Greater odds death by car or in a car?

Triathlon Forum
1

Besides the fact that all these posts about getting hit or killed on a training ride have seriously scared the crap out of me. Are the odds still greater that I/we will get killed in a car accident driving to work than going on a bike ride? Everytime I leave my house in the morning I don’t worry about getting killed in a car accident. I wish that was true for my training rides. Does anyone know the odds for commute versus bike ride?

2

I don’t have the numbers but I’d say it depends highly on what you’re comparing. If you do it on a “miles traveled” basis I’m guessing the odds are against biking as ALOT of people drive and travel alot of miles versus not to many miles or people on bikes. If you look at it from a total number or population percentage than the odds are with the biking as not to many people ride bikes and most people drive cars.

I’m really not sure what basis you could even make the comparison, maybe on actual number of trips? I’d guess that would again make the bike a bit safer. Not sure though.

~Matt

3

I’ve never run the numbers myself, but I believe that driving (cars/trucks/etc) FAR outranks any other cause of death by a pretty big margin. People who are afraid of flying/sharks/lightning/etc are generally told that the odds of dying (or being injured/maimed) by anything other than a motor vehicle are miniscule.

Having said that, wear a lid and ride defensively.

4

That’s exactly what I was thinking… Ride smart and safe but don’t let it scare you from riding…

5

Does it really matter what the odds are?
When your time is due, well it is to go whether you are in bed, in a plane, in a car, on a bike, having sex, does not really matter!

Cheers,
Fred.

6

Some interesting reading:

List of the top ten causes of death resulting from accidents:

http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/toptens/accidents/accidents.html

Note that bicycling isn’t even listed.

Similar info in much more depth:

http://danger.mongabay.com/injury_death.htm

Of course, the issue with these is that the population being studied is “all Americans.” If you’re not a bike rider, your odds of death due to cycling accident are certainly much lower than the one in 4,838 listed on that second site as lifetime odds of death due to cycling accident. The reverse is also true, those of us who ARE avid cyclists are much MORE likely than that to die from it.

Cue arguments from number-obsessed flamers. I figure that when it’s my time, it’s my time. And I’d MUCH rather die doing something I like (riding a bike) than, say, accidental exposure to nonopioid analgesics antipyretics and antirheumatics (1:20,341 chance!)

7

So you believe that the cause of your death is already predetermined?

8

Not just the cause…
Cheers,
Fred.