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

Edward Dolan wrote:

Hiker accidents are extremely rare in comparison because it is safe.

Look at the real stats Ed. Hiking is safer, yes, but it is not absolutely safe ... nothing is. Both hiking and mountainbiking are in a natural, untrammeled environment and therefore subject to very similar risks.

The risks are not similar at all. Riding a bike on a trail designed for walking is a circus act, chock full of risks at every turn.

Further, the biker accidents that do occur are normally quite serious requiring
rescue services and emergency rooms. You simply do not know what you are
blathering about.

At least I bother to read around the topic and find data ... you just think that your opinions count as fact. I reiterate, the demonstrated KSI figures show that mountainbiking is pretty safe ... not absolutely, certainly, but the risks are low.

The risks are high, especially on alpine trails. Even very experienced riders suffer horrible accidents, but newbies are most at risk.

I understand what I am doing perfectly without getting moronic
lectures from you about the scientific method.

Ed, you're either uneducated as regards statistics or, if you aren't, then you are fundamentally dishonest. If there are 3.5 million rides per day then even a risk of 0.01% would result in 3,500 serious injuries. All you can produce is a tiny handful ... so we can safely conclude, as have all the medical bodies, that mountainbiking is relatively safe.

Your statistics don’t interest me since we do not know what is being measured. A few stories explain the situation better than any of your meaningless numbers (data). Statistics (like polls) lie all the time about everything, I thought every educated person knew that. Their whole purpose is to mislead. It is why global warming may or may not be true even though it is couched in hard science. No one knows for certain what is being measured.

I am pointing out some
generalized conditions which prevail with regard to mountain biking, which the
mountain biking community itself tends to gloss over (expect by the few freaks
who are really into it). Innocent people go biking on trails thinking it is safe
and it is not safe at all. You blather does nothing to refute what I am
saying.

No, you're not pointing out anything of the kind. You're trawling the internet or setting up a Google Feed to show you whenever a mountainbiking accident or fatality occurs. I'm not denying they occur but, set against the number of rides taking place, they are tiny ... hence validating the relative safety of the activity.

I dare you ... set the same search/filter for hiking and see what you get. I predict you will find even more serious injuries and fatalities for hiking ... as the Lake District Mountain Rescue contains ... not because hiking is more dangerous but because there are more hikers.

That is your job, I am sure you will find that hiking is as safe as walking around the block compared to biking on a trail - which is as dangerous (and as stupid) as going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.
[...]

You are posting some meaningless numbers which no one is ever
going to connect with. I am posting a few stories (among hundreds) from all over
the world which bring home how dangerous biking on trails is.despite all the
propaganda to the contrary.

If it's so dangerous Ed then why CAN'T you find any numbers to back you up as to the relative risk ? Out of context your stories are completely worthless.

Media reports are better than any numbers. The facts are that hiking is safe and biking on trails is not safe.

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