Is Biking SAFER than driving?

As we continue to pioneer and promote twowheeling as a healthier, cost-saving alternative to driving a "box" (aka automobile) to get around CBus, we are often confronted with the question, "But biking is SO MUCH MORE DANGEROUS, isn't it?"

Well............is it?

Of course, any fool knows that if you're traveling down the street on a bike and get hit by a car, you will likely suffer more damage and injury than if you had been wrapped in 3,000 pounds of metal. But that doesn't really answer the question.

According to a survey of 7,596 cyclists by www.bicyclinglife.com, roughly half of those surveyed consider biking to be as safe OR SAFER than driving and only 13% consider biking to be "much less safe than driving."  You can see the results of this very detailed survey at http://www.daclarke.org/AltTrans/BikeSurvey/Results.html.

And that's not the whole story, either. As I ride down High Street and observe hundreds and thousands of people in their boxes, I notice that most of them are overweight or obese......and many of them are smoking cigarettes. They're not getting any exercise in those boxes and they often appear anxious and stressed (I've witnessed this erupt into road rage on more than one occasion).......I rarely see them smile. So I wonder, in the larger sense, which form of transportation is "MORE DANGEROUS?" 

Of course, efforts are well underway to make twowheeling in CBus even safer. The Bicentennial Bikeway Plan will add hundreds of miles of bike paths, bike lanes, shared lanes, etc. Education efforts, for both cyclists and motorists, will also help. And the more bikes we get on the road, the safer it is.

So come on, let's go! Help us transform CBus into the twowheeling capital of the U.S.!

P.S. You can also help the cause by taking the Bicycling Life survey at http://www.bicyclelife.com/survey.htm.   

Comments

[BikingandRecycling.com]

http://www.bicyclinglife.com/survey.htm is the correct link - Diane

[BikingandRecycling.com]

Apparently if you use a Mac you can't take the survey... I tried Doug!

[Steve Magas]

When you look at the decline in deaths over the past 25 years and you factor in the tidbit that 25% or so of those killed on a bike are legally "drunk" [i.e., BAC >0.08%, riding a bike gets even "safer".

I strongly suspect that those who are drunk while riding are probably folks who lost their automobile privileges through a DUI, but I haven't seen figures/research to back that up!

Steve Magas
The Bike Lawyer