What was the cyclist doing? obeying the Highway code stopping at red traffic lights, etc.

, an infectious disease specialist with The Polyclinic in Seattle. The false perception of cycling as dangerous has many causes:one being the endless promotion of helmets by the industry and uninformed safety advocates. Saw it shared on Facebook. The military’s model for risk management is simple: Meticulous preparation. On both the road and in the water, multisport athletes could take a lesson from military training doctrines in risk management and training for riding in a real world environment.Cyclists have taken an opposite approach: Avoidance. Put simply, if a motorist fails to see a cyclist cycling towards them in broad daylight, the presence of a reflective strip on their clothing or a different coloured jacket will almost certainly have made no difference to the outcome.At a time when we should be encouraging cycling as an activity, the clothing we wear should be a long way down the list of priorities.The Highway Code is written on the basis that cyclists might be difficult to see, especially in situations such as; when cyclists are approaching from behind, coming out of junctions, using roundabouts, and overtaking or filtering through traffic. What are the Dangers in Terms of Cycling Safety? I see the terrible injuries caused by motorists when they make simple mistakes; such as changing direction without checking their blind spot. Been saying this for years. OK I know I said two. I’ve even made some suggestions for staying safe and enjoying your time on your bike:Accidents at T-junctions are, unfortunately, equally as common as accidents at roundabouts. But real quick- adventure is the name of the game, on road or trail with a bike. A cursory examination of my first person experiences might point to a knee-jerk analysis like this: “See… the sport is dangerous, But there is more to each of my experiences. Keep it on a short lead when walking on the pavement, road or path shared with cyclists or horse riders’. Sorry it’s taken me a couple of days to reply. With reasonable care, the risk can be minimized. You are absolutely correct and the data in the article is correct now. Less assertive cyclists worry that being further out may put them in the way of the traffic. where were the dogs?

And, that driver distraction and higher traffic volume have increased the risk and frequency of car/bike accidents. Hope that helps. If some one gives way to me I ALWAYS acknowledge it. So texting is mostly just a replacement source of distraction.Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

It’s what makes it worth doing, really. In fact, in a strange flip-flop of statistical trends, it appears as though areas around Metroparks in Michigan tend to have a higher frequency of accidents than do remote, rural and even low traffic density urban roads like streets in Downtown Detroit and the Michigan Downriver area.Perhaps the most significant contributor to the cycling-risk dogma is social media. What would be the legal position if I was to hit a dog possibly breaking its leg Tony.Hi Tony, good to hear from you. However, people often forget, so bearing this in mind may be helpful for new riders.For cyclists, the final danger I want to point out has nothing to do with other motorists – the danger can be the road surface itself.Potholes can be really dangerous for cyclists and may sometimes seem unavoidable. In my caseload there is an even split between:Often motorists will argue that the cyclist didn’t make themselves visible enough. Never hug the kerb. Having used a cycle path on my commute for a number of years, I should really have thought about this and added it to the list! Training, learning techniques, drilling key skills again and again.
What I should have done is checked the facts before I posted about the accident.What is the truth about road cycling safety? But the story had already been widely seen and shared. Not for me, but I've ridden a bike most days of my adult life.

If I’m holding up traffic then I will pull over and let it pass.

This proliferation of social media posts about cycling accidents contrasted with boring accident analysis likely contributes to the misconception that cycling is more dangerous than ever.This last decade has produced a new culture of sport cyclists, many of them attracted to cycling by triathlons. Over the years, I have succeeded with probably a handful of cases where cyclists have been knocked off their bikes by a car door being opened into their path.Establishing liability in cases such as these is generally straightforward for obvious reasons. How wide was the path? I was chuffed. Triathlon is fed by several demographics; participants completely new to endurance sports, participants coming into triathlon from distance running, participants coming from a collegiate sports background.

#56 in the Highway Codes states; ‘Do not let a dog out on the road on its own. Usually, accidents happen in these circumstances when motorists change lanes without checking their mirrors or blind spot before they change direction.Whilst – touch wood – I’ve never had an accident, I often think about my own approach to cycling in busy traffic.
There are likely several reasons.When you conduct a survey of the literature on cycling accidents you discover that cycling safety statistics are pretty dry, while Facebook and social media posts about accidents are pretty sensational.

I’ve won cases recently where lorries have caused cyclists to fall off without touching them (because they have overtaken them so closely). I am often as assertive as possible but I do hover over the brakes so that I am able to respond quickly to anything unexpected. Accidents in busy traffic while cyclists filter through or overtake stationary and/or slow moving traffic are one of the more common types of accident.Clearly, cyclists are well within their rights to filter between or overtake lanes of stop-start traffic. Nevertheless, I would encourage anybody to get on their bike and go cycling, because I do not believe that cycling is dangerous; it is no more dangerous than lots of other normal day to activities. When I learned the accident didn’t involve any cyclists at all, I deleted it from my Facebook page. I’ve never tried one. Knowing where to ride a bike on the road with differing road and traffic situations is a must know for bike riders of any level.

What are the chances of being hit by a car while riding on the road? It wasn’t a cycling accident.