4 ms·
I think the other thing that's not mentioned much is that most Dutch cities are commuting at quite low speeds. I'm lucky to average 10mi/hr. There's a huge cha
by estsauver 7y ago
I think the other thing that's not mentioned much is that most Dutch cities are commuting at quite low speeds. I'm lucky to average 10mi/hr.
There's a huge change in the energy of a crash as you start going faster. A 15 mi/hr biker has 2.25x the energy of a 10mi/hr biker and so if you crash it's so much worse.
At 9mi/hr, you're pretty much always walking away from the crash.
- jacquesm 7y agoThe bigger factors here beyond raw speed are age and weight of the rider. Kids can have the most crazy falls at any speed and bounce right up whereas an elderly or overweight person falling from a stand-still position can get severely injured. Hip and shoulder fractures are (unfortunately) quite common in octogenarians that still cycle.
- consp 7y agoI'm quite big and somewhat overweight but taking Judo lessons as a kid saved my ass many times falling (off my bike). I would recommend it to everyone to learn to fall. The electric bike craze for elderly people isn't helping as they now travel about twice as fast as they used to.
- jacquesm 7y agoJudo is a really good tip for cyclists. Falling and cycling go hand in hand to the point that everybody that cycles will fall at least once in their life in an uncontrolled manner, and during the training phase likely much more often than that. Agreed on the electric bike craze, I get passed on my trusty old twelve speed with some regularity by 70 year olds doing 30+ kph (which suggests at least some of these have their limiters removed). Falling at that speed at that age is certain to end bad.
- thanatos519 7y agoI'm regularly passed by grannies on unmotorized fixies.
- jacquesm 7y agoI hope that is when you're walking :)
- estsauver 7y agoI actually fell yesterday while trying to unclip my bike peddles, as a case in point.
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoI never fall when unclipping! Can't happen. But I ride a recumbent trike.
- jacquesm 7y agoI rode a recumbent, not a trike. I still have half an Ikea in my right leg due to the accident, and I also almost flipped a recumbent trike so please be careful, they are not as stable as they seem.
- jacquesm 7y agoThat's pretty common, and a great way to break stuff. I've broken a leg on a recumbent so it's not like I'm above failure either. But I refuse to ride with clips in traffic.
- crispyambulance 7y agoIt really depends on the situation. Kinetic energy is only part of the picture, sure, higher speed is worse. But most crashes aren't direct impacts into immovable objects. One of the most common injuries for cyclists is the ubiquitous broken collar bone. This often happens to folks when they're coming to a stop, or even when they're motionless, and they lose balance and tip over. The unavoidable reaction is to put one's arm out to mitigate the fall. If the arm doesn't bend at the elbow, energy gets transmitted straight to the collarbone and may cause a fracture. Another common injury is concussion. These are, of course, worse at higher speeds because they usually occur when the cyclist goes over the handlebars. This can happen so fast that there is no time to protect the face-- hence the term "face plant". But a head injury can also happen when tipping over at zero speed. Not totally disagreeing about the speed aspect, just the usage of the kinetic energy factor to imply how much worse the accident "could be". Velodrome cyclists regularly wipe out at 40+ mph. Serious injuries and death can occur, but that is highly dependent on the specifics of the crash. The overwhelming majority of the time, higher speed means nastier road-rash.