Where did I say that all was sweetness and light Ed
?* I said I, emphasis on the I, had experienced no conflict whatsoever in
three years.

I have posted plenty of messages of accidents occurring in
England as well as everywhere else in the world. Obviously, your particular
situation exists in some kind of time warp and is not relevant to this
discussion.

Crowded areas will always throw up some issues ... twas
ever thus.

However, I pointed out my personal experience to show you
why your personal anecdote means nothing either ... and that you have to look at
the overall big picture.* And, the overall picture is very little conflict
...

The only one who is an anecdote here is you. I am presenting
the overall big picture. You are stuck in the mud.

Fine Ed, if you are presenting the overall big picture what, overall, is the percentage of rides where conflict occurs ? Don't know ????

We already know that the fatality rate is, at max, 0.00123 per million miles travelled and that the injury rate is 1.54 per thousand exposures. It is, overall, relatively safe.

So, if you think there is loads of conflict, please do give us the OVERALL picture ... because, as you should know, if what you have is a small handful of incidents against millions of rides then OVERALL we are looking at there not being much conflict.

Or is all this too much for you ... and you would far prefer to collude with the other monomaniacs and believe that mountainbikers are a major issue afflicting the world ?