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Barcelona is in Spain, on the Mediterranean, where the weather is fair all year long. It's not the case in many parts of the world. Bicycles are a rather danger
by Saline9515 1y ago
Barcelona is in Spain, on the Mediterranean, where the weather is fair all year long. It's not the case in many parts of the world. Bicycles are a rather dangerous mode of transportation, and I wouldn't use it with kids, especially in a city.
- swiftcoder 1y agoDangerous why? Because of all the cars?
- Saline9515 1y agoDangerous because a city provides many ways for a cyclist to fall or hit something or someone. In France, data shows that 2/3 of cyclists' "serious accidents" don't involve another road user. https://www.cerema.fr/system/files/documents/2024/05/3._2024_04_04_webinaire_cerema_presentation_onisr_accidentalite_a_velo.pdf https://www.cerema.fr/system/files/documents/2024/05/3._2024...
- crote 1y agoIn other words, you want them to invest more money into building safer cyclist infrastructure? An obstacle isn't going to magically pop into existence the moment you mount a bicycle. Car-centric road design can indeed be dangerous to cyclists, but that says more about the road design than it does about the concept of cycling. Build better roads and cycling isn't dangerous!
- Saline9515 1y agoDo you live in a world where money is infinite? I'd rather have very good public transport, which is accessible to everyone, safe and can give physical workers so rest and a quiet time after work, than bike lanes everywhere. And the problem with removing cars from the city center is that many users still need cars, either because they have families, or because they work and need a motorized vehicle (e.g a plumber).
- andrewshadura 1y agoWhy do you think a plumber requires a car and not, say, an electric cargo bicycle?
- Saline9515 1y agoBecause a plumber needs to carry heavy things, such as a water heater tank, and possibly more as he will intervene on multiple places during his day? And that he may need to get back to the shop/depot in the suburb during the day to get additional parts, if needed? Do you live in a magical word where things teleport by themselves?
- gardnr 1y agoI've never worked with a plumber that has anything they need in their van / truck. They always need to go buy something. This departure generally doubles the cost of whatever plumbing is happening.
- froddd 1y agoThe data you present does not say that: > 35% des cyclistes tués, 63% des cyclistes blessés gravement le sont dans un accident sans autre véhicule impliqué. 35% of cyclist deaths, and 63% of cyclist seriously injured occur in an accident with no other party involved. Another graph in that report shows that a vast majority of cyclist deaths occur while cycling for leisure. I would hazard that most cycling in cities is utilitarian.
- Earw0rm 1y agoYes, this will be the road racer guys (it is mostly guys) screwing up while descending an Alp or Pyrenee. Split-second safety margins and if you get it wrong on a 60kph descent - or someone else gets it wrong, or you suffer a mechanical failure - you're likely dead.
- Saline9515 1y agoA city is a much more dangerous environment. You have bollards, stupid pedestrians who keep on trying to circulate on YOUR sidewalk, potholes, dogs, and so on.
- Earw0rm 1y agoIt's really not, because speeds are so much lower - and injury is, by and large, related to kinetic energy which is the _square_ of speed. OK, cycling at 50km/h in a city is dangerous and stupid (if you're even physically capable of doing so, which few are?). 30km/h in suburbs / 20km/h in the centre is mostly fine, and 10 for busy complicated spaces. 30km/h is slow enough to prevent the vast majority of crashes being fatal, and 20km/h will avoid most serious injuries.
- Saline9515 1y agoKinetic power is lower, that said you can still hurt yourself pretty bad depending on how you fall. A wrist doesn't need a lot of force to break, nor a skull needs to fall from high to cause trauma. A cyclist on a sidewalk going at 20km/h can cripple a child for life (not that the cyclist cares, but just for the example). I broke my wrist by falling from my bike when I was younger, almost while stopped (my wheel got blocked in a tram rail).
- jenadine 1y agoI remember seeing another study here on HN a couple of years ago that showed that actually, the all cause mortality of cyclists comunter was actually lower, because the higher risk of road accident was largely compensated by the benefits of exercise. But I can't find the article anymore.
- mendigou 1y agoPeople in Germany and the Netherlands must extra hardened I guess, since everyone bikes around there, even with their kids in tow.
- abcd_f 1y agoI would never go with my kids on a bike on any road that's shared with cars. The risk, as small as it is, is still unacceptable to me. Don't know about Germany, but in Netherlands it's solved with having proper cycling infrastructure. It's the right approach, but it is still more of an exception. Where I am at they just painted cycle paths on existing roads and then tried to make it safer by cutting speed limit in half and eliminating lots of street parking. And now it's a mess that doesn't work well for anyone. Next elections are in a year, will be interesting to see how that will go.
- GrzegorzWidla 1y agoYet there is Oulu (city in middle of Finland with year long, studded tyres on snow and ice cycling culture), hilly Oslo, rainy Copenhagen, windy Amsterdam and now fair but unpredictable London and Paris are joining the mix. Bicycle commuting is extremely safe if cyclists are accounted for by the infrastructure designers. It’s a statistical fact that’s true across the world, even the USA. BTW, check what’s the leading cause of children death in the States.