by frog
It’s a bit rude to copy too much of another’s post, but the message is so succinct that I cannot help myself. From he Freakonomics blog at the New York Times:
More than 52,000 bicyclists have been killed in bicycle traffic accidents in the U.S. over the 80 years the federal government has been keeping records. When it comes to sharing the road with cars, many people seem to assume that such accidents are usually the cyclist’s fault — a result of reckless or aggressive riding.
But an analysis of police reports on 2,752 bike-car accidents in Toronto found that clumsy or inattentive driving by motorists was the cause of 90 percent of these crashes. Among the leading causes: running a stop sign or traffic light, turning into a cyclist’s path, or opening a door on a biker. This shouldn’t come as too big a surprise: motorists cause roughly 75 percent of motorcycle crashes too.
I cannot imagine why our statistics would be much different. Are there any avid cyclists out there with the New Zealand version of these stats? Kevin Hague?
I enjoy the Freakonomics blog and I recommend that you take their feed. Their tagline, “The Hidden Side of Everything” usually proves true, although I must confess that this particular topic didn’t suprise me very much. It was part of my driver’s training to check for cyclists before opening my car door, but it hasn’t prevented any number of near misses. Restrictions on cellphone use while driving may help these stats, but with a drivers license being a right of passage for all and sundry, we’re never going to get the easily distracted drivers off the road. (We cannot even get the drunks off the road)
Published in Health & Wellbeing by frog on Sat, August 29th, 2009
Tags: cycle, freakonomics, New York Times, safety
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
“a drivers license being a right of passage”
I see what you did there
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Oh dear Repton. I missed my own pun! How can I be self congratulatory when I’m not paying attention?
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I cycle all the time and I’ve been just missed at high speed turning right (an overtaking care hadn’t seen me as the sun was in their eyes); knocked off on a round about; hit a stone and fallen into the traffic (nothing following); pulled up at the lights just before a van went through a red light and hit a car side on; had quite a few doors open in front of me; had people race out of side streets look right (into the distance) not see me and go for it.
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jh – can’t you take a hint?
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were you wearing a green party t shirt?
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You want stats, I got em. Ministry of Transport statistics show that on average, about 730 cyclists have been injured and 10 killed per year in recent years. Only 40% of accidents are caused directly by cyclists. There are about 1.3 million cyclists in New Zealand. About 1 in 1,000 cyclists are involved in crashes compared to about 3 in 1,000 car drivers. Car crashes more often cause serious injuries and fatalities and are a leading cause of injury-related costs within the health sector. More stats and info at http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/Documents/Cyclist-Crash-Factsheet.pdf and http://www.can.org.nz
I certainly echo the sentiment for more driver awareness and inverting the current road user hierarchy that places cyclists firmly at the bottom would be a dream. I also think that we cyclists can do a lot to ensure our safety. A lot of motorists attend defensive driving courses yet very few cyclists are taught how to ride defensively. Knowing how to break safely, the right lines to take when cornering, where to position yourself on the road and being able to predict the actions of motorists and pedestrians are all essential skills to enjoying the ride.
If you’re in Wellington, friends of mine run defensive cycling courses. For the price of a massage you can get enjoy your cycling so much more. http://www.cogcycling.co.nz/
I’m currently refreshing a safety guide for my cycle club – if anyone wants a copy just email me. rachelcerelia@gmail.com
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These statistics are not surprising. Aside from the fact that cycles are harder to see than other cars, there is also the fact that if a motorist makes a mistake and hits a cyclist, most outcomes involve a serious injury or death for the cyclist. On the other hand, there are many possible accidents that can be caused by a cyclist’s mistake which have less serious outcomes. For example, I have ridden into the back of parked cars; the outcome was extreme embarrassment but not a serious injury. If a motorist had driven into the back of my cycle it is much more likely that serious injury would have occurred.
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Ridden into back of parked car… ha ha ha…
I thought I was alone on that..
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Cycling is the new golf.
Most cyclists taking up the mode today are doing it for exercise and pleasure – not for commuting.
But the road and lane planners assume they are providing for commuter cyclists.
This is an unhappy mix.
Commuter cyclists travel much faster than the “golf” brigade and are often skilled and trained.
Golf cyclists travel in swarms and can be family groups and are actually not that attentive. They need to be catered for with extensive recreational cycle ways of the kind I have seen in Seattle and Houston. They double as cycle lanes for kids going to school because the schools are so often next to parks etc.
Our transport planners are obsessed with radial commuting.
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The Commuter cyclists still get hit though. The need to separate cyclists from automobiles remains far greater than the willingness of the planners to actually do it.
I still liked the tow-rope idea to help the cyclists climbing out of Wellington.
respectfully
BJ
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The LTSA did a study on Motorcyclists last year….I sold my bike because people were actually trying to run me over. A Gang thing I think (& I’m no gangster).
But this is the Only Town where this has happened.
I’ve owned Motor (and pedal power) bikes all my life – but something is odd in the provincial kiwi psyche. If killing is sport for these people then it’s a sad reflection on our society.
The Locals wouldn’t believe me til it happened to them
Therefore I am all for the careful use of CCTV…nothing to hide here – and I’d hate Guys getting away with that stuff – but they do.
Towed out of Wellington BJ?
Sure, why not?
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I had real culture shock cycling in Japan. Cars would actually stop and wait for me to go past, and they would not toot or swear or throw things. I found out later that the law in Japan is that cyclists always have right of way.
Needless to say when I returned to NZ, I had to relearn my cycling habits, and fast, to avoid injury or death.
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Does ACC have anything to do with this?
Americans stop for pedestrians because they fear a law suit.
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Hey Mark – as a yoof astride a bonny@ 90 mph, I dodged a watermelon thrown from a passing ute. Funny! (shaped my political beliefs, I reckon
We’re doing an ‘end of the month, Friday night’ cycle around our regional ‘capital’ – so far no agro, but we’re a delightfully polite lot. Then we head to the Zoo for coffee and dark plotting!
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Way Kool GreenFly; there is, safety in numbers. But having lived in four widely differing Countries – I would have to count NZ the worst in terms of danger and violence. This included a period of going out on the town in New York – my Chicago friends were horrified – but I explained
“I grew up in Wellington Matey!”
New York was child’s play compared to that.
BMW bikes are my particular weakness – when I get another, I’ll have to Bike down & visit – I reckon the South Island would be a liittle safer….so did the Watermelon Hit? Hopefully not….changed your vote hey? Fascinating!
Dark Plotting hmmm?…in Wellington we used to wear duffle coats and carry Manifesto’s
Long Live the Bonny – Happy Trails Podna!
Politeness costs nothing, but some of the critters round here find no use for it.
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Mark – did the watermelon hit? Not me, nor the guy on the bike behind me – a harmless missile but a clarion none-the-less.
The worst violence I ever did see… was in Welly, outside of the Leopard – Knock-down and not an eyebrow raised, but it’s all changed now, isn’t it, Civic Art, Te Papa – our place and all, though I do say from experience, the car drivers in that city are courteous by comparison with those from the Great Southern Plains – tight streets perhaps, slower speeds, who knows?
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When you’re old & don’t have to be cool, you can turn yourself into a hedgehog of fluttering flags on poles, wear a jacket that flashes & over use a claxton type horn.
Heh Heh they hate me.
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Have you seen the ACC levy on motorcycles? Talk about adding insult to injury!
Not only do we not mangle others, we get mangled by armour-plated idiots… and we get punished by ACC for it.
Now there is a small bit of parliamentary justice that could be done. Let the ACC levies be adjusted to match the average damage done by the vehicle, not the average damage done to the occupants of the vehicle.
That would lay a large chunk of justice on those damn SUV’s.
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we live in dangerous and exciting times Fly…imagine being killed by a watermelon – John C is right – the Melon would have been arrested and your ACC Levy Raised like a flag up a pole for getting in it’s way.
I owned a huge old 4cyl Beamer but didn’t bother bringing it back to steep wet uneven narrow Wellington – recipe for disaster. Not maliciously so…
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ps; your bike would have been hospitalized (handcuffed to the bed)
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Mark -
As a Limey fan, I had more trouble with Leeks, than Melons.
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“Not only do we not mangle others, we get mangled by armour-plated idiots… and we get punished by ACC for it.”
Yes we all know those that mount the steel steed are some of the most responsible drivers on the road, never break the speed limit, never overtake in a dangerous way.
Heck how will all those old women get to housie!!
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Fly I have to say I loooooooves the leeeks.
My wife cooked a magnificent roast with some leeks for my birthday last week.
I am going to have to grow some this year, it would be a crime not too.
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Shunda – we don’t want good gardeners criminalised, do we
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Greenfly your statement is terribly ambiguous, by “good gardeners” do you mean a gardener that is a good person? if so by which definition?. Or do you mean a gardener that is good at gardening? What about a bad person who is a good gardener?
You are not making any sense man!!!
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Yes Shunda – terribly ambiguous and wouldn’t I be stupid to call for a referrendum based on that. Stupid indeed. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
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Curiously enough, the dumping of second hand cars on the NZ market has warped the economics…
You will find the motorcycle demographic _is_ mostly middle age family men! The “boy racers” can’t afford motorcycles so are forced to drive motorcars.
Weird, but that’s what happens when price gets divorced from cost of production.
Anyway ShundA…you ShouldA read the whole article that frog posted…, it ended with..”motorists cause roughly 75 percent of motorcycle crashes”.
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Now I read they’re proposing another referrendum!!!
Stupid.
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Is anyone here familiar with John Adams and his views on risk, and in particular his interacting risk thermostats? He does a very good job analysing pedestrian risk and it would apply equally to cycling. In essence one has to create a climate for slower traffic and a greater awareness of the outside world in motorists. Hardly rocket science but surprisingly not at the core of most safety work, where engineering gets the lions share of funding.
I don’t agree with everything Adams advocates but his views help make sense of the very interesting econometric studies of seat belt laws. In general these laws reduce driver injury but increase pedestrian injury because people feel safer and take some of this back by increasing speed! Resetting ones attitude to risk is as important as the physical safety device in reducing injury! This sounds odd, but I often introduce the idea by asking an audience how many people are parents, and then asking how many of them would drive more slowly if their child’s seat belt was broken.
What we know is that injury rates fall as cycling and walking increase, while injury rates rise as car use increases.
This is in part because the more visible cyclists and pedestrians are, the more likely drivers will adjust their behaviour, and the more likely it is that a driver is also a cyclist/pedestrian!! The car effect arises simply because motorised lumps of metal are more likely to collide with something when there are more of them. The difference in safety and attitudes is very obvious when one compares crossing a road in Auckland and crossing a road in Wellington.
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Yep John; it sorta adds insult to injury having a noof-noof car driver install your $35,000 motorbike alonside your liver.
Fly Not more Greengrocer jokes Fly – or are there?
Got my Car Rego papers through; – I see that Government is lowering carbon emissions by making registering unaFordable.
Let the poor walk eh?….eh? snigger snigger.
Of course the price rise will lead to a decrease in Income – but the poor will have to make sacrifices hey?
I thought Key was a Money Man?
The principle of Pricing Oneself off the Market is alive and well – do not leave Year 1.
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JGG, I take it you mean this bloke…
http://john-adams.co.uk/papers-reports/
Some of his essays address the irreconcilable differences between the Greenies and Blue Trolls on this site.
For example why the Blue Trolls appear greedy and self centered to Greens and the Greens appear Socialist to Blues.
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I had a soft-drink thrown at me which landed in the basket on my bike and I followed the car till it stopped (potentially rather dangerous) & gave the occupants a rark-up who were still trying to act tough
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Ka pai tou mahi e tama! Kia mau te paihikara mo ake tonu atu!
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Oh dear me too.
It was a drizzly morning, I was riding along head down and BLAM!!! I was suddenly on the boot of a car!.
Wasn’t hurt but due to extreme embarrassment quickly grabbed the bike and took off.
Unfortunately the front forks were bent back and I didn’t find out until I tried to turn a corner, which of coarse it wouldn’t!!.
Another awkward moment ensued
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Forken ‘L’ !
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John, isn’t riding a far more exposed vehicle part of individual responsibility?
Not all motorists hit motor bikes on purpose you know, they are much harder to see and obviously the smaller vehicle is going to be worse off in a collision.
Personally I think the most unfair tax grab is for those of us with diesel vehicles.
For my family I have a diesel Toyota, not only is my rego more expensive than a petrol vehicle (for what I don’t know) but I am taxed for road kms as well.
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Yep – that’s the one. He is an original thinker, which is something I think is worthy of respectful consideration, if not always agreement
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