Best states (west of great lakes) for cycling

wrote in message oups.com...
On Mar 28, 7:10 pm, "David Tang" wrote in part:

I think in most places, cyclists are required to behave like vehicles
when riding on the road. They therefore also get treated like vehicles.
Which I think means in situations where the was no obvious negligence
or intent to injure, no one gets ticketed.

Can you imagine any situation where one car
collides with another but there is no obvious
negligence or ticketable offense from at least
one party?

Robert

Happens all the time around here during the winter,
with the blame usually attributed to the conditions.
Sometimes you can't stop, no matter how slow you
were going or how much space you allowed for. I
imagine rain is occasionally blamed as well, in
places that get enough of it.

- David

On Mar 28, 9:16 pm, wrote:
On Mar 27, 9:54 pm, wrote:

[snip]

Dear Robert,

Transport Safety Statistics 2002

*1* Deaths
*2* Percentage of road deaths
*3* All casualties (1)
*4* Percentage of all road casualties

Road (GB)
*1* *2* *3* *4*
car occupants 1,747 51% 197,425 65%
pedestrians 775 23% 38,784 13%
motorcyclists 609 17% 28,353 9%
pedal cyclists 130 4% 17,107 6%
light goods
vehicle
occupants 70 2% 7,007 2%
heavy goods
vehicle
occupants 63 2% 3,178 1%
bus/coach
occupants 19 1% 9,005 3%
others 18 1% 1,766 1%

Total Road 3,431 x 302,605 x

Notes:
(1) Definitions are as follows. Number of deaths / killed are human
casualties who sustained injuries which caused death less than 30 days
after the incident. All casualties includes the number killed,
seriously injured or slightly injured. A serious injury is an injury
for which a person is detained in hospital as an 'in-patient', or any
of the following injuries whether or not they are detained in
hospital: fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushings, severe
cuts and lacerations, severe general shock requiring medical treatment
and injuries causing death 30 or more days after the incident. A
slight injury is an injury of a minor character such as a sprain,
bruise or cut which are not judged to be severe, or slight shock
requiring roadside attention. The injured casualty is recorded as
seriously or slightly injured by the police on the basis of
information available within a short time of the incident. This will
therefore not reflect the results of a medical examination, but may be
influenced according to whether the casualty is hospitalised (Road
Accidents Great Britain 1999).

Source: Road Casualties Great Britain 2002: DfT (2003)

Cross modal comparison of fatality risk for passengers

2001 Fatalities per billion passenger kilometres

Motor cycle/moped 112
Foot 48
Pedal cycle 33
Car 3
Van 0.9
Rail 0.1
Water 0.4
Bus or coach 0.2
Air 0.01

Source: Road Casualties Great Britain 2002: DfT (2003).

http://www.pacts.org.uk/policy/brief...tistics_uk.htm

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Thanks, Carl. I haven't had time to contribute to Usenet for a while,
and won't for another while. If you convert the units and assume a
realistic cycling speed, you'll find they are reasonably close to
FAA's.

I see r12345 has already rejected the figures as perhaps being 25%
off.

Of course, even if they were true:

a) they could be off in either direction - that is, cycling could be
safer than claimed
b) the risk of fatality per hour or mile is still infinitesmal.

Gotta go.

- Frank Krygowski

Tom Keats wrote:
Wayne Pein writes:

I used to care about how many people cycled, but no longer. Yes I'll
extol the benefits of cycling and extend effort toward giving folks the
knowledge to cycle better. But I don't really care if they do or don't.

I agree, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
And I certainly don't want to force anyone who doesn't want to ride,
to do so.

I'm not much of a soapbox fellow myself. I have had pretty good results
with the 'lead by example' meme however. Quite a few of my coworkers
have started cycling to work in the past year or two. I've certainly
offered help and encouragement, but I think mainly it's seeing me come
in *every* day on the bicycle that they've found encouraging.

Nevertheless I do think we enjoy certain benefits from participating
in a growing and vivacious cycling community. For one thing, it helps
bike shops stay alive, so we can easily get our inner tubes & tires.
And with a diversity of riding styles, and cross-application[*], some
accessories become more available and obtainable.

Not to mention more people to buy and sell used bikes from, and of
course the larger availability of cycling MOTAS to date.

--
Dane Buson -
"For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but
phone calls taper off."
-- Johnny Carson