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Old April 22nd 04, 05:59 AM
Glen F
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Default web-site on road fatalities

See http://tinyurl.com/3hmmp -

Adult cycling deaths by year; and, separately, those during commuting
hours, taken as 7:00am-9:00am and 5:00pm-7:00pm, Monday to Friday.

Interesting. The dip around 1991-92 is fairly clear - widely attributed
to the helmet laws introduced in 1991, and best explained by a
reduction in total cycling (reduced exposure), rather than by any
improvement in cyclist head protection.

An ongoing slow downtrend appears to be superimposed - but I have no
data on concurrent changes in exposure. Surely total adult cycling
per annum would have increased somewhat since the low of 91-92? And by
rather a lot in the last couple of years, if my observations are any
guide...

"Commuting hours" deaths average a fairly modest 6.5 per year nationwide,
rather less than I would have guessed. Census data indicates that
about 2% of all commutes are by bicycle - maybe 200,000 individual
cycle commuters; say 400,000 trips per day.

So your chances of dying cycle commuting are rather less than your
chances of winning Lotto ("break even" is at about five ordinary 8-game
entries per year). Maybe advocates would do well to advertise the fact!


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