5 ms·
Bikes are perfectly safe. It's car drivers who aren't.
by growse 3y ago
Bikes are perfectly safe. It's car drivers who aren't.
- whimsicalism 3y agomost motorcycle accidents involve only the motorcycle and no other vehicle and motorcycles have a considerably higher rate of fatal crashes due to things like hitting fixed barriers.
- djbusby 3y agohttps://www.nhtsa.gov/book/countermeasures-that-work/motorcycle-safety https://www.nhtsa.gov/book/countermeasures-that-work/motorcy... Here is some data from USA, I've not read it.
- growse 3y agoWhat that stat doesn't tell you is the rate of near misses. It's anecdotal I know, but as someone who commutes on a bike, the number of times I almost crash by myself per journey is near zero, yet the number of times a car tries to inadvertently occupy the same piece of road as me is multiple.
- whimsicalism 3y agomotorbike? or bicycle bike?
- growse 3y agoMotorbike
- kazinator 3y agoOh, bikes are perfectly safe; it's fixed barriers that aren't.
- endymi0n 3y agoThis. Guns don‘t kill people, people kill people. And for every bad toddler with a gun, we better have two good toddlers with a gun.
- magicalhippo 3y agoAs a driver, the only times I've had near-accidents with bikes have been when they came up on me unexpectedly. Like left side shoulder when I'm stuck in traffic in the left lane. I only got my license a few years ago, public transport works quite well here in Norway, seems I haven't yet learned all the sneaky ways bike riders can surprise ya. That said, I see idiots behind the wheel causing near crashes several times a week so yeah I guess as a rider those scare you a lot more.
- zdragnar 3y agoI'm not saying car drivers are better or worse (there's plenty of both on average), but you need to watch out for different things when around bikes. Riding through red lights without stopping or yielding to traffic turning right, riding on sidewalks forcing pedestrians out of their way, zipping back and forth between the sidewalk and road, changing lanes without signaling and assuming the cars will read their minds and slow down for them are all things I saw in my few years living in a bigger city with lots of bicyclists. Never got into an accident with one, but I was a passenger in a car that nearly hit one. She either had psychological problems, or was intentionally trying to get an insurance payout, because she absolutely tried to get hit, then freaked out on the driver when he managed to slow down in time.
- yongjik 3y agoIn the days of Wright Brothers, it would have been perfectly safe to take off and fly your airplane in any direction as long as you can see where you are, but it's obviously no longer safe these days, and there are strict rules about where you are allowed and who you have to contact at which locations. "What is safe" obviously depends on who else are on the road.
- Hatrix 3y agoAs a pedestrian, I want bicycle riding banned from sidewalks and any other pedestrian area.
- kamray23 3y agoIt is in most places. At least in Europe where I live there's a limit of 12 years old for cycling on sidewalks and pedways marked with only a pedestrian sign, whereas sidewalks which are wide enough and marked with both a bicycle and pedestrian sign as well as paths marked with both a bicycle and pedestrian signs are for pedestrians and bicyclists equally. And of course this has its logical conclusion in bicycle-exclusive bike lanes and bike paths with no pedestrians at all on them. It's especially no issue if everyone gets the rules, generally on wide sidewalks where bikes are allowed the outer side with buildings is for pedestrians and the inner side near the road is for cars. Where no bicycle-OK sidewalk exists you just use the road or walk with the bike.
- Turing_Machine 3y agoNo, they are not. They are an extremely hazardous form of transportation. I like riding motorcycles, but I don't fool myself into thinking that they're anywhere near as safe as a modern car. In fact, they are responsible for more than 28 times the fatalities per mile traveled than cars. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813306 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...