On 6/1/2019 10:16 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 8:01:10 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 6/1/2019 4:46 PM, wrote:
On Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 9:42:59 AM UTC-5, sms wrote:
On 6/1/2019 3:02 AM, wrote:
On Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 2:22:45 AM UTC+2, wrote:
On Friday, May 31, 2019 at 2:48:36 PM UTC-5, AK wrote:

Average age of a bicyclist killed on US roads: 45 (36 in 2002)


Disregarding the "killed" part, this brings up a question about the demographics of bicycling today. Are all bicyclists getting older? Is bicycling becoming an older person activity? Are youngsters not taking up cycling? I have friends with children in the late teens and 20s age groups. Some of the kids do ride bikes. But others, their kids do not ride. Yet they ride lots and lots. I know on this forum some people say their children or one child does ride. But how many on this forum have children who do not ride ever? Yet they do.

All kids in the Netherlands ride a bicycle at least up to 18 years when they allowed to drive a car. Most of the times they can't affort a car at that age so the ride until they earn some money. After that they only ride recreational or when it is more practical/faster.

"Back in my day" we didn't get driven around everywhere, it was just
unthinkable that we would even ask to be driven somewhere fairly close
to our homes. We rode our bikes. Maybe if it was pouring rain our
parents would drive us. The times I was driven to elementary school,
about four blocks away were rare.

In the city I'm in now, it's extremely rare for an elementary school
student to ride a bike to school. It's still fairly common in middle
school and high school, but not at the level it should be. Traffic
around schools is insane─even though most students could walk or ride a
bike, they are driven, and sometimes it's only one block.


I'm not really talking about "kids" riding bikes during elementary, middle, or high school. I mean young adults. Or "kids" as I think of them, unfortunately. Younger people. Is bicycling, recreational, fun bicycling, becoming an older and older person activity? Are fewer and fewer young people doing the activity? Thus making the average age of the cyclist older and older.

I think that's the case, sadly. I think a huge chunk of American's
dedicated cyclists are still the ones that took it up during the early
1970s "bike boom" when it was trendy. (Fashion is powerful.) Those
people are now in their 60s, perhaps 70s.

It's not 100%, of course. We have a new young couple living next door
and they've got some very nice road bikes. OTOH, they have a new little
kid, so they won't be doing a lot of riding for a while.


--
- Frank Krygowski

I've heard it said that perception equals reality. Many people where I live think that bicycling is far too dangerous for them to try. Why that is is beyond me since those people don't read magazines or newsgroups. They perceive that bicycling is dangerous and thus do not engage in it nor do they let their children engage in it. Also, I've read that many schools do NOT allow children to bicycle to school.

As I recall, there was very, very little fear mongering about bicycling
until about 1975. Our parents told us "Watch out for cars" and "Be
careful," but that was about it. Bike magazines praised fine bikes,
country rides, sport riding, long tours and even utility riding. There
was not talk of injuries that I recall.

I still remember reading _Bicycling_ magazine's first article about
helmets. It started with an anecdote (of course!) about a guy riding
with friends falling off his bike - he may have hit a squirrel - and
described how he asked the same question repeatedly. Yes, he must have
had a concussion; but until that point, the magazine never mentioned
traumatic brain injuries as part of bicycling. Of course, at that point,
Bell Sports had just begun buying advertising for its styrofoam caps.
Pricey double page ads!

I think that was the beginning of serious fear mongering. Through many
ads, articles, and sketchy research papers, people were convinced that
this everyday activity was so dangerous that a helmet was necessary.
Then, because it was so dangerous, there began calls for bike lane
stripes for "safety." And now we're deep into "safety inflation," where
giving the advocates what they asked for last year is in no way sufficient.

And people like Scharf are happy to contribute, adding to the
implication that riding a bike is very, very dangerous! Unless, that is,
it's done in a barrier "protected" or parking "protected" lane. Oh, and
don't forget, with every intersection re-built (at maybe half a million
dollars per intersection) into a "protected" intersection.

But that's not all. The funny headgear is still absolutely necessary.
And now, a super-bright daytime headlight and taillight. And you can't
be safe if you're not wearing garish clothing.

It's easy to see why people think riding is super-risky.

--
- Frank Krygowski