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Is Bicycling Safe?


If you follow the rules of the road and ride carefully, cycling is actually much safer than driving.
By Ryan McGreal
...
An article in View Magazine a couple of months ago advocated for better bicycle infrastructure by focusing on cycling dangers. Though well-intentioned, it reinforced many preconceptions without examining them for accuracy.

In fact, cycling is arguably safer than driving.

Comparing the Risks
Every activity carries risks, and are many possible ways to compare the relative risks of cycling and other activities. Looking at several can help to form a more complete picture.

Fatality by Distance Cycled
The most obvious comparison is the fatality risk per distanced traveled. In this straight-up analysis, cycling is more dangerous than driving. Every 1.6 million kilometres (one million kilometres) cycled produces 0.039 cyclist fatalities, compared to 0.016 fatalities for motorists. They're both very low, but the risk for cycling is more than double.

However, this is not the most useful way to compare risks.

Fatality by Time Spent Cycling
Failure Analysis Associates, Inc. performed a comparative analysis of fatality rates for a variety of activities per million hours spent performing a given activity. They concluded that the fatality rate for every million hours spent cycling is 0.26, compared to 0.47 per million driving hours (on-road motorcycling comes in at a whopping 8.80 deaths per million motorcycling hours).

That is, riding a motor vehicle has nearly twice the risk of fatality as riding a bike for a given duration.

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No Wheels Allowed


[There are some good comments in support of cycling at the end of this article.]

By KELLY MOORE/Staff Writer

NEW LLANO - The Town of New Llano will soon be off limits to skateboards, roller blades, roller skates and bicycles, unless on private property.

During Tuesday's Town Council meeting, Councilman Charles Balthrop introduced an ordinance that will prohibit the use of skateboards, roller blades, roller skates, bicycles, etc. anywhere in the corporate limits of the Town of New Llano with the exception of the individual's private property.
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What kind of bike is right for you?


by Linda Shrieves | Sentinel Staff Writer

Walk into a bike shop today, and it's easy to get lost in the choices.

There are road bikes and hybrid bikes, mountain bikes and comfort bikes. Beach cruisers and commuting bikes. "City path" bikes and touring bikes. Even the most basic bike, the standard beach cruiser, may be operating under a new alias: a lifestyle bike.

Confused? No wonder.
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The first steps inside a bike shop can be intimidating, especially for the derailleur-challenged. But the bike industry, which once catered strictly to Lance Armstrong wannabes and the mountain-bike crowd, is today aiming at people who want to love bicycling as they did as children.

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Obesity rates show no decline in US


By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Loosen the belt buckle another notch: Obesity rates continued to climb in 31 states last year, and no state showed a decline.
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This year's report, for the first time, looked at rates of overweight children ages 10 to 17. The District of Columbia had the highest percentage

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2007 Benchmarking Report


Main Findings from 2007 Benchmarking Report:
- A positive relationship exists between the built environment and levels of biking and walking.
- Where levels of biking and walking are higher, bicycle and pedestrian safety is greater.
- Cities with strong Thunderhead organizations generally have high levels of biking and walking.
- Higher levels of biking and walking coincide with lower levels of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes and higher levels of adults meeting recommended levels of daily physical activity. This suggests that increased biking and walking would contribute to a healthier society.
- Data revealed that while some cities and states lead others as models for bicycle and pedestrian policies and provisions, all states and cities have a need for improvement.

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HERALD POLL: Choices vs. Laws on helmets


(Good arguments on both sides)
ABOUT THIS PACKAGE: The Daily Herald published an editorial on Wednesday applauding the Utah County Commission for enacting measures to protect public safety on the Provo Parkway Trail but criticizing its decision to require helmets for anybody on wheels -- such as longboarders and bicyclists. The Commission hosts a public meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 29, at 5:30 p.m. at the County building on east Center Street, Provo, to discuss the question.

Executive editor Randy Wright received a letter from the county Health Department critical of the newspaper. Following is the e-mail exchange with Wright, edited for clarity.

After you read, let your voice be heard. Should helmets be required? Vote at <a href="http://www.heraldextra.com">www.heraldextra.com</a>;.

Dear Editor --

We are sorry to read in your column (August 15, &quot;Helmet Law Goes Too Far&quot;) that you care so little for the health and safety of Utah County citizens, and especially children.

A properly fitted helmet reduces the risk of head injury by as much as 85 percent and the risk of brain injury by as much as 88 percent. Bicyclists injuries involving head trauma are 20 times more likely to result in death. In addition to bicycling, skateboarding and longboarding have become very popular sports in Utah. These activities involve speeds reaching between 35-50 mph while traveling downhill (such as in the Canyon). In the Utah County area there have been three fatalities and 31 hospital admissions in the last 18 months as a result of individuals not wearing helmets while longboarding and skateboarding (statistics collected from the UVRMC Emergency Room). In the U.S., boarding injuries account for nearly 50,000 visits to emergency rooms.

There is also the very real cost to individuals and society as a whole in the direct and indirect medical cost, time away from work to care for loved ones, long term care, and pain and suffering of those injured and their families that we should also care about. Helmets are designed to help protect individuals from traumatic brain injuries. When something as simple as a helmet can prevent brain damage that leads to learning and behavioral disorders, paralysis, or death, we feel it important to speak out.

Sincerely,

Lance Madigan and Andrea Miller

Utah County Health Department

Editor responds

Thanks for your letter on the subject of safety helmets -- though you misrepresent the Herald's view. We never said that protective equipment isn't a good idea; the question is one of government mandates when it comes to matters of personal choice.

I am very interested in learning more about the risks. Perhaps you will indulge me in a few observations.

A colleague of mine many years ago at a newspaper in San Diego took a very hard line on bicycle helmets -- a line similar to yours. When I challenged some of his conclusions, he had to admit that the problem really isn't very large. When you attempt to analyze the countless millions of people toodling around on bicycles (children included), you need to include at least the following subsets:

-- total hours spent on bicycles or skateboards

-- riders who injure themselves in any fashion during those hours

-- of those injured, how many receive head injuries

-- of the head injuries, how many are traumatic brain injuries

Your figure of 31 hospital &quot;admissions&quot; in 18 months is less than 2 per month -- not exactly an epidemic. If I take &quot;Utah County area&quot; as a pool of 500,000 people, the rate would [be] roughly 6 per 100,000.

By comparison, the risk of death by taking aspirin or riding in a passenger vehicle is about 11 per 100,000 nationally. That's considerably higher than your figure for longboards and skateboards. And it's deaths, not just hospital admissions.

You also claim that hospital admissions are &quot;a result of individuals not wearing helmets while longboarding and skateboarding.&quot; I would appreciate it if you could give me the scientific basis for this claim. I do not believe you can show that John Smith would have avoided a hospital admission had he been wearing a helmet.

Clearly, if one is going to bash his head he would prefer to be wearing a helmet. But gross numbers like &quot;50,000 visits to emergency rooms&quot; across an entire nation of 300 million people doesn't produce a high rate. It's 17 per 100,000 &quot;visits&quot; compared to 11 &quot;deaths&quot; in the case of aspirin and automobiles. Throwing out a number like 50,000 nationally is simply not helpful in understanding the problem.

I am willing to learn. Perhaps you would be willing to present your figures as a frequency per 100,000 population or some other basis that lends itself to comparison to other activities? Compared to many other sources of injury, I believe you will find that serious skateboard and bicycle injuries are infrequent.

I believe something like six bicyclists are killed each year in a collision with an automobile in Utah. That's not a good thing, but it's not necessarily a worrisome statistic given the enormous number of auto/bike encounters. By comparison, about 275 people will die as a result of auto accidents in Utah this year. How many auto accident victims survive with traumatic brain injury I can only imagine. I'm sure you have figures on this. Perhaps automobile drivers should wear helmets.

Randy Wright

Daily Herald

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Police order cyclist to DISOBEY a traffic control device


There is something seriously wrong with a system that goes as long as someone can make a case that a cyclist could/should be riding somewhere else they are riding illegally. This kind of attitude results in no matter how a cyclist is riding they are riding illegally.

Follow the link in &quot;read more&quot; to follow the story of a cyclists from Wilmington, DE

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Bicycle lawyers finding new clients in injured cyclists


By KEITH RIDLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

BOISE, Idaho -- Chris Cook liked his plan to save money on gas and be environmentally conscious by riding his bike six miles to work - until the second time the electrical engineer bounced off the grille of a vehicle.

&quot;The first time I got hit I made the mistake of not calling the police,&quot; said Cook. &quot;The second time I made sure that was the first thing I did after I got off the ground.&quot;

Cook, of Boise, became one of a growing number of commuter cyclists turned into hood ornaments, a trend noticed by attorneys - especially attorneys who are also cyclists - who in state after state are touting their own cycling credentials as much as their legal skills on web sites to bruised bike riders.

&quot;I have talked to more commuters who have been in car-bicycle incidents in the last year and a half than I have in the previous 10 years,&quot; said Kurt Holzer, a Boise-based attorney and cyclist who said he's won several cases that have exceeded the vehicle driver's $100,000 insurance coverage.

Bob Anderton, a Seattle-based lawyer who bikes to work, said his business has climbed to 80 percent injured cyclists.

&quot;It's through the roof, it's terrible,&quot; he said. &quot;People are just getting hit all the time.&quot;

The two are among what appears to be a growing number of attorneys actively seeking cyclists injured in collisions with vehicles.

&quot;I think a lot of states have guys who specialize in that,&quot; said Mike Colbach, an attorney based in Portland, Ore., who last year won a $550,000 settlement for an injured cyclist.

&quot;It's almost never the cyclist's fault, and they tend to get pretty significantly injured,&quot; he said. &quot;Wrist, arm, and unfortunately sometimes brain injuries from hitting their head.&quot;
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