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Are women cyclists in more danger than men cyclists?
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Are women cyclists in more danger than men cyclists?
On Oct 11, 10:36*pm, "Claude" wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8296971.stm The report article cites that 7 of 8 cyclists killed in accidents involving cyclists and lorries were females. And this is despite the alleged fact that only 28% of cyclists in London are females. So what's happening with the women that isn't happening with the men? My own observations here in Canberra would indicate about 10% of women on roads are female, and mostly under 30. Some are remarkably aware cyclists, and all seem more prone to obeying the rules of the road, ie, obeying the laws at intersections than the men who are mostly under 40 and with many being quite reckless and unruly about intersection behaviours. Some men seem to charge across pedestrian crossings against red lights telling them not to, so they ride according to their own perception of the safety of their move and with no respect to any laws of the road. But I have seem many women also blithely glide across intersections against pedestrian red lights, often riding with no helmets and without the hurried alert aware animal instinct survival instinct so obvious in the males. I have rarely ever seen anyone ever dismount and walk across a pedestrian crossing, male ot female. Meanwhile, I regularly get cut off by vehicles turning left across a cycle lane I am riding along. I get pushed out high by cars emanating from a merging flow from the left. Motorists don't like giving way to slower cyclists much of the time. A large % of motorists HATE cyclists, and regard us as vermin. So with the mindset which prevails despite laws and awareness campaigns and special cycle lanes, its no surprize that about 40 cyclists are killed each year in Oz. If you ask me whether females are just as likely to ALWAYS be wondering if they are about to be cut off from the left or right by other vehicles, then I am at a loss to answer. Males have tunnel vision, and concentrate on the sources of potential danger, and are less likely to be thinking about other things while riding than the females may be thinking about. I am surely sensitive to the slight speed changes of vehicles in front of me and I am always asking myself if a particular car is about to swing left or right to block me. Usually I find myself braking to avoid a vehicle without thought, then sure enough some ******* swings and slows in front of me without having seen me, and just as well I slowed. I have chased such people after they have stopped at a building to drop off a passenger, or pick one up, and haranged then with a good loud string of obscenities, and bang on their vehicle to shame them. Maybe women would not be so brave to actively defend their rights with such vigourous protest. Motorists really hate my behaviour when I point out to them that they are arsoles when they have threatened my life. I also protest in a vigourous manner to other cyclists who cycle unsafely, eg, the idiots cycling against the direction of traffic on a cycle lane or road lane. These mostly male cycling fuctards seem to think playing chicken is fine with them. Not while I am alive it ain't. They don't like my insults. I'm willing to have a brawl if I need to. At intersections with lorries, semi trailers, B-doubles, buses etc, one must always make sure the lorry driver CAN SEE YOU when you pull up. Good riding means you relate to the other road users. This means you gracefully impose your presence without denying their rights, while observing a duty of care to the other drivers; give them EVERY chance they will see you at all times, and allow for their slow reaction times. Beware overtaking traffic on the near side; that is always risky, and against the law. Females are said to have lower spatial abilities than males, but then males seem to take more risks. Maybe the statistics about cycling deaths amoung males and females in Oz may be similar to the UK. I'm too lazy to check right now. All I do know is that if I were to ride on roads all the time in Sydney I would class myself as a DTA, ie, determinedly temporary australian. Being female might not help me. One might think that male drivers who cause most accidents might avoid crashing into female cyclists as an auto-chivalry response, but then this might be balanced out by the number of men who just hate all females. Meanwhile the women drivers see everything they crash into just a bit too late for their spatially limited response times...... Wasn't it in last February that Cadel Evans said the country in which he felt least safe while cycling was Australia? Maybe he hadn't spent time in Canberra with its splendid cycle path network which allows journeys of 100km without having to needing to ride on road lane which has to be shared with motorists. So ladies, if you feel nervous, COME TO CANBERRA!!! And in the far flung suburbs of Canberra, there are very fine suburban streets which have almost zero traffic for most of the day, especially on weekdays when the occupants of the houses are all out at work to pay off the huge mortgages and private school fees. Its all so different to trying to cycle around say Punchbowl in Sydney. Patrick Turner. |
#3
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Are women cyclists in more danger than men cyclists?
Patrick Turner wrote:
My own observations here in Canberra would indicate about 10% of women on roads are female Welcome to the 21st century. John |
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