You must live in Iowa, where looking a cyclist at worst, warrants a fund because it is "accidental".
We have a major bike ride across the state from West to East every year, called RAGBRAI along a different route. And seemingly every year, at least one cyclist is killed. Rarely is anyone charged with a crime. Tragic
I stopped biking into work because of the danger of getting hit. It's only about 7 miles for me, but on about a daily basis I would almost get hit. Paths that heavily interact with automobiles are not safe at all. Cars turning out/in crossing my path and stoplight intersections were a constant threat.
If it is not too hot, or too cold, or rainy, I take my 25km/h EU-regulated e-bike for my 7km trip to work (40% public road /w bike lane, 30% public road /wo bike lane, 30% forest road; 110m altitude to climb one way, 140m the other).
I've average height&weight, but am not athletic - no chance I could do that route on a normal bike. So while it's not a huge workout, the bike doesn't go all by itself, and I really feel it has a positive effect on my overall health.
The additional 5km wouldn't make a huge difference with an e-bike (just 12m longer ride), as long as the altitude you have to climb isn't significantly more (you can check that on Google Maps).
Maybe you can rent a (proper!) e-bike from a specialist dealer and give it a try.
I think the biggest risk is not the ride, but the vehicles on the roadway. Way back when I used to ride 6.6 miles from home to the university, but stopped after the second time
I got run off the road. The bus was slower, but safer.
Strongly disagree, depending how your commute is. In my office and on the factory floor we've had 3 major cycling accidents just in the last year - the latest guy was put into a coma for 2 weeks.
I cycled for 6 months before I could afford a car, and counted 11 separate incidents that could have ended with me hospitalized if it weren't for some adrenalin fuelled swerves. Had one accident where someone failed to indicate left as I was crossing the road of a roundabout, and I ended up on her bonnet. No amount of apologies make up for a broken rib unfortunately. How that was my only "major" injury still baffles me. Had another where someone failed to check their mirrors as they randomly swerved out and forced me into oncoming traffic. Never tried to overtake from that point onwards. I had 4 instances where people tried to overtake me way too close and forced me to bail onto the pavement (not fun with clip-on pedals). As soon as that bank balance hit the magic number I went and invested in driving lessons, insurance and a car.
Unless my future commutes have bike paths from beginning to end, there's no chance I will ever cycle to work again. It was the most miserable part of my day. I'll stick to my morning spin class and get to work early to avoid the traffic instead.
Judging by your language here and the fact you couldn't already drive, I'm guessing you're British, was this London? Because cycling has gotten a lot better in London in the last few years and I'm interested what your route is.
No, but it was in the South. I have cycled around London and it's much, much more friendly for it. It's improved substantially in recent years. I think part of that is culture - people cycle in London, so drivers/pedestrians pay attention for cyclists - and part of it is that there are substantially more designated areas for cyclists. In my current location, you're damned to end up under a car if you cycle on the road, and you're damned to get fined by the police for cycling on the footpath.
South of England. The town is also known as the worst place for cycle commutes outside London, which probably will single it out. We've probably got about 2k people across design, HR, head office and the factory floor, but of that I don't see more than maybe 50 people cycle, and of that only 20 or so regulars (mainly because it's just too dangerous). I bet you can imagine how fun that is with everyone trying to get out of work.
The local council (local government in the UK) have had a massive drive to get new cycle lanes in place - problem is, they're also completely inept so have put them in places where nobody cycles anyway. I've been told they are where they are purely to fulfil a quota so they don't look so statistically bad when compared to other municipalities, which honestly wouldn't surprise me. They painted road markings for nigh-on 10km of unused road, whereas all of the roads leading to the major industrial and office estates where people travel to daily have been completely neglected. It's beyond infuriating.
Greatly depends on the drivers around you. Here it'll definitely shorten your life expectancy if you're lucky, and will leave you with a nice whole-body paralysis, if you're not.
You know how motorists sarcastically refer to cyclists over here? "Crunchies", or something like that.
Also depends on the type of infrastructure available. I lived in the city until about 5 years ago and cycled everywhere. Out in the bush where I am now, with only narrow windy unshouldered roads (& many stoned drivers), I'd be dead in a week.
Anecdote: I was with a group of tourists and we were about to rent bikes for a guided tour. We were offered helmets, but only some were taken. Before we even departed, a girl managed to fall of her bike and injur herself. A second offer to use helmets was met with much more acceptance.
I cycle through the year. I put on my downhill skiing helmet at the first sign of autumns freeze.
Statistically speaking, dutch don't wear helmets and they don't get much injuries. It's as much about how you cycle and what the routes are like than having or not having a helmet.
It's going to depend entirely on the city, and even the location of an office. For ANYONE to get to my office, at minimum you have to cross at least one highway, and likely travel down the narrow shoulder of it for several miles, to get to our building. For most you have to cross under interstate as well on said highway. There are virtually no bike lanes in Indy outside of a handful of neighborhoods.
Never mind we had it rain nearly every day for like a month and that this week it's in the 90Fs with air quality alerts and 60%+ humidity every day and just walking to your car gets you sweating and NO ONE wants to smell you all day because you biked to work... and then come winter it'll get below 0F many days with varying amounts of snow and ice. I think we had -35F windchill this past winter on a day or two it was -12F.
Maybe because people actively avoid biking on dangerous roads ? It's easy to say that bike is safer than car when being safe is the number one concern for a vast majority of people cycling, while it's pretty obvious it isn't for automobilists. It's _because_ people like quickthrower2 don't go on dangerous roads that bike is safe.
Depends where. Some routes in NYC are downright suicidal. I was knocked off my bike on one occasion in a roundabout. Injured my knee and swore off cycling to work. There are unfortunately plenty of jerks driving out there.
If you mean accidents, then maybe. There were studies showing that it is still beneficial to bike to work even when the air is really bad from traffic. Or was it about jogging?
