˄˄˄˄ (see post #19 above)
Originally Posted by
bobwysiwyg
Personally, if riding in traffic, I always ride with lights front and rear, blinking.
My evidence is everyone's perceived response. Call the evidence empirical if you must…
Originally Posted by
Unca_Sam
You're looking for the word anecdotal.
.
Originally Posted by
bobwysiwyg
Thanks, I understand your correction, but in this instance, I will stick with empirical
"Empirical evidence is the information received by means of the senses, particularly by observation and documentation of patterns and behavior through experimentation. The term comes from the Greek word for experience, ἐμπειρία."
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
"Studies?..We don’t need no stinking studies…"
When it comes to safety issues of bicycling, I consider the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, Greek, so-called Father of Medicine: :
Life is short,
and art long,
opportunity fleeting,
experimentations perilous,
and judgment difficult.
Many disputed safety practices, while maybe ineffective, are of themselves relatively harmless, e,g daytime lights, rear view mirror; perhaps less so, FRAP vs Take the Lane.
The alternative, “experimental” methodology was previously described:
Originally Posted by
Last ride 76
…Extrapolating from individual experience, done on a trial and error basis, means: You think it worked better (or didn't work better) for you...
Roughly thats it, unless you were trained properly, in a controlled setting and tested in a validly designed and executed study. Then, if the results for a large enough group of people were taken in aggregate, anomalous factors accounted for properly, then those results would mean something more.
I like to consider the perceived risk benefit ratio (based on my own experience, and/or advice of trustworthy others),
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
I happen to be in a scientific profession where strict adherence to properly controlled studies is the norm with the statistical parameter “P<.05” as the holy grail. Yet in my career I have seen well-accepted hypotheses fall by the wayside, or have encountered outliers to the data set.
So, IMO FWIW, for cycling safety.
Pragmatism>>Emipiricism.