Where Accidents Happen - The Big Killers

Fear can be a great a thing. For a start, it probably stopped you from accepting a lot of really stupid dares while you were in school. In adult life it can provides intuitive common sense warnings and sharpens the reflexes at appropriate times.

But useful fear has to be intelligent, knowledgeable fear. Fearing the wrong thing is a good way to get hurt or killed. Most inexperienced cyclists seem to fear being hit by overtaking traffic more than anything else, so they ride as close to the curb as they can. This is bad, because it makes them harder for drivers to see, denies them room for emergency maneuvers, and puts them in an ideal position to be "doored" by drivers and passengers of parked cars.

In fact, being hit from behind while riding on a straight road is one of the rarest types of cycle accident. Combining different studies I've read, I'd say that it accounts for perhaps 1% of moderately serious accidents. (And anyway, curb skimming is rarely the correct technique for avoiding hits from behind - but that's a topic of its own.) By comparison, dooring accounts for 16% of inner city cycling accidents, road surface problems about 20%, and junctions perhaps as much as 40%. Another 10-20% of accidents result from cyclists doing very stupid things, like launching themselves off the sidewalk without seeing if the road is clear. Let's call these classes of accidents The Big Killers.

Another great thing about fear is that it's a terrific aid to concentration. Remembering information that can your life is surprisingly easy - and remembering and practicing one or two simple safety practices is enough to turn each of The Big Killers into a tiny de-clawed pussycat.

So that's what we'll talk about next. Once more, before we go on:

Intersections ~40% of serious accidents
Road surfaces ~ 20%
Dooring ~16%
Bicycle user stupidity ~ 10-20%
Hit from behind while riding straight in daylight ~ virtually never

So if you know how to ride intersections well, effective tactics for potholes, where to ride to reduce the odds of being door, and just don't do anything stupid, that's it - you're virtually immortal on a bicycle. During daytime at least, night riding is a special topic.

Of these subjects riding intersections is the hardest, so I'll probably leave it until last. Instead I'll start with the easiest subject of all - not doing anything stupid.