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One thing you miss here is the asymmetry of risk. Cyclists are at highest level of risk while on the road. They're moving at enough speed to cause serious injur
by rbranson 15y ago
One thing you miss here is the asymmetry of risk. Cyclists are at highest level of risk while on the road. They're moving at enough speed to cause serious injury to themselves, but they're still usually about half the speed of cars. Modern automobiles have excellent safety characteristics and pedestrians have more of an ability to take evasive action.
A mistake on a bike is going to almost always be a life-or-death situation as just falling onto the road puts them at extremely high risk for injury. The cost of errors made by car drivers has a huge impact on the morbidity of cyclists, while the opposite doesn't hold true. Even if cyclists were an order of magnitude more dangerous than car drivers, their poor decisions would have negligible impact on car drivers.
- esrauch 15y agoEven if we completely accept what you are saying, I think there are a couple reasons why that doesn't change anything. We don't allow people to risk their own lives. We force people by law to wear motorcycle helmets and seatbelts (ignoring a very few number of states). That doesn't at all improve the chances for other people to survive. You aren't considering the fact that a bicyclist causes injuries to people who aren't them. There are plenty of scenarios for this, cars swerving into incoming traffic, into a utility pole into pedestrians to avoid a cyclist. Way more people die from swerving to avoid animals than from hitting animals; even hitting a deer isn't likely to kill you in a modern automobile, but swerving into a tree to avoid one will.
- rbranson 15y agoI think you have a valid point -- but my point about asymmetry of risk still stands. Even if cyclists cause more accidents because of this swerving to avoid maneuver, the injury risk to the cyclist in any accident (fatal or otherwise) is still much higher.
- alxp 15y ago> pedestrians have more of an ability to take evasive action Except when they don't, due to mobility problems or having pets with them or other reasons. Expecting anyone to jump out of your way when you come barreling down the sidewalk is going to hurt someone.
- rbranson 15y agoI'm not excusing poor behavior -- but that there is a significant statistical advantage to automobile drivers -- and that this should be taken into consideration. With great power comes great responsibility.