Bike safety surveys-reports-statistics etc. (not specific to bents)

[email protected] wrote:
> Without going into all the ugly details, I'm looking for surveys,
> reports or statistics on bike safety accident rates etc. Believe it
> or not, the place where I work bans bikes on it's grounds for
'safety'
> reasons. I'm trying to prove that biking is safe. Various persons
> have given pointers to such in this forum over the years but I'll be
> damned if I can find them now that I need them. Any help is
> appreciated.

You could also try rec.bicycles.soc and (possibly) rec.bicycles.tech .
The League of American Bicyclists should also be able to give you
prepackaged statistical evidence.

Jeff

Cat wrote:
> Without going into all the ugly details, I'm looking for surveys,
> reports or statistics on bike safety accident rates etc. Believe it
> or not, the place where I work bans bikes on it's grounds for 'safety'
> reasons. I'm trying to prove that biking is safe. Various persons
> have given pointers to such in this forum over the years but I'll be
> damned if I can find them now that I need them. Any help is
> appreciated.

Tends to be more UK oriented, but there's plenty of good basic safety
data at www.cyclehelmets.org

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

<Cat ****@nomail.com> wrote in message
> [...]
> Believe it or not, the place where I work bans bikes
> on it's grounds for 'safety' reasons. I'm trying to prove
> that biking is safe.

Good luck in trying to argue logically with illogical
preconceptions! %^P

Unless you live/work someplace unusual, the number of
people directly affected by such bans is likely small.
They don't need to justify inconveniencing or disenfranchising
a large group of current or potential cyclists,-- most people
probably drive. And many of those people think it IS
unsafe to cycle on roads.

If the business is a medium-to-large corporate-type
environment, perhaps circulating a petition to form a
committee to review the policy is a way to start. If
it is a smaller business, grassroots may be more effective
than direct arguments, no matter how logical.

Some cities, even small ones, and many stated have
alternative transportation advocates on staff. You might
try contacting your local council person or regional/
state government representative.

In my experience getting irrational policies changed
requires first an openness to even consider the change.
It may help to understand what prompted the policy
in the first place (an accident, an insurance claim,
cyclists behaving badly, drivers complaining, etc...)
Perhaps as a first step, they might consider restrictions
on bicycles in place of the ban.

Irrational bans to address perceived risk are de rigour,
these days, it seems. TSA and others. Mainly marketing.
Humans are notoriously bad at calibrating actual risks:
what's more "dangerous", bears or a bees, the drive to
the airport or the flight, etc...?

Jon Meinecke

Without going into all the ugly details, I'm looking for surveys,
reports or statistics on bike safety accident rates etc. Believe it
or not, the place where I work bans bikes on it's grounds for 'safety'
reasons. I'm trying to prove that biking is safe. Various persons
have given pointers to such in this forum over the years but I'll be
damned if I can find them now that I need them. Any help is
appreciated.

Cat wrote:

> the place where I work bans bikes on it's grounds for 'safety'
> reasons. I'm trying to prove that biking is safe.

Three places where I've worked have tried the same thing, and all failed
to prevent me from riding my bike onto their grounds more than once. I
recommend that you not try to prove anything: make *them* try to prove a
negative [that biking is not safe], and then shoot down anything they
say as either a prejudiced lie, a mistaken perception, or the fault of
some careless non-biker. It worked for me, three outta three -- of
course, their perception of me as a dangerous lunatic didn't hurt any.

--
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much
to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes,
it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877)

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 09:14:47 -0400, Cat ****@nomail.com wrote in
message <[email protected]>:

>Believe it
>or not, the place where I work bans bikes on it's grounds for 'safety'
>reasons.

Whose safety? If it's for the safety of the non-cyclists, then ask
when they will be extending the ban to cover much more dangerous
things like cars. If it's for the cyclists' safety then there are
plenty of studies which show that the benefits substantially outweigh
the risks.

A couple which spring to mind are the Harvard alumni study [Sesso HD,
Paffenbarger RS, Jr., Lee IM. Physical activity and coronary heart
disease in men: The Harvard Alumni Health Study.] and Mayer Hillman's
work for the BMA [Hillman, M., Cycling and the Promotion of Health,
Policy Studies 1993] (the latter is the source of the claim that the
benefits outweigh the risks by 20:1).

Ken Kifer said it well:
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm

I'd be prepared to wager a small sum that the real reason is that they
don't want to have to take extra care to avoid harming vulnerable road
users - the transportational equivalent of making women wear chastity
belts in case men are tempted to rape them.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

<Cat ****@nomail.com> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:02:27 -0800, LioNiNoiL_a t_Y a h 0 0_d 0 t_c 0
> m <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Cat wrote:
>>
>>> the place where I work bans bikes on it's grounds for 'safety'
>>> reasons. I'm trying to prove that biking is safe.
>>
>>Three places where I've worked have tried the same thing, and all failed
>>to prevent me from riding my bike onto their grounds more than once. I
>>recommend that you not try to prove anything: make *them* try to prove a
>>negative [that biking is not safe], and then shoot down anything they
>>say as either a prejudiced lie, a mistaken perception, or the fault of
>>some careless non-biker. It worked for me, three outta three -- of
>>course, their perception of me as a dangerous lunatic didn't hurt any.
>
> Thanks all for some good links. It's a military base so I must
> follow the rules (I love my job, even if the senior people are hooked
> on senseless petty rules) There's a lot of folks backing me on this
> and I'm sure I'll be successfully as long as I can counter their
> anecdotal evidence with facts.
> Bentbobb.
>

Personally I think you would be more successful getting the military chain
of command to change existing rules by covering their anecdotal evidence
with farts as you would with facts.

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:02:27 -0800, LioNiNoiL_a t_Y a h 0 0_d 0 t_c 0
m <[email protected]> wrote:

>Cat wrote:
>
>> the place where I work bans bikes on it's grounds for 'safety'
>> reasons. I'm trying to prove that biking is safe.
>
>Three places where I've worked have tried the same thing, and all failed
>to prevent me from riding my bike onto their grounds more than once. I
>recommend that you not try to prove anything: make *them* try to prove a
>negative [that biking is not safe], and then shoot down anything they
>say as either a prejudiced lie, a mistaken perception, or the fault of
>some careless non-biker. It worked for me, three outta three -- of
>course, their perception of me as a dangerous lunatic didn't hurt any.

Thanks all for some good links. It's a military base so I must
follow the rules (I love my job, even if the senior people are hooked
on senseless petty rules) There's a lot of folks backing me on this
and I'm sure I'll be successfully as long as I can counter their
anecdotal evidence with facts.
Bentbobb.

Cat wrote:

> The base is pretty much 'open access'. I normally ride to a friends
> business just off the base, leave my bike there then jog up the hill.
> Because of all the woods around it I can also ride the trails (when
> the snow is hard) and leave my bike in the woods quite close to where
> I work. No ones's in there aside from the deer.
>

What base is this? I used to ride my bike on several Navy bases,
including industrial areas, shipyards, drydocks, etc.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a
person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a
newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive there's something wrong with him."
Art Buchwald

On 2 Apr 2005 05:14:34 -0800, "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Print out this page and give to the policy makers. If Camp Pendleton
>allows civilians on the bike path through the base, why can't an
>employee ride in?
>http://www.pendleton.usmc.mil/scout/archives/releases/baseadvise/cycle.asp
>
>Until thier policy is changed, ride to the guard gate and lock it to
>the outside of the fence and walk in, too far to walk, I bet you could
>get a ride closer to your particular location from a driver who comes
>in after you. Just give the guard where your need a ride to and ask
>him to ask the various drivers ask he checks their ids.

The base is pretty much 'open access'. I normally ride to a friends
business just off the base, leave my bike there then jog up the hill.
Because of all the woods around it I can also ride the trails (when
the snow is hard) and leave my bike in the woods quite close to where
I work. No ones's in there aside from the deer.

On 2 Apr 2005 05:14:34 -0800, "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Print out this page and give to the policy makers. If Camp Pendleton
>allows civilians on the bike path through the base, why can't an
>employee ride in?
>http://www.pendleton.usmc.mil/scout/archives/releases/baseadvise/cycle.asp
>
>Until thier policy is changed, ride to the guard gate and lock it to
>the outside of the fence and walk in, too far to walk, I bet you could
>get a ride closer to your particular location from a driver who comes
>in after you. Just give the guard where your need a ride to and ask
>him to ask the various drivers ask he checks their ids.

The base is pretty much 'open access'. I normally ride to a friends
business just off the base, leave my bike there then jog up the hill.
Because of all the woods around it I can also ride the trails (when
the snow is hard) and leave my bike in the woods quite close to where
I work. No ones's in there aside from the deer.

>> Cat wrote:
>>
>>> the place where I work bans bikes on it's grounds for
>>> 'safety' reasons. I'm trying to prove that biking is safe.
>>
>> Three places where I've worked have tried the same thing,
>> and all failed to prevent me from riding my bike onto their
>> grounds more than once. I recommend that you not try to
>> prove anything: make *them* try to prove a negative
>> [that biking is not safe], and then shoot down anything
>> they say as either a prejudiced lie, a mistaken perception,
>> or the fault of some careless non-biker. It worked for me,
>> three outta three -- of course, their perception of me as
>> a dangerous lunatic didn't hurt any.
>
> Thanks all for some good links. It's a military base so
> I must follow the rules

One of the three places I mentioned above was an Air Force base. Just
because it's military doesn't mean it's okay to implement every
half-baked rule that some benighted officer thinks is appropriate.

--
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much
to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes,
it has not died out." -- The Daily Telegraph (1877)