On Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at 9:48:01 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/6/2021 10:50 AM, jbeattie wrote:
On Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at 7:14:15 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/6/2021 1:04 AM, James wrote:
On 5/4/21 2:16 am, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 4/4/2021 10:34 AM, jbeattie wrote:

I'm not yelling at you although I do get tired of the incessant
"safety inflation" rant when people buy something that makes it
easier for them to ride...

I think "safety inflation" is real. It applies not only to bicycles,
it's pervasive in modern American society; I can probably give dozens
of examples. I own books on related topics.

But it certainly does apply to bicycles and bicycling, in many ways
that have nothing to do with making it easier to ride. Again, I can
give examples, although you can certainly think of them yourself.

I don't know why this observation is so distasteful to you.


In spite of the safety inflation of chilumen bike lights, the rampant
policing of bicycle helmet wearing (in Melbourne/Australia) and shaming
of people for not wearing hi vis clothing, wearing earbuds, or riding a
little too fast in a shared pedestrian/cycling zone;

Fatalities in the state of Victoria/Australia show an increasing trend
(which is difficult to see where the annual fatality rate was
approximately 8 a decade ago, but is now closer to 10), and the reported
injury count has changed from about 300 annually to 500 over the same
period, _and_ according to the National Cycling Participation Survey,
regular cycling has lost about 200,000 people over a similar period.

So safety inflation, targeted policing and fewer people cycling
regularly has resulted in more deaths and injuries.

Yay!
You need to take the long view. The trend is good, in that when
bicycling drops to ever lower numbers and bike injuries climb ever
higher, people will finally accept that riding is incurably dangerous.
It will become much easier to outlaw it entirely, thereby preventing
those ten deaths per year.

(And people must not be allowed to bring up comparative numbers of
deaths or injuries due to motoring, pedestrian travel, cardio-vascular
problems, etc. Those are off-topic!)

Yes, soon you'll be driven underground and will have to ride a Peloton bike!
Did you ever wonder why indoor bicycling is as popular as it is?

No -- but if you're saying its because people are cowering in fear because of safety inflation, then you're out of touch with the gym scene. My brother went to spin classes with his wife, and he was a fearless three state old-guy DH champion and went to worlds. I've ridden many miles with him on the road. In fact, I rode with their spin instructor who placed in LoToJa. Strong guy -- one of the hardest centuries I've done in recent history. People have lots of social reasons for living the gym life . . . although some may be afraid of riding on the road. That has to be true statistically because some people were afraid of riding on the road even before flashers and helmets were even a thing.

And a lot of what you call safety inflation is people just not wanting to deal with traffic. It sucks dealing with traffic, dangerous or not. When it comes to picking routes, I take the one with the least traffic. Who wants to breathe exhaust and deal with the homicidal PU maniacs in the 'burbs. No amount of lane-taking makes that pleasant. "Position one!" [cough, cough, gag . . . as diesel PU number four passes within an inch, leaving a cloud of smoke]. People may prefer Plan B, i.e., not riding on the road. https://cloudfront.traillink.com/pho..._148788_sc.jpg Or Plan C. https://i1.wp.com/buckyrides.com/wp-...00%2C900&ssl=1 That also includes Plan D, which is usually low traffic. https://farm1.staticflickr.com/280/2...85fc52d273.jpg That's a great ride.

Which reminds me, I was riding on that road in the last picture (Marmot Rd.) with a friend of mine with whom I've been riding for 30 years. He now refuses to ride on Skyline because it is dangerous and refuses to ride the foot of SW Terwilliger -- preferring the adjacent path through the woods. https://tinyurl.com/85c27nx6 Totally reasonable fear. I now take the side path because climbing in the middle of a road with a blind turn and posted 45mph limit (actually 50) and twice the traffic of 20 years ago is objectively scary. Why bother. And to be honest, I usually skip the side path and go up a whole different road -- past the trestle house. https://tinyurl.com/vt3z3x3w Anyway, its not just a bunch of scared Nancies who want a facility or some option other than riding in traffic.

-- Jay Beattie.