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> In London, being on a bicycle is life threatening. Not really disagreeing per se, but I think it's worth taking a look at the numbers. I got them from Wikip

> In London, being on a bicycle is life threatening. Not really disagreeing per se, but I think it's worth taking a look at the numbers. I got them from Wikipedia [1]. The lastest numbers they have are from 2017: 721 thousand journeys per day and 10 deaths per year. That's 0.0000038% chance of death per journey (although presumably about 40x that for serious injury, or 0.00015% per journey). While I appreciate that it's scary to ride in traffic, very unlikely to ever be killed on a bicycle in London. Not good as it should be, but over the last 10-20 years you can see that improvements have been made and I hope we'll see more to come in the future. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_in_London#Statistics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_in_London#Statistics

stillworks 7y ago
Objectively speaking, I hear you. The numbers are in your favor. And full disclosure, I have not yet tried cycling in London. But from a car drivers perspective, to me it seems that if by any chance, I made a contact with a cyclist even at breaking speed, I would injur the poor soul very badly. And when I play that back but me being the cyclist... I can't get myself to get on a bike.
- mikekchar 7y ago
  I admit that I have done it in some non-busy places around about 2013. It is scary at first, but to be honest it's better than when I was riding in Canada. Drivers are pretty patient in the UK. I rode a fair amount in the countryside when I was there and I was really surprised at how careful drivers are when overtaking (and how patient they seemed to be). City driving is fairly low speed, though, which gives a cyclist an advantage because they have better acceleration. That allows them to get out of trouble most of the time. Having said that, I don't want to take away from your point that a lot of people will always feel too uncomfortable to ride in city traffic and I don't blame them. It's just that I often hear people complain about the safety of cycling in London and it's actually a pretty safe city to ride in (though it can definitely get better). The previous mayor was notorious for spending money on improving cycling in London and I think the stats bear that out. I left the UK in 2015, so I don't know what the current mayor is doing.

stillworks 7y ago

Objectively speaking, I hear you. The numbers are in your favor. And full disclosure, I have not yet tried cycling in London. But from a car drivers perspective, to me it seems that if by any chance, I made a contact with a cyclist even at breaking speed, I would injur the poor soul very badly. And when I play that back but me being the cyclist... I can't get myself to get on a bike.

mikekchar 7y ago
I admit that I have done it in some non-busy places around about 2013. It is scary at first, but to be honest it's better than when I was riding in Canada. Drivers are pretty patient in the UK. I rode a fair amount in the countryside when I was there and I was really surprised at how careful drivers are when overtaking (and how patient they seemed to be). City driving is fairly low speed, though, which gives a cyclist an advantage because they have better acceleration. That allows them to get out of trouble most of the time. Having said that, I don't want to take away from your point that a lot of people will always feel too uncomfortable to ride in city traffic and I don't blame them. It's just that I often hear people complain about the safety of cycling in London and it's actually a pretty safe city to ride in (though it can definitely get better). The previous mayor was notorious for spending money on improving cycling in London and I think the stats bear that out. I left the UK in 2015, so I don't know what the current mayor is doing.