Is biking safe?

Plain and simple question, but probably a can of worms...

I've noticed that since getting onto a bike, I become invisible to every maniac on the road, especially women taking kids to school. From reading the forum, there's quite a few people who have come off, and have done serious injury to themselves.

Basically, should I just expect to come off at some stage during my biking career? How many of you have come off, or been in an accident in the past 12 months?

[Spiderman]

1 accident in 6yrs and that wasn't my fault or avoidable as a van that was leaving the roundabout decided at last mo to come back onto it and wiped me out in the process.

Way i see it is that i could get hit by a bus crossing the street same as i could get hit by a bus on my bike.

[G]

Its as safe as you make it.

I know people who have not had an accident in 40 years of riding... I also know people that have had 6 accidents in 2 years of riding.

Hiya,

It`s as safe as you make it! The better you read the road, position yourself etc all contibutes to making things as safe as possible

HTH

Originally Posted by mikky

Plain and simple question, but probably a can of worms...

I've noticed that since getting onto a bike, I become invisible to every maniac on the road, especially women taking kids to school. From reading the forum, there's quite a few people who have come off, and have done serious injury to themselves.

Basically, should I just expect to come off at some stage during my biking career? How many of you have come off, or been in an accident in the past 12 months?

You need to evaluate the risk for yourself, assume you will come off. Biking is fun and enjoyable but not without risk. Your riding style obviously contributes to the risk but sometimes people do stupid things and you will invariably get caught up in it. I came off a few weeks ago and it was my fault, thats life. You have to just get back on the bike if you feel its still for you.

[jambo]

Lets get this out of the way: No.

But neither is crossing the road on foot, driving a car, or sitting at home eating pizza. The statistics for riding a motorbike make it quite clear that you're more likely to be seriously injured in the event of an accident than if you were in a Volvo.

However, I firmly believe that you get to choose how much risk you put yourself at. The simple fact is lots of people have accidents, but the same people seem to have accidents more frequently. There must be a reason. Riding technique, planning and observation, and not pushing yourself to "keep up with your mates" are all factors. Making sure you wear half decent protective gear helps protect you if you do come off, but trying to understand why you have close calls before you have an accident is the only way to stop you having one.

Analyse your riding. Did you assume everyone had seen you. Did you have an escape route if that car you were overtaking sped up or slowed down unexpectedly? If you dive aggressively or assume other car drivers will always do the obvious thing you make motorcycling far more dangerous than it has to be.

Consider advanced training, or ride with some people who are considered experienced and safe and try to learn from them. My riding really improved when I started doing rides with some of the more experienced people on here, they helped me understand what I was doing well, and what I was doing badly.


Best of luck

Jambo

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by mikky

From reading the forum, there's quite a few people who have come off, and have done serious injury to themselves.

Theres also lots that havent done that. You just never hear about those of us that ride and complete their journeys without falling off or being knocked off.

Theres lots of things you can do to minimise the risks you face, but at the end of the day its not safe. But then as said above neither can be crossing the road.

What you going to do stay indoors under your duvet and never venture outside just in case something might happen to you. Life is to short for "what if's"

Compared with driving a car, it is dangerous.

No accidents this year thank god. The others have given excellent advice, I`d suggest you enrol on a bikesafe course if you have them in your area. That`ll equip you with better skills to reduce your risk of accidents.

I know... I'm a big girl... <holds onto his blankey>

I guess I've been reading the horror stories, and taking them as the norm. I think part of my problem with people pulling out is that they assume that I'm only capable of 10mph and decide to nip out while they can instead of getting stuck behind me.

With regard to road position, are there any threads which show which positions to take up at certain times (e.g. junctions, etc)?