Everyday there seems to be yet another sad and horrific car-bike accident resulting in a horrific cycling death. Is cycling on the roads just getting too dangerous. To me it seems like texting while driving is the game changer that has made the roads too unsafe. Anyone given up outside cycling for this reason and if so what did you do? Cycle inside and run outside? Take up mountain biking? Very upsetting for those of us who love cycling but want to stay safe.
I thought the same thing, and discovered I may be wrong in this assumption after doing some research on fatality statistics:
http://tomdemerly.com/2015/06/24/how-dangerous-is-road-cycling/
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It’s always been dangerous.
What’s changed are your perceptions of just how dangerous it is.
How many cars pass you on a given ride? Hundreds certainly. A thousand maybe? On every ride. All it takes is for one of them to swerve onto the right shoulder at the wrong time, or not see you in a traffic lane if there is no shoulder, and it’s all over. Bad driver can’t hold a line, distracted driver, impaired driver? All real common.
Nope. Deaths have declined somewhat.
Without texting they would have declined even more, I am sure. We need to push for texting while driving to be treated the same as drunk driving.
GF got smoked by a car on our training ride a month before our IM Wis. I thought she was dead, she was lucky to walk away from it. She didn’t end up racing and hasn’t been on a bike since. I have slowed down and am always looking over my shoulder. Just plain sucks, started CX and enjoy my MTB. I hate selfish people that ruin things for others, I might just hate people in general…
+1 on that. Every now and then when I’m driving to work I try to count how many people I see with their phones up while driving- it’s crazy and makes me angry…
I do this too, and its got to be 30% of cars on average, sometimes will hit 7+ people in a row…terrible.
I have never been a huge road cyclist but I do avoid the road when possible and ride paths. And I use the trainer for most of my training. Its not as fun or scenic I’m sure, but to me it isn’t worth it. And before you tell me its so rare allow me to tell you I was struck by a car in July and don’t have any interest in repeating the experience.
I did have to give up road riding a few years ago after the following transpired in about a 3 month period:
- Nanny with baby in stroller hit in crosswalk on a green light, broad daylight, 300 yards from my house
- I shit you not, 12 straight rides where someone blatantly ran a red light in front of me on the bike
- Near collision, avoided by me because I was watching the moron come off the onramp, knowing he was not going to pay attention to the green light on the crosswalk that I was about to cross. If I hadn’t seen him, I’d be toast.
- Really really really near collision when yet another moron came up an off ramp doing about 60, clearly ignored the RED light he had (yes California drivers, you do actually have to STOP at a red light, even if you are turning right), and was going to proceed turning right. This with me and my bright-ass headlight flashing on my bars. He finally saw me, I heard his antilock kick in as I also slammed on my brakes. He stopped about 4 feet away, as I proceeded to scream bloody murder at him. Of course he drives off like nothing happened. My legs were shaking so bad I stopped, called my wife, and hung up the road bike right there for 2-3 years. Bought a mountain bike. Figured if I’m going out, it’s going to be my fault, not someone else’s.
Now that I am back into tri, I am back on the road, with another taillight and another headlight (2 each). Yet I still had an idiot turn in front of me in broad daylight, again me having to lock up my brakes. I thought for sure I was going to hit him but stopped with about 2 inches to spare. This in front of a cop no less (ok a sheriff to be specific) - who proceeds to do precisely nothing as I’m ripping the driver a new one through his open window.
Bought a trainer last week. I’ll still ride outside on occasion, but probably mostly on my road bike where I’m slightly less vulnerable (or so I think anyway). But best to take at least some of the risk factor out of it.
Oh, forgot to mention the other idiot last week who backs out of a parking spot on PCH here in Solana Beach, not looking, on the phone, almost into me. So yes, it’s getting more/too dangerous, for me anyway.
Not trying to generalize, but a good number of deaths seem too happen with single riders. Buddy up or go on group rides.
I think route selection plays a big factor. Not everyone has access to safe routes, and lots of people seem to lack the skill to pick safe routes if they are available. At least half the time I see some details on a bike/car death my first thought is “I would not have been riding there.”
As riding skills playing a role, I’m a roadie and surprisingly, I don’t personally know anyone in the groups I ride with who has been injured being hit be a car in the last 10 years. Lots of close calls and swearing but no injuries at least. Don’t get me wring, I know a ton of guys and gals who have been hurt on bikes, me included, but I think there might be something to be said for the fact that the people who handle their bikes well enough to be breaking bones in races are at least decently skilled at avoiding cars 
I think a big factor in that too is that roadies log a lot of their miles riding in groups. It is much much harder for a car to miss seeing a group of riders than it is to miss seeing a solo rider. Group riding has some dangers of its own but it is way safer from a car/bike interaction standpoint.
I did have to give up road riding a few years ago after the following transpired in about a 3 month period:
- Nanny with baby in stroller hit in crosswalk on a green light, broad daylight, 300 yards from my house
- I shit you not, 12 straight rides where someone blatantly ran a red light in front of me on the bike
- Near collision, avoided by me because I was watching the moron come off the onramp, knowing he was not going to pay attention to the green light on the crosswalk that I was about to cross. If I hadn’t seen him, I’d be toast.
- Really really really near collision when yet another moron came up an off ramp doing about 60, clearly ignored the RED light he had (yes California drivers, you do actually have to STOP at a red light, even if you are turning right), and was going to proceed turning right. This with me and my bright-ass headlight flashing on my bars. He finally saw me, I heard his antilock kick in as I also slammed on my brakes. He stopped about 4 feet away, as I proceeded to scream bloody murder at him.
Strange, in 30 or so years of riding bikes I’ve never seen anyone blatantly run a red light or had a near collision. You should move.
I know right? If San Diego wasn’t so awesome otherwise, we would!
I think you are right. And it’s not a “group” if one person is 20-30 yards up the road and everyone’s spaced out… A car might think it safely passes the only rider it sees just to swerve over into another ride just up the road. If you are going to ride with people actually ride with them and if the “draft” ruins your workout, ride longer or ride on the front.
Excerpt from the article I wrote:
“Compare the change in cycling fatalities with the growth in the cycling sports: The Outdoor Foundation.org reports a significant “174% growth in Traditional Road Triathlon Participation in the last five years”. The foundation went on to report that, “Activities with high percentages of first-time participants in 2012 included stand up paddling, boardsailing/windsurfing and non-traditional and traditional triathlons.”
Even if you discount the statistics for cycling fatalities and triathlon growth each by 50%, the trend remains clear: Serious road cycling/car accidents are becoming less common per rider.
Why has the perception of road cycling evolved into a belief that riding on the roads in more dangerous than ever? There are likely several reasons.
When you conduct a survey of the literature on cycling accidents you discover that cycling safety statistics are pretty dry, while Facebook and social media posts about accidents are pretty sensational. This proliferation of social media posts about cycling accidents contrasted with boring accident analysis likely contributes to the misconception that cycling is more dangerous than ever.
This last decade has produced a new culture of sport cyclists, many of them attracted to cycling by triathlons. Triathlon is fed by several demographics; participants completely new to endurance sports, participants coming into triathlon from distance running, participants coming from a collegiate sports background. None of these three backgrounds emphasize technical bike handling skills. Few triathlon clubs conduct bike handling and group ride skills clinics. As a result this new culture of performance cyclists are racing their bikes on the roads in triathlons but may not be practicing bike handling and real-world road riding skills.”
Not trying to generalize, but a good number of deaths seem too happen with single riders. Buddy up or go on group rides.
At least you’ll have company…
I think route selection plays a big factor. Not everyone has access to safe routes, and lots of people seem to lack the skill to pick safe routes if they are available. At least half the time I see some details on a bike/car death my first thought is “I would not have been riding there.”
+1
A couple of months ago I was riding on a small MUT that runs beside a busy road. The MUT is separated from the road by a curb and a stretch of grass. It was rush hour traffic but there was no one on the MUT; it was free and clear so you didn’t even have to worry about joggers and skaters. I passed some poor bastard laid out on the road, his bike aways away, cop cars with lights flashing, and the car that presumably hit him parked there as well. I was not that sympathetic because I was thinking, “Why wasn’t that idiot riding twenty feet to the left where I am. It is freaking rush hour and half those assholes get on their phones as soon as they get in their cars to drive home.”
As riding skills playing a role, I’m a roadie and surprisingly, I don’t personally know anyone in the groups I ride with who has been injured being hit be a car in the last 10 years. Lots of close calls and swearing but no injuries at least. Don’t get me wring, I know a ton of guys and gals who have been hurt on bikes, me included, but I think there might be something to be said for the fact that the people who handle their bikes well enough to be breaking bones in races are at least decently skilled at avoiding cars
I don’t think it is so much bike handling as situational awareness. People who don’t have or have not been able to develop situational awareness get filtered out of road riding by accidents. After a number of years what is left are those who pay attention to their surroundings and are always adjusting their riding to defend against those around them doing something unexpected. Unfortunately for triathletes, zipping along on aero bars at near max is asking for trouble.
A lot of serious riders who get hit seem to be new riders. I think these riders have not accumulated enough experience so that riding defensively is second nature. Some are just not suited to riding on the road. I have known people who have started riding and I knew right from the start that they would be hit by a car eventually. There were people who are naturally oblivious to what is around then, the type of people who will step on your dog’s paws because they don’t bother to look even though they know the dog is right there.
I’m going t respectfully disagree that it’s newbies riding alone getting hit. Where I live there have been multiple deaths involving extremely experienced cyclists riding on well frequented cycling routes. One of the accidents occurred during a cycling club group ride.
Traffic deaths also are up. As are insurance claims nationwide. I think it’s texting while driving. It’s just like drunk driving but many many more people are doing it.
Not trying to generalize, but a good number of deaths seem too happen with single riders. Buddy up or go on group rides.
At least you’ll have company…
That picture gives me heart palpitations…what’s the backstory?
Everyday there seems to be yet another sad and horrific car-bike accident resulting in a horrific cycling death. Is cycling on the roads just getting too dangerous. To me it seems like texting while driving is the game changer that has made the roads too unsafe. Anyone given up outside cycling for this reason and if so what did you do? Cycle inside and run outside? Take up mountain biking? Very upsetting for those of us who love cycling but want to stay safe.
I think many people here will say that cycling is no more dangerous than badminton. And they actually believe it.
You never know where a shuttlecock could end up. Lethal.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/24943229/ns/world_news-americas/t/dead-car-plows-mexican-bike-race/
In the 90s sometime I heard about a similar crash in Mexico in a pro race. I knew one of the guys. No one died in that one, but lots of injuries.
I only did one road race in Mexico. We had a lead car that was pulling over opposing traffic on the road ahead of us so we could use both lanes. But one guy in a semi just blared his horn and stepped on the gas. The lane was cleared in time, but several guys got knocked off the right side of the road, where there was a dropoff and a bunch of big sharp rocks. Exciting stuff.