"Blackblade" wrote in message ...
[...]

Ed, that's not at all what the report says. There is a
significant consistency to all accidents, as the chairman's summary, right at
the start of the report, highlights. The trail is uneven so people trip
and fall and hurt themselves. Weather changes unexpectedly which catches
out the ill-prepared. People fail to consider the real challenges of a
hike (or indeed ride) and find that they don't have the physical endurance to
complete it. These are common, and recurring, situations as the report
makes clear.

Edward Dolan wrote:

The trips and falls that hikers take are not to be compared
with the kind of falls that bikers take. Do try to get some common sense if
possible.

Do try and stay on topic. Where did I suggest that they were the same ... I didn't !

However, what I have done is refuted your proposition that hikers were somehow immune to accidents unless they did something very stupid. As the report shows, that's not the case.

“The trips and falls that hikers take are not to be compared with the kind of falls that bikers take. Do try to get some common sense if possible.” – Ed Dolan

Mountain biking done normally is extremely dangerous. "Mistakes"
have
nothing to do with it. Other outdoor activities such as hiking and
camping done
normally are not dangerous. That is the difference.

Then why don't the statistics show this ? For the simple
reason that it's just not true. Any kind of endeavour in untramelled
territory carries inherent risks whether on foot or bike.

The risks are not the same.as a visit to any nearby ER would
inform you.

Can you stay on topic for five seconds. I never said the risks were the same. I simply pointed out that hiking does have risks which means that there are an appreciable number of incidents.

If the risks are not the same, then you are comparing apples to oranges – and who cares? Even an idiot like you knows that bike injuries tend to be serious whereas hiker injuries tend to be trivial. Your so-called topic is as irrelevant as you are.

I am also quite right as to the risks ... because I didn't come up
with those figures they are from independent third parties.

Your figures are nuts. Read some actual reports of accidents
and deaths.

Why ? What would that prove ? I can send you a report, which I know to be true, of a man who died in his own bathroom when he slipped in the shower. What does that tell us ? That showering is inherently dangerous ... of course not.

Unless you know the injuries and fatalities as a percentage of the total number of exposures you know absolutely nothing about the actual danger level involved.

Look at car driving as an example; there are many, many fatalities every day ... but you have to compare that with the total number of journeys taken to understand that the risk you face when getting in your car is fairly low. It's also, by the by, way higher than going for a ride on your mountainbike though.

I do not trust any of your so-called “data” to be true. The only perspective that matters is the one you get from actually being on a trail and having or witnessing an accident. That is what newspapers are for – to report actual events. How many airliners have to drop into the ocean before something is done about it?

And what gives you the right to tell the rest of us how we may
enjoy ourselves ? The answer, of course, is nothing ... so enjoy the
trails as you see fit and stop obsessing over what others do. It's none of
your business.

The idiotic injuries that mountain bikers suffer from trying
to ride their bikes on hiking trails is a cost to society, both the rescues and
the medical treatments.

It's a lot less than the costs incurred by coronary disease !

People get the diseases of old age no matter what. Riding a bike on a trail prevents nothing, but causes plenty of life threatening injuries. I am convinced you are an idiot!

Mountain bikers are barbarians and have no right to be on any trail used by hikers – unless they want to get off their god damn ****ing bikes and walk like everyone else. When they crash and injure themselves, I rejoice! If and when they manage to kill themselves, I say good riddance to bad rubbish! Death to mountain biking!

“Tread softly! All the earth is holy ground.”
~ Christina Rossetti (Psalm 24),
from "A Later Life: A Double Sonnet of Sonnets"

Mountain bikes have wheels. Wheels are for roads.

Trails are for walking. What’s the matter? Can’t walk?

Ed Dolan the Great
aka
Saint Edward the Great