More Bicyclists Means Fewer Accidents

In a study that at first glance seems counterintuitive, researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, reviewed safety studies from 17 countries and 68 cities in California and found that the more people bike in a community, the less they collide with motorists.

"It appears that motorists adjust their behavior in the presence of increasing numbers of people bicycling because they expect or experience more people cycling," said Julie Hatfield, an injury expert from the university.

With fewer accidents, people perceive cycling as safer, so more people cycle, thus making it even safer, she said.

"Rising cycling rates mean motorists are more likely to be cyclists, and therefore be more conscious of, and sympathetic towards, cyclists," she said.

http://www.livescience.com/health/080905-bike-accidents.html

No excuse now - start pedaling. ;-)

Not a day goes by for me without cyclists blowing though red lights, cutting in front of cars and running though cross walks, while pedestrians are using them, and for the life of me, regardless of how healthy it is to ride (I am a cyclist myself), I cannot understand why cyclists find it necessary to break every traffic rule and get away with it.

Cycling is better for you, but most cyclists I see are pricks: just as bad or worse as auto operators.

yes INDEED

then everybody would be running red lights for starters.

Again, I am a cyclist, and I stop for red lights. Others just blow right through.


But I guess that it is just perspective...

I see red light-runners at EVERY LIGHT

Laugh it up, by all means. Are you suggeting that all motorists are bad and all cyclists are good: that cyclists don't run through red lights as well?


If you are then I would say that you are being disingenuous.

you're drawing ridiculously erroneous conclusions

It's a study, ferchrissakes, not tinrobot's opinion. :eyes:

As a cyclist, I feel perfectly safe. You couldn't hit me, except blindly from behind. I can turn tighter, brake faster, accelerate faster, while cars are lumbering hulks. I follow the rules of the road as best as they apply to safe and expedient travel, but as those rules were written mostly for cars and pedestrians I have to bend them according to good judgment. I am always ready to quickly stop or wait if in doubt, but will just as quickly move out of the way if waved on, or break a rule if it puts me in a bad spot.

The vast majority of motorists I find to be polite and attentive, and I have to say it has been a very nice summer doing my commuting and shopping by bike. The only negative experience of 1200 miles was once being called an asshole for riding rather than walking across a crosswalk on a busy street - 2 seconds vs 10 seconds in the way of traffic.

Trust me.

Drivers have very little regard for cyclists down here. I rode a few weeks ago and stopped to have lunch at an "upscale" shopping complex. No bike racks, of course, so we locked our bikes to a lamp-post at the side of the restaurant. I came out to two flat tires and a steaming pile of dog shit, compliments of a good ol' boy in a behemoth pick-up truck and his mangy dog.

A few cyclists have been hit--deliberately--and left along the side of the road.

And years ago some idiot morning DJ encouraged drivers to throw things at cyclists.

Compared to Raleigh, I can't wait to get back to the "civility" of Washington, DC and its extensive path network.

I predict that there will be more accidents up front and then berms and trails will be improved to bring the number down.

1) Asshole cyclists who run red lights, blow stop signs, and generally disobey the rules.

2) Asshole motorists who hit cyclists, purposely throw things at them, and generally disobey the rules.

Reading this, it appears that there are no good motorists, no good cyclists and nobody anywhere obeys the rules of the road.

I doubt that to be true.

when the cyclist is over the age of 14 (under that age, the inverse is true)

Most of the time I drive on roads where there are NO cyclists.

Yesterday I drove on a windy mountain road where there were a few cyclists who SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME. You're bombing along, and all of a sudden you round a corner, and there's a dude on a bike? And then if you avoid plowing the guy down you have to pass him, on a windy road, where he's still occupying 1/4 of the lane, and will not take a pull-out, forcing you to go into the other lane?

Not cool.

Maybe rural roads should have paved bike lanes? :shrug:

I don't want to kill anyone on a bike, but if I don't know there's a guy going WAAAY slower than me up ahead, I can see how accidents could easily happen. :(

as a cyclist there is one road I ride like that - with blind curves and no shoulder and not many options for a car coming up at speed behind me. I hug the shoulder and move fast on those...but there is no other option to get where I am going, and that's how the road was built.