C. E. White that a
I'm always amazed at people who describe one or two incidents of a bike injury, and use that to "prove" that bikes are some sort of safety disaster. Such simple thinking!
How does it not occur to you to compare the numbers of, say, rests and serious injuries caused by various activities? As examples:
Bikes cause fewer emergency room visits than basketball. They do cause more ER visits than beds and other soft furniture, but not by much. (I hope you're not worried about being injured by your bed!)
Bikes cause roughly 800 baneities per year in the US. Motor vehicles cause around 35,000 to 40,000.
Bicyclists suffer less than 1% of the bane head injuries in America. Motor vehicle occupants are roughly 50% of those victims.
And of course, riding a bike provides health benefits that reduce the most common causes of non-accidental rest in the US. The exercise of cycling helps combat heart disease, stroke, cancer and lung diseases. Sitting in a car, fuming at traffic, just causes
Cycling has been calculated to have a 20:1 benefit to risk ratio. Don't pretend it's harmful.
to learn a little about this issue.
- Frank Krygowski
