OT 1,000 New Yorkers per year are hospitalised after being hit by bicycles

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/0...78I6LB20110919

On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:14:47 +0100, "Mrcheerful" wrote:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/0...78I6LB20110919



The department said of the roughly 600 pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in
the last four years, only three were hit by a bicycle.


Oh - that's OK then.

On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:36:50 +0100, Judith
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:14:47 +0100, "Mrcheerful" wrote:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/0...78I6LB20110919



The department said of the roughly 600 pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in
the last four years, only three were hit by a bicycle.


Oh - that's OK then.

If you were a traffic cop in New York tasked with the responsibility
for reducing road deaths, would you target the drivers of the vehicles
which cause 99.5% of deaths, or the riders of the vehicles that cause
0.5% of deaths?

On 20/09/2011 20:39, Bertie Wooster wrote:
On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:36:50 +0100,
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:14:47 +0100, wrote:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/0...78I6LB20110919



The department said of the roughly 600 pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in
the last four years, only three were hit by a bicycle.


Oh - that's OK then.

If you were a traffic cop in New York tasked with the responsibility
for reducing road deaths, would you target the drivers of the vehicles
which cause 99.5% of deaths, or the riders of the vehicles that cause
0.5% of deaths?

I wouldn't make assumptions about the cause of the incidents. The most
effective means of reducing deaths *might* be to reduce jaywalking (and
then again might not).

Biggles

On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:39:59 +0100, Bertie Wooster
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:36:50 +0100, Judith
wrote:

On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:14:47 +0100, "Mrcheerful" wrote:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/0...78I6LB20110919



The department said of the roughly 600 pedestrians killed in traffic crashes in
the last four years, only three were hit by a bicycle.


Oh - that's OK then.

If you were a traffic cop in New York tasked with the responsibility
for reducing road deaths, would you target the drivers of the vehicles
which cause 99.5% of deaths, or the riders of the vehicles that cause
0.5% of deaths?

Last time I visited New York it was a regular thing to have a
closed-roads even for cycles, skaters and walkers. NY has a habit of
mixing the two, for example across the Brooklyn Bridge and on
Broadway, so it's hardly a surprise that conflict can arise,
especially since some of these shared facilities are very constrained.
The cyclists should slow down, but I guess New York has never been
well known for patience.

Guy
--
Guy Chapman, http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
The usenet price promise: all opinions are guaranteed
to be worth at least what you paid for them.

"Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote in message

Last time I visited New York it was a regular thing to have a
closed-roads even for cycles, skaters and walkers. NY has a habit of
mixing the two, for example across the Brooklyn Bridge and on
Broadway, so it's hardly a surprise that conflict can arise,
especially since some of these shared facilities are very constrained.
The cyclists should slow down, but I guess New York has never been
well known for patience.


The number of bike on ped injuries are going down, year on year in fact, but
that is not a headline grabber.

QUOTE:

"Well, it didn't take long for our local media to mangle the Hunter College
study measuring bike-on-ped injuries in New York state. Statewide hospital
data compiled by professors Peter Tuckel and William Milczarik plainly show
a drop in pedestrian injuries caused by cyclists between 2007 and 2010 - the
same period when NYC doubled the size of its bike network. Yet the Times
headline read "Study Finds Higher Number of Pedestrians Hurt by Bikes," NY1
headlined its piece "More Pedestrians Being Hit By Bikes, Study Finds," and
the Post led its coverage like so: "Maybe they should replace those bike
lanes with ambulance lanes."

http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/09/2...-ped-injuries/

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/