Is Cycling a "Risk Sport"?

Nuggs
Nuggs Posts: 1,804
edited November 2009 in The bottom bracket
I wonder how cycling compares to this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8339097.stm

I would imagine it comp[ares favourably given the hundreds of thousands of miles travelled to each KSI, but I think it would be an interesting comparison.

Comments

  • mask of sanity
    mask of sanity Posts: 610
    Cycling is perfectly safe! It's the rapid transition from cycling to lying flat on your arse thats the dangerous bit! :wink:
  • ex-pat scot
    ex-pat scot Posts: 939
    I'd imagine mountain biking similar to horse riding in terms of injuries, but road riding depends on traffic.

    I had 2 very near misses this morning.

    Not a good hit rate.
    Commute: Langster -Singlecross - Brompton S2-LX

    Road: 95 Trek 5500 -Look 695 Aerolight eTap - Boardman TTe eTap

    Offroad: Pace RC200 - Dawes Kickback 2 tandem - Tricross - Boardman CXR9.8 - Ridley x-fire
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    mask of sanity wrote:
    Cycling is perfectly safe! It's the rapid transition from cycling to lying flat on your ars* thats the dangerous bit! :wink:

    :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

    Getting out of bed is a dangerous sport if you over analyse everthing.
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    ex-pat scot wrote:
    I'd imagine mountain biking similar to horse riding in terms of injuries, but road riding depends on traffic.

    I had 2 very near misses this morning.

    Not a good hit rate.

    Depends who for... more pro roadies have cycling related deaths than mtbers.

    I'd still say that the road cycling has a higher risk factor, although the chances of falling off mtbing are greater, the outcome is most often minor. Whereas coming off on a roadie more often has serious consequences.
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • fungus_the_muffin_man
    fungus_the_muffin_man Posts: 1,608
    If you cycle whilst E'd up does that make the cycling safer or the drug taking more dangerous?
    Bianchi. There are no alternatives only compromises!
    I RIDE A KONA CADABRA -would you like to come and have a play with my magic link?
  • fossyant
    fossyant Posts: 2,549
    Horse riding is for pansies. :D
  • fungus_the_muffin_man
    fungus_the_muffin_man Posts: 1,608
    not when your going bareback its not :wink:
    Bianchi. There are no alternatives only compromises!
    I RIDE A KONA CADABRA -would you like to come and have a play with my magic link?
  • gkerr4
    gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    eventing is a pretty risky sport - cycling, even road riding can't compare - surely!

    in the UK, there are more people put in wheelchairs through horse accidents every year than in motorcycle accidents - granted a lot are killed in motorcycle accidents - but considering motorcycles make up 1% of traffic they account for 20% of RTAs it kind of puts into perspective just how dengerous it is.

    they are fast - and you have a long way to fall off - even when they are stood still never mind jumping - and then theres the gates themselves to hit yourself on.

    Any motorcyclist will tell you - it's not the speed you fall off at (you can come off at 100+mph and slide along till you stop then get up and walk away) - but the rate at which you slow down - i.e. - if you hit a lampost (or a gatepost!) - your f@cked
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,687
    It ranks fairly lowly if you want to take out sports insurance but the high ranking sports are the likes of parachuting and bunjee jumping! Take a look at the websites of insurers offering specialist sports insurance - think cycling ranks about the same as football.
  • Tonymufc
    Tonymufc Posts: 1,016
    Cycling is safe, its the w@nkers in the tin boxes that are unsafe.
  • Nuggs
    Nuggs Posts: 1,804
    Tonymufc wrote:
    Cycling is safe, its the w@nkers in the tin boxes that are unsafe.
    Is everyone in a tin box a w@nker, or just some of them?
  • fast as fupp
    fast as fupp Posts: 2,277
    Nuggs wrote:
    Tonymufc wrote:
    Cycling is safe, its the w@nkers in the tin boxes that are unsafe.
    Is everyone in a tin box a w@nker, or just some of them?

    yes -all of them

    except me :shock:
    'dont forget lads, one evertonian is worth twenty kopites'
  • Nuggs
    Nuggs Posts: 1,804
    fast as fupp wrote:
    Nuggs wrote:
    Tonymufc wrote:
    Cycling is safe, its the w@nkers in the tin boxes that are unsafe.
    Is everyone in a tin box a w@nker, or just some of them?

    yes -all of them

    except me :shock:
    :lol:
  • Tonymufc
    Tonymufc Posts: 1,016
    Nuggs wrote:
    Tonymufc wrote:
    Cycling is safe, its the w@nkers in the tin boxes that are unsafe.
    Is everyone in a tin box a w@nker, or just some of them?

    I was refering to the ones that make our roads unsafe with their inept driving skills. So no not all of them. I like most on here am a motorist (also a truck driver) and try to drive with care and attention. However I do see alot of bad driving every day.
  • shouldbeinbed
    shouldbeinbed Posts: 2,660
    Tonymufc wrote:
    Cycling is safe, its the w@nkers in the tin boxes that are unsafe.

    I resent that remark! I never do that when I'm driving.




    I'd drop my mobile and not be able to gesture out of the window at the same time anymore. :wink:
  • Tonymufc
    Tonymufc Posts: 1,016
    shouldbeinbed wrote:
    Tonymufc wrote:
    Cycling is safe, its the w@nkers in the tin boxes that are unsafe.

    I resent that remark! I never do that when I'm driving.




    I'd drop my mobile and not be able to gesture out of the window at the same time anymore. :wink:

    :lol:
  • mattbass789
    mattbass789 Posts: 355
    I think generally cycling isnt dangerous or a risk. i had injury after little niggling injury playing rugby, dont get that with cycling but when things go wrong with cycling things tend to go very wrong, and 9 times out of ten someone ends up in hospital.

    I look at rugby being little and often, cycling as few and far between but when it happens its bad. I came off my bike once this summer, in 1000miles of riding, and ended up in hospital for the night. and narrowly missed breaking my neck. played rugby for 8 years up to county level the worst ive ever seen was a compound fracture that some lad did to himself diving for a try...
    “If you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on.”

    @mattbeedham
  • nasahapley
    nasahapley Posts: 717
    30 second's googling turned up this: http://www.dft.gov.uk/adobepdf/162469/221412/221549/227755/328843/pedalcyclistfsheet07.pdf, which is a mine of information on cycling accidents.

    On a per km basis, you're slightly less likely to be killed as a cyclist than as a pedestrian, about 50% more likely to be seriously injured, and roughly twice as likely to be slightly injured. 'Slightly injured' accidents outnumber KSI's by about six to one, all going on 2006 data. The report says that cycling may be a relatively risky form of travel, but the risks are still very low. So there you have it :)

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