3 ms·

Pro cyclists sometimes die from crashes where do you draw the line in sport safety?

• jtbayly 5y ago
  Great question. It's not easy to answer where to draw the line with risks. One difference is that a bicycle accident is an accident, whereas contact sports it is part of the game to hit each other. So it's less a question of whether a rare event might happen to you, and more a question of what is this common event doing to me?
• unclekev 5y ago
  > Pro cyclists sometimes die from crashes The difference here being the cyclists are not purposely driving their bikes into cars/objects vs being rugby being an actual 'contact sport'
  • thinkharderdev 5y ago
    I'm not so sure about that. Obviously pro cyclists aren't purposely crashing but the nature of the sport is to put yourself in extremely dangerous situations on a regular basis. Descending at 60+ mph on narrow, wet roads. Sprints where they are riding in excess of 35ph in VERY close quarters with other riders, etc. Not to mention the long term health consequences of maintaining an extremely low body fat percentage for long periods of time. The parent is being downvoted for a "what about X?" response but I think it is actually a legitimate question to ask. Almost every elite sport carries with it serious health and safety risks. But to counter their concern I would argue that elite sports almost always carry health risks, may amateur sports do not and are broadly beneficial. Contact sports such as American Football, Rugby, etc however are in a different class where the amateur athletes are also putting themselves at significant risk.
• unethical_ban 5y ago
  Somewhere between "this is a threat to every participant in the sport and most of them actively deny the threat while recruiting children to play" and "it happens upon occasion".