CA Bike Fatalities Are On The Rise
#1
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CA Bike Fatalities Are On The Rise
https://khn.org/news/california-bike...-25-year-high/
In California, the 2016-18 rate of such accidents was at its highest for any three-year period since the mid-1990s. Nationally, the three-year death rate was at its highest since the mid-2000s.
In California, the 2016-18 rate of such accidents was at its highest for any three-year period since the mid-1990s. Nationally, the three-year death rate was at its highest since the mid-2000s.
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https://khn.org/news/california-bike...-25-year-high/
In California, the 2016-18 rate of such accidents was at its highest for any three-year period since the mid-1990s. Nationally, the three-year death rate was at its highest since the mid-2000s.
In California, the 2016-18 rate of such accidents was at its highest for any three-year period since the mid-1990s. Nationally, the three-year death rate was at its highest since the mid-2000s.
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I'm not sure why this is classified as news. All over the U.S. something similar is happening and for the same exact reasons. What are we going to do about it?
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The average DEAD cyclist is a helmet wearing MAMIL on a cilly fibre bike, pretending to race in a peleton. FACT.
They likely weren't at fault often, but dead right is still dead. There are more such riders, so that's what you get.
CF bikes DO ASPLODE on impact. NOT good.
My city of a million averages less than 2 fatals a year. Been truck accidents lately. The few I see on the highways are riding single file FRAP on shoulders.
Very few lane HOGS of any sort. The co-op bike club is lamely pushing this UNSAFE practice though...
Last summer I tour rode 3,900 miles in the NW, with NO helmet. I saw ZERO accidents of any sort. In SE Asia I saw or heard a couple dozen. I could just shrug off the few mishaps I had.
They likely weren't at fault often, but dead right is still dead. There are more such riders, so that's what you get.
CF bikes DO ASPLODE on impact. NOT good.
My city of a million averages less than 2 fatals a year. Been truck accidents lately. The few I see on the highways are riding single file FRAP on shoulders.
Very few lane HOGS of any sort. The co-op bike club is lamely pushing this UNSAFE practice though...
Last summer I tour rode 3,900 miles in the NW, with NO helmet. I saw ZERO accidents of any sort. In SE Asia I saw or heard a couple dozen. I could just shrug off the few mishaps I had.
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What has the number of cyclists done in the same period?
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Nothing. I know where you are going and forget it. Thanks to e-bikes, the number of cyclists is not declining exactly, but accidents have spiked 18% to 33% and there is nothing. Nothing at all like that kind of increase in the number of cyclists riding!
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The average DEAD cyclist is a helmet wearing MAMIL on a cilly fibre bike, pretending to race in a peleton. FACT.
They likely weren't at fault often, but dead right is still dead. There are more such riders, so that's what you get.
CF bikes DO ASPLODE on impact. NOT good.
My city of a million averages less than 2 fatals a year. Been truck accidents lately. The few I see on the highways are riding single file FRAP on shoulders.
Very few lane HOGS of any sort. The co-op bike club is lamely pushing this UNSAFE practice though...
Last summer I tour rode 3,900 miles in the NW, with NO helmet. I saw ZERO accidents of any sort. In SE Asia I saw or heard a couple dozen. I could just shrug off the few mishaps I had.
They likely weren't at fault often, but dead right is still dead. There are more such riders, so that's what you get.
CF bikes DO ASPLODE on impact. NOT good.
My city of a million averages less than 2 fatals a year. Been truck accidents lately. The few I see on the highways are riding single file FRAP on shoulders.
Very few lane HOGS of any sort. The co-op bike club is lamely pushing this UNSAFE practice though...
Last summer I tour rode 3,900 miles in the NW, with NO helmet. I saw ZERO accidents of any sort. In SE Asia I saw or heard a couple dozen. I could just shrug off the few mishaps I had.
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This is a cold day in hell post coming from me, but I encourage you to have at it.
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Out walking my dog I see tons of drivers staring at their laps as they drive through the neighborhoods. Usually way above the speed limit. It’s not just the teenagers, it’s 17-70, men & women, pretty evenly distributed. I’d guess the 80yolds don’t have smart phones.
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I wonder why the NHTSA used the statistic "# of fatal bike accidents per million residents" as the comparison metric. Since neither the proportion of cyclists nor the amount of participation (i.e. time riding) is uniform within all state populations, this chosen metric doesn't tell the whole story. Rates are generally better than raw numbers, but not much in this case, IMO. Here are the raw numbers for CA courtesy of the NHTSA FIRST System
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I think this news release was covered in another thread somewhere on bf. The "data" is meaningless; it would be somewhat more meaningful to report fatalities per million miles ridden, or some other similar stat which measure fatalities relative to the amount of cycling.
Oh, and I'll agree with other posters that this one, below, is a hoot. To the extent that I can even discern the points, they are hogwash.
Oh, and I'll agree with other posters that this one, below, is a hoot. To the extent that I can even discern the points, they are hogwash.
The average DEAD cyclist is a helmet wearing MAMIL on a cilly fibre bike, pretending to race in a peleton. FACT.
They likely weren't at fault often, but dead right is still dead. There are more such riders, so that's what you get.
CF bikes DO ASPLODE on impact. NOT good.
My city of a million averages less than 2 fatals a year. Been truck accidents lately. The few I see on the highways are riding single file FRAP on shoulders.
Very few lane HOGS of any sort. The co-op bike club is lamely pushing this UNSAFE practice though...
Last summer I tour rode 3,900 miles in the NW, with NO helmet. I saw ZERO accidents of any sort. In SE Asia I saw or heard a couple dozen. I could just shrug off the few mishaps I had.
They likely weren't at fault often, but dead right is still dead. There are more such riders, so that's what you get.
CF bikes DO ASPLODE on impact. NOT good.
My city of a million averages less than 2 fatals a year. Been truck accidents lately. The few I see on the highways are riding single file FRAP on shoulders.
Very few lane HOGS of any sort. The co-op bike club is lamely pushing this UNSAFE practice though...
Last summer I tour rode 3,900 miles in the NW, with NO helmet. I saw ZERO accidents of any sort. In SE Asia I saw or heard a couple dozen. I could just shrug off the few mishaps I had.
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A&S Fear Mongering over Bicycling Safety is often based on hoot-able hogwash derived from wacky or biased (mis)interpretations of so-called "data" from "a study" or "a report" clicked and pasted out of context from somewhere on the internet.
That is, when the A&S Fear Mongering is not based on fabricated ½ donkey conclusion about the cause of many if not most bicycling collisions with motor vehicles derived from the posters own anecdotes and WAGs biased to meet the desired conclusion or explanation.
For example see the continual wailing about the fear of the alleged high level of bicycling casualties caused by alleged omnipresent texing drivers, as well as the assumption that texting drivers just must be the cause of most if not every bicycling-automotive collision that can't be pinned to some other driver misdeed.
Prior to the invention of the smart phone, similar patterns of fear mongering based on hoot-able hogwash passed off as conclusions based on "data" was often directed at the alleged threat of bike lanes to the well being of bicyclists.
That is, when the A&S Fear Mongering is not based on fabricated ½ donkey conclusion about the cause of many if not most bicycling collisions with motor vehicles derived from the posters own anecdotes and WAGs biased to meet the desired conclusion or explanation.
For example see the continual wailing about the fear of the alleged high level of bicycling casualties caused by alleged omnipresent texing drivers, as well as the assumption that texting drivers just must be the cause of most if not every bicycling-automotive collision that can't be pinned to some other driver misdeed.
Prior to the invention of the smart phone, similar patterns of fear mongering based on hoot-able hogwash passed off as conclusions based on "data" was often directed at the alleged threat of bike lanes to the well being of bicyclists.
Last edited by I-Like-To-Bike; 02-01-20 at 12:27 PM.
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A couple of good posts there. It could be explicitly pointed out, once again, that statistics can be finagled to obfuscate whatever you want. Miles ridden would surely have something to do with fatality rates. More northern states with a shorter cycling season would surely have lower fatality rates than more southern stated.
#14
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Just to add to the hogwash factor:
I recently saw an article that blamed the increase of injury to pedestrians by ebikes on the fact that ebikes are silent . . . .
As compared to those noisy pedal bikes . . . .
Guess I'll have to clip some playing cards on the frame to make noise in the spokes.
I recently saw an article that blamed the increase of injury to pedestrians by ebikes on the fact that ebikes are silent . . . .
As compared to those noisy pedal bikes . . . .
Guess I'll have to clip some playing cards on the frame to make noise in the spokes.
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Just a word of caution here. When you see the word "rate" relative to bicycle accidents, you need to hold it suspect, or at the very least understand the context within which it is used. In order to establish a real "rate" you'd need to know not only how many bicyclists are in the population, you'd also need to know the average exposure hours. In this case they based the "rate" off of the number of residents. To further cast shade on the matter, they admit that their are more cyclists in the overall population than in previous years.
"Alongside the surging popularity of bike shares and fitness cycling in California comes a sobering statistic..."
Maybe that's just me nitpicking the word "rate," but I think it is important to fully understand what the numbers mean. Based on the link, they are dealing with raw fatality numbers. That's really about the best we can do since bicycle accident data isn't well developed.
"Alongside the surging popularity of bike shares and fitness cycling in California comes a sobering statistic..."
Maybe that's just me nitpicking the word "rate," but I think it is important to fully understand what the numbers mean. Based on the link, they are dealing with raw fatality numbers. That's really about the best we can do since bicycle accident data isn't well developed.
Last edited by Paul Barnard; 02-04-20 at 07:59 AM.
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Just to add to the hogwash factor:
I recently saw an article that blamed the increase of injury to pedestrians by ebikes on the fact that ebikes are silent . . . .
As compared to those noisy pedal bikes . . . .
Guess I'll have to clip some playing cards on the frame to make noise in the spokes.
I recently saw an article that blamed the increase of injury to pedestrians by ebikes on the fact that ebikes are silent . . . .
As compared to those noisy pedal bikes . . . .
Guess I'll have to clip some playing cards on the frame to make noise in the spokes.
Can you link the article? I'm guessing it's full of howlers like that.
#17
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BTW - Regarding injury rates and severity of injury; Here is an article from Reuters that I thought was interesting.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN1YT0MV
Last edited by MNebiker; 02-04-20 at 01:39 PM. Reason: Add reference
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Sorry - it was just something I ran into a few weeks back while searching for something else and I didn't even think it was worth noting the source. I just laughed a bit and went on.
BTW - Regarding injury rates and severity of injury; Here is an article from Reuters that I thought was interesting.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN1YT0MV
BTW - Regarding injury rates and severity of injury; Here is an article from Reuters that I thought was interesting.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN1YT0MV
Interesting article, and while the escooter pattern is pretty much what i would expect, the higher injury rate for ebikes is a bit surprising. If I had to guess, it's partly a mismatch between speed and skill level. Pedal bicyclists who can maintain 20+ mph have to ride a lot to get and maintain that ability, while anyone can hop on an ebike and start going that fast even if they haven't ridden a bike in decades. That might be a better explanation for hitting more pedestrians than some supposed stealth mode. Also, if ebike riders skew older, they're more likely to break bones when they fall.
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^^^^^^^
And I'm still waiting for somebody riding something faster there. SIX YEARS and counting. LOL hahahahahaha
Sturmey Archer still rules the roads after 117 years. Primitive technology DeFAILeurs, not so much.....
Thanks for the 6 more views. LOL
And I'm still waiting for somebody riding something faster there. SIX YEARS and counting. LOL hahahahahaha
Sturmey Archer still rules the roads after 117 years. Primitive technology DeFAILeurs, not so much.....
Thanks for the 6 more views. LOL
Last edited by GamblerGORD53; 02-06-20 at 01:11 AM.
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So, is California trying to catch up with Florida? I think they're still way behind!
One of the confounding issues is the difficulty to count bicycles, and the more bicycles, the more accidents.
I've found it difficult to find good data about individual accidents.
My belief was that the average dead cyclist were the commuters that don't bother with safety gear, lights, etc. Perhaps not a lot of road experience.
Of course, the cyclists that do "training" put a lot of miles on the road.
One of the confounding issues is the difficulty to count bicycles, and the more bicycles, the more accidents.
I've found it difficult to find good data about individual accidents.
My belief was that the average dead cyclist were the commuters that don't bother with safety gear, lights, etc. Perhaps not a lot of road experience.
Of course, the cyclists that do "training" put a lot of miles on the road.
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Anybody who cares to LOOK will see the same. Few motorists are paying attention to the task at hand.