crash, however, a dedicated attorney could help to investigate the cause of a cycling crash and work to determine liability or alternatives to pursuing compensation.
Falls and Crashes
Over 50 percent of cycling crashes are the result of falls. Bicycle accidents from falls are commonly caused either when the front wheel suddenly stops moving, or when the rear wheel slides out. The front wheel can stop if it encounters a road defect—such as a crack or drain grate—or if the front brakes are applied too suddenly. Rear wheels can skid out when turning on gravel, sand, ice, metal surfaces, or any slippery surface.
After falls, the most frequent type of accidents are collisions with a stationary object, such as trees. In fact, falls and collisions with fixed objects account for about 75 to 80 percent of all bicycle crashes.
Collisions with Motor Vehicles
Collisions between a car and bicycle account for between ten to 15 percent of all bicycle accidents. Unfortunately, a bicyclist being hit by a car accounts for the largest number of fatalities. Most of these collisions occur when either the bicyclist or the motorist is turning or crossing an intersection or driveway. Other crashes occur when the bicyclist is not obeying traffic laws and is cycling on the wrong side of the road or running red lights.
Another cause that occurs frequently is when a driver or passenger in a car opens a door as a biker is riding past. This presents an immediate—and sometimes unavoidable—obstacle to the unsuspecting bicyclist. A bicyclist who hits the car door is usually thrown from the bike onto the pavement with high impact, causing serious injuries. On the other hand, if a bicyclist attempts to avoid the door, the results may be just as severe."

In practice, if cyclists are going down 75 to 80 percent of the time on “their own”, is it wise to be quick to judge other people when there is an accident/fatality with another vehicle or fellow cyclist who crashes with us?

So whether it’s swimming, running or cycling, I’m going to be more careful because **I’m most likely to hurt myself **out there. And in practice, it’s healthier to be training than doing nothing.

Anyone want to take a stab at self inflected injury while swimming, cycling, running? Are running injuries more prevalent/stop you from training than cycling, swimming, lifting?

2

I wonder if the figure for swimming reflects open water swimming or swimming in general. If it’s swimming in general, then I suspect open water swimming is a fairly negligible proportion, and it is this which should be compared to road cycling…IMO

3

I wonder if the figure for swimming reflects open water swimming or swimming in general. If it’s swimming in general, then I suspect open water swimming is a fairly negligible proportion, and it is this which should be compared to road cycling…IMO

I’d be surprised if it means exclusively swimming as in doing a stroke to get from point a to b. Probably includes people just fooling around in lakes, etc

4

Makes me think skydiving is really dangerous given that I would think the number of folks skydiving is a small percentage of those cycling and the time exposed to the dangers of skydiving is far less than cycling.

5

Makes me think skydiving is really dangerous given that I would think the number of folks skydiving is a small percentage of those cycling and the time exposed to the dangers of skydiving is far less than cycling.
It’s a rate “per million” not an absolute figure, so it’s normalised for the number of participants.
Having said that it’s written “per million” and doesn’t specify if it’s per million rides, swims, jumps, runs…, per million minutes riding, swimming, jumping, running…, or per million riders, swimmers, skydivers, runners. I assumed it was per million participants in the sport.
These things matter, a lot. No point discussing stats without knowing what the figures represent. It may be in the link which I can’t follow just now.

6

Makes me think skydiving is really dangerous given that I would think the number of folks skydiving is a small percentage of those cycling and the time exposed to the dangers of skydiving is far less than cycling.
It’s a rate “per million” not an absolute figure, so it’s normalised for the number of participants.
Having said that it’s written “per million” and doesn’t specify if it’s per million rides, swims, jumps, runs…, per million minutes riding, swimming, jumping, running…, or per million riders, swimmers, skydivers, runners. I assumed it was per million participants in the sport.
These things matter, a lot. No point discussing stats without knowing what the figures represent. It may be in the link which I can’t follow just now.

You are correct that you are looking at an apples to oranges comparison.

If you follow the links the swimming and cycling is deaths per million individual participants. It doesn’t normalised for the length of time/number of times you do the activity. So for a million people who self identify as swimmer one will die while swimming. Pretty goods odds and far less than 1 death per million swims. I am pretty sure the average cyclist spends more time riding more than the average swimmer spends swimming so it may be that time spent cycling is safer than time spent swimming (at least from a fatality perspective)

Skydiving however is reported as deaths per million jumps. I have no idea how many jumps the ‘average self-identified skydiver’ makes but its safe to assume the deaths per million ‘self-identified sky divers’ of this population is >>10. Given a skydive is a very short activity the deaths per time spent must be astronomical compared to cycling.

7

Some interesting stuff there.

One summary I make is that we’re most likely to MAIM ourselves with no help for outside, but most likely to be KILLED by a car/truck.

It would be interesting to know whether (if / how many) of the car fatalities were when the cyclist fell off 1st and/or went into to path of a car, rather than the car being at fault.

8

Skydiving however is reported as deaths per million jumps. I have no idea how many jumps the ‘average self-identified skydiver’ makes but its safe to assume the deaths per million ‘self-identified sky divers’ of this population is >>10. Given a skydive is a very short activity the deaths per time spent must be astronomical compared to cycling.

Plus, deaths in skydiving probably also include plane crashes, so they weren’t actually in the act of falling from the sky (unless you count the plan falling) when the deaths occurred.

Around here we have a lot of people riding bikes, and a lot of people killed doing it, but can only think of 3 deaths in the last 20 years that were like most of us - recreational bikers. One was a guy changing a flat tire 10 feet off the road when a kid on a motorcycle going way over the speed limit lost control and crashed on him/through him, a guy on the service road on a Sunday morning that was hit by a guy that was supposedly adjusting his radio and drifted off the road and run over him from behind, and a guy that was also killed on the same service road on a Sunday morning by a hit and run drive yet to be caught. That one was caught on a business security camera, so it blows my mind that 9 months later and no arrest.

9

I wonder if they are counting all those backyard swim pool deaths, I doubt it. Number one killer for the younger age groups…

Ii have had about an equal number of friends die from cycling and swimming, and just two running. One dropped from a heart attack, the other out for a morning run and got hit by a truck…My swimming friends deaths were split too, about half in a pool, half in OW. Bike deaths tend to lean towards getting hit, but a couple dropped dead from exertion, and triggered a heart episode…

10

Those numbers are actually a bit lower than I would have guessed.