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Why the health benefits of cycling to work outweigh the risk of injury
(www.newscientist.com)
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this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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micromobility - Ebikes, scooters, longboards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility
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Yeah this reassured me too. Especially because the benefit doesn't seem to be small, but overwhelmingly in favour of cycling even with the increased risk of accidents.
Thanks for posting. I cycle everywhere even though I am also terrified of getting hit by a car. My brother's friend got killed that way. One thing that the statistics don't tell you is that you can reduce your chances of injury by being super careful. Look all around you, assume that every car on the road is trying to kill you, and do your best not to even get into their path whenever you can avoid it. If you see a motorist driving dangerously in your vicinity, just get off the road. That on top of all the normal advice like, you know, always wear a helmet, don't cycle at night without lights, etc.
That's my thought too. My friends and acquaintances who cycle the most haven't had a single accident in years. Defensive cycling is a skill.
It's like that line from gun safety: "Every gun is loaded." Every car will not stop or follow the rules. They will blow through stop signs and lights. Turn without looking. If you treat every car that way and adjust your trajectory and speed accordingly, the chance of an accident is tiny.
Many towns have put money and effort into bike/pedestrian paths. Using those I can usually avoid a majority of car traffic. Actively choosing less traffic'd routes should also improve safety.
I think the largest caveat to this article's claim is that it's very dependent on the local environment. The UK has better biking infrastructure than the vast majority of the United States, where bike lanes are mostly a suggestion.
Indeed, the US is unfortunately a huge outlier. These charts comparing the US to other countries are shocking. The US is apparently one of the only developed countries that have gotten less safe in the last few years for non-drivers.
It's especially egregious when you consider that Canada has less than half the accident rate, despite similar city design. Canadian cities are getting safer for cyclists every year.
That said, if you live in a place with good biking infrastructure in the US, I suspect it's still worth it to bike.
Yeap my city started putting in bike lanes last year, but a lot of it was done by turning a two lane street into a single. People just ignored the new paint and continued driving on the bike path, so they attempted erecting those flimsy reflectors. People literally just ran them over enough to destroy them.
But my city may be an outlier, I do live in the most conservative state in the union. We have had several people run over and murder cyclists for simply existing.
Surprisingly Minneapolis is probably one of the nicest cities for commuting via bike I've ever been too. Prob the only city I've been to in the US that feels safer for bikes than the UK.