Is biking too dangerous?

Is it too dangerous? Depends on what you compare it to.
Personally, I think 'life is for living'. I'd rather go and have fun on my motorcycle now, than an extra 20 years not being able to move in a hospital bed after my 100th Birthday.

This is interesting reading

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1208

In 2007, 646 pedestrians were killed in road accidents in Great Britain; this was 22 per cent of all deaths from road accidents ...
Nearly half (49 per cent) of people killed in road accidents were car users in 2007. Pedal cyclists and motor cyclists represented
5 and 20 per cent of those killed respectively. Occupants of buses, coaches, goods and other vehicles accounted for the remaining 5 per cent of road deaths.

Nah! It's fine. Get out there and ride.

[dizzyblonde]

i suppose you could look at it this way, along our travels Myself and Mr Rictus came upon an accident in the Lakes, and I expected the fallen naked SV to owned by a young man.....


...it was a man called Alan that was born in 1931. He obviously didn't find it dangerous, he'd been riding since 19 years old.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by AndyW

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1208

Bringing statistics into it is a bit of a fail, multiply them out by the proportions of bikes vs cars on the road and bikes are a sight more dangerous.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Bringing statistics into it is a bit of a fail, multiply them out by the proportions of bikes vs cars on the road and bikes are a sight more dangerous.

There are lie, damned lies and statistics!
If you think of it as there are 60,975,000 people in the UK, 2,500 dying on the roads every years is a very small proportion. Murdered in 2000 there were 790, so.... 20% 2946 is approx 600 motorcycle deaths.
You are more likely to be murdered than die in a motorcycle accident.

[flymo]

Its interesting though how the graph for pedestrians is almost the same shape as overall deaths.

If we all worried about dying and hurting ourselves...We'd be wrapped in cotton wool!

Yes it's dangerous.

Roads full of impatient selfish low skilled users. Bikes that are too quick for most riders.

Yes, you can do training, buy a slower bike, observe the road laws, but there is still the random element, and we are very vunerable when on a bike.

But too dangerous?

Nah!

Thanks guys, that's a resounding 'No' then.

Just need to go on a big long ride to get myself sorted.

[keith_d]

Hazardous, yes there are risks associated with riding a bike. Per mile travelled there are more than ten times as many fatalities as sitting in a metal box. But that's still a fairly small number when you look at the total miles travelled. The odds look even better once you realise that ped-boys are also included in the motorbike accident statistics!!

Too dangerous, well that depends on the rider. There are some people I wouldn't trust on a child's scooter much less an SV650. Whether I belong in this category remains to be seen!!

Keith.