as sensible grown up people, we know what is good or bad for us. we know what is right and wrong.
we know when something is dangerous or not also.
so everytime we wheel our bikes out onto a road, are we ourselves taking out lives in our own hands?

No, we are placing our lives in the hands of those behind the wheel.

A bit. But the same when driving, walking, mtb riding too

The road is bloody scary these days you are right crazy drivers around.

No, we are placing our lives in the hands of those behind the wheel.

but we know the risks. don’t we?

Yeah, to a degree. Still do it though, and don’t see me stopping any time soon.

It’s why I get away from roads asap , if I hurt myself off-road it’s my own daft fault, not because somebody didn’t see me wearing orange, or didn’t know bikes can travel at more than 5mph towards junctions, or were just pissed off and we would do.

I know the risks, and this is why I use the canal tow path to get to work during the winter even though it’s a shitty mess. I’d rather be a bit mucky than have to share the road with idiots in a mad rush whilst it’s dark and wet.

No more so that doing many other things. The numbers of dead cyclists are very low. Its no more dangerous than dozens of other things we do without thinking.

but we know the risks. don’t we?

Anyone posting a question like this thread title may not.

Cycling is a safe activity, statistically.

I know the risks and they’re pretty low so it doesn’t really affect me. I obviously choose to avoid certain roads. I’ve had way more injuries through mountain biking – over less distance.

People die in all sorts of ways. Nothing is risk-free.

Are you taking your life in your hands if you decide not to cycle and instead decide to sit practically motionless inside a mobile carbon dioxide factory?

It’s just that being hit by some bell end in a car makes for a more palpable mental image than your internal organs slowly grinding to a halt.

Must admit that I find the twice daily drive to work and back increasingly scary and am wondering if I will even survive to retirement in July without being wiped out by some idiot in a blinged up German sports saloon.

When taking into account the risk of accidents, cycling extends your life expectancy, driving reduces it.

Anyone posting a question like this thread title may not.

please explain why?

If you want to be melodramatic about it then yes, if you want to realistic about it then there’s a small risk.

As said above, the health benefits of cycling far outweigh the mortality risks of an accident. I often wince when I see someone riding a busy road, particularly if there’s a country lane nearby

You have to manage it. Some roads are awful at certain times of day – avoid them. You can nearly always find a quiet route, especially if it’s a recreational ride.

it was a question I was asked. i don’t have a problem riding in traffic or at busy times. i don’t enjoy it and if possible choose a quieter route, but it dint bother me. it is something i don’t even think about.
if i thought i was gonna die every time i went out on my bike, i would take up darts.

No,

You’ve got about a 0.005% of being killed on the road as a cyclist in a year. About a 0.01% chance of being seriously injured and perhaps more scarily about a 1% chance of getting a minor injury.

You’ve got about as much chance of dying on the road as choking to death.

Happy thoughts.

We’re putting our safety in the hands of others and in my opinion it’s one of the most dangerous ways to travel due to the speed differences and the amount of vehicles will come into closer proximity with because of the speed differences.
I only cycle on road now for commuting and I’m selective as to which roads I’ll use.

I just choose my time on the road carefully. As however I have just bought my first proper road bike in 50years and I’m moving back to Weymouth it will be interesting to see how much stress I get down there.

You’ve got about a 0.005% of being killed on the road as a cyclist in a year. About a 0.01% chance of being seriously injured and perhaps more scarily about a 1% chance of getting a minor injury.

Unless of course having deemed it a safe activity you then break rule #1…

I think the most poignant statement I saw was someone who got asked about riding a bike over a 1000′ drop won a 1′ wide bridge wall… and the reply was some people ride down the roads down a 1′ wide gap with articulated trucks going past.

It is too scary to ride on the roads and I will avoid it as much as I can. I’ll happily ride on footpaths, I don’t care if this pisses some folk off, my life is more important. Luckily there are plenty of towpaths and a ncn route right near me so I can get out to the countryside without touching a road. ( I do ride country lanes but these are pretty much traffic free)
I lost a friend last year (Soulrider off this forum) who was killed by a car, I’ve had many friends who have had ‘minor’ incidents too, it’s all too close to home

Yes, taking being the operative word there. Roughly speaking you gain in life expectancy roughly the same number of hours you spend exercising. So you’re taking hours of your life back from the grim reaper.

The idiom “god does not take back from your allotted time the hours spent on a bike” is actually true.

Doesn’t bother me – maybe I have a safe commute. But even solo roadying feels pretty safe to me.

I don’t enjoy group riding on the road to the same extent I must admit. Probably down to the psychology of not being used to two-abreast riding, but on the odd occasion I’ve been out for a club run I’ve seen crass over-taking manoeuvres from motorists every time.

Yesterday a mate and I were planning a road ride. Bloody foggy round our way and when I got to his house we were both thinking it was too scary so we grabbed a couple of his mountain bikes and went over Cannock Chase.
Also a bonus for me as I found that riding his Transition Scout Carbon with Eagle XX1 and Enve wheels was no better then my off-the-shelf £2,000 Giant Trance 29er.

It is a concern. I’ve been hit by a car while cycling on the road twice. I think your chance of getting hit goes up the more you cycle. I also think it goes up the faster you travel in built up areas.

The issue then becomes what can you do to reduce the risk. There are many ways to reduce the risk but you will never eliminate it if you are sharing the road with fast moving heavy vehicles.

in my opinion it’s one of the most dangerous ways to travel due to the speed differences

There’s a sort of truth in that, but the factor of speed difference is primarily one of consequence rather than probability. So if you get hit by a fast-moving vehicle then it’s most probably going to go badly, but that’s not the same thing as the chances of that happening.

It’s a bit like being shot/stabbed/suicide-bombed/etc in the street: if it happens, you’re almost certainly screwed, but it’s almost certainly not going to happen. A serious cycling collision is a less mathematically extreme risk, but it’s still well into high-consequence/low-probability.

Obviously everyone (understandably and rightly, in the context of their own experience and behaviour) has their own way of balancing high-consequence/low-probability risks against lower-consequence and higher-probability ones. And everyone also (again understandably and rightly, in the context of their own experience and behaviour) has their own perceptions as to how high or low the probability of any given risk is.

It’s like we all know with roads: some naturally invite worse driver behaviour than others, so many of us avoid those and find different, more benign routes. If someone’s only ever experienced one or the other then they’ll have a very different view as to how “dangerous” cycling on the road is. And that’s only one factor.

The issues only really come when people start projecting their own experiences and behaviours onto others, rather than trying to abstract both/all of their viewpoints into an objective and rational approach.

No, we are placing our lives in the hands of those behind the wheel.

I’m bloody not. Wouldn’t trust any of those morons as far as I could throw them.

Seriously though, there are a lot of factors in place to keep us safe. Even if the road infrastructure isn’t there, there are rules and laws that most people abide to when on the road. Apart from that, you do have to have your wits about you and predict what is going on around you.
Very few cyclists get plowed into by someone completely not looking and if that happens there ain’t anything you can do – but the number of times it happens compared to the number of cars and cyclists out there is minute. Funnily enough, I always have to empty my bladder before riding home and I think there’s that bit of nervousness every ride, but hey, I’ve made it this far. (Good job I don’t believe in tempting fate)

I think your chance of getting hit goes up the more you cycle. I also think it goes up the faster you travel in built up areas.

The former is inevitably true because of simple exposure, but (because of, as above, different experience and behaviour) I find the latter to be the exact opposite of my experience: I feel very safe if I can keep up with the flow of urban traffic; whereas I’m much more nervous if I can’t, because people try to squeeze past with relatively small speed differentials in what tend to be small and rapidly closing gaps.

Oh FFS – no much more than when we walk along a pavement.

We really are our own worst enemy in terms of increasing the number of people who use bikes to get around by using clickbait headlines like the OP.

In a not very scientific summary, 2 people I’ve known have died whilst cycling, 1 whilst walking, 1 whilst driving.

I think your chance of getting hit goes up the more you cycle.

But then again, the more experienced you are, the more you’re aware of hazards and can recognise potential danger.

I commute in that London, which people seem to think is some sort of death wish.

I’ve been hit by a car (probably 80% my fault, v low speed) and taken a heavy tumble (pedestrian jumping in road). Both of these happened in the first year of me commuting regularly.

I’d like to hope my risk mitigation is a bit better these days.

I have front and back cameras now so if I do get on the wrong side of an artic at least there will be footage for prosecutors.

and in my opinion it’s one of the most dangerous ways to travel

Which is wrong. An objective look at the risks will tell you this. Walking is more dangerous per miile, driving more dangerous per hour, motorcycling many times more dangerous in al ways.

Cycling is so safe and so good for your health that cyclists live longer than non cyclists.

Yes its sensible to mitigate risk – road choice, road positioning, awareness, good brakes etc. However overall risk is very low

Bearing in mind mist cyclists who ride on the road tend to be younger fitter people, general safety statistics are misleading.

You’ve got about as much chance of dying on the road as choking to death.

Who choke to death ? Old people and young children mostly, not the cyling demographic.

Oh FFS – no much more than when we walk along a pavement.

Sure walking on the pavement has its hazards, but again thats, old people, young children, ill people, drunks ect, ect. Younger fit sober people don’t generally hurt themselves walking on the pavement.

That really depends…

I for one am done with my short commute ,five T-junctions feels a bit like Russian roulette at each one, throw in poor weather, dark mornings and drivers on their phones I would say the odds are stacking up against me .The icing on the cake was an old chap who properly hit from behind the police did eyesight test on him ! he just didn’t see me . I limped away from that one but after 40 odd years cycling I used up my nine lives so I am out .

Ah statistics, fantastic things until you are one…

5 years commuting here no incidents worth talking about at all.

Until May 2nd last year, now I can just about walk.

I was one of the unlucky ones, hit completely out of the blue by someone not looking on a 20mph road.

I had rode around 29,000 miles on the road, so I was probably due

**** statistics!

There’s a sort of truth in that, but the factor of speed difference is primarily one of consequence rather than probability. So if you get hit by a fast-moving vehicle then it’s most probably going to go badly, but that’s not the same thing as the chances of that happening.

It’s not the speed differences itself I meant really, it’s the number of vehicles passing you for a given distance compared to any other form of transport.