Was just having this discussion with one of my cycling friends from work and was wondering what people's opinions on the subject here are.
The official government figures I've read say that motorcyclists are 50 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident or suffer serious injury than a car driver, and cyclist are 4 times safer than motorcycles. So that makes cycling pretty dangerous compared to driving a car but a lot safer than motorcycling.
Of course these are statistics over the entire UK and an individual cyclist or motorcyclist may have a riding style that bucks the trend which is why I hate these kind of statistics.
In my subjective opinion having been cycling since I was about 5, riding a motorcycle for 10 years and driving cars for 5 years I have to say that I find cycling by far the most dangerous, or at least it feels the most dangerous. I've probably covered the most amount of miles motorcycling in my life and I've never had a sniff of an accident and always feel perfectly safe and in command of the road. I use the motorcycle's speed, small size and acceleration to stay well clear of cars and go around bends very slowly rather than trying to get my 'knee down'. I put my motorcycling safety record down to this riding behaviour. Had a few minor accidents in cars - a couple of people going into the back of me and once I reversed into someone (very shaken up) after some lunatic ran me off the road. However cycling it seems every few days I have an 'issue' - I wouldn't say 'near death experience' but I would say 'potentially dangerous situation'. Maybe this is just my perception like my perception of the most dangerous road users (i.e. people not looking and pulling out on you, driving erratically or too slowly) always seem to be women, old folk and ethnic minorities (just my experience). I find it odd that my road experiences often seem at odds with official statisics and wondered what others thought. Do the statistics for cycling actually take into account distance travelled or just the fact that just about everyone in the UK is a 'cyclist' i.e owns a bike but rarely uses it?
The official government figures I've read say that motorcyclists are 50 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident or suffer serious injury than a car driver, and cyclist are 4 times safer than motorcycles. So that makes cycling pretty dangerous compared to driving a car but a lot safer than motorcycling.
Of course these are statistics over the entire UK and an individual cyclist or motorcyclist may have a riding style that bucks the trend which is why I hate these kind of statistics.
In my subjective opinion having been cycling since I was about 5, riding a motorcycle for 10 years and driving cars for 5 years I have to say that I find cycling by far the most dangerous, or at least it feels the most dangerous. I've probably covered the most amount of miles motorcycling in my life and I've never had a sniff of an accident and always feel perfectly safe and in command of the road. I use the motorcycle's speed, small size and acceleration to stay well clear of cars and go around bends very slowly rather than trying to get my 'knee down'. I put my motorcycling safety record down to this riding behaviour. Had a few minor accidents in cars - a couple of people going into the back of me and once I reversed into someone (very shaken up) after some lunatic ran me off the road. However cycling it seems every few days I have an 'issue' - I wouldn't say 'near death experience' but I would say 'potentially dangerous situation'. Maybe this is just my perception like my perception of the most dangerous road users (i.e. people not looking and pulling out on you, driving erratically or too slowly) always seem to be women, old folk and ethnic minorities (just my experience). I find it odd that my road experiences often seem at odds with official statisics and wondered what others thought. Do the statistics for cycling actually take into account distance travelled or just the fact that just about everyone in the UK is a 'cyclist' i.e owns a bike but rarely uses it?
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