A few days in the past, fellow blogger Tony posted this: Most types of train are overwhelmingly secure – however don’t ignore the risks. Thanks, Tony. It’s based mostly on an attention-grabbing examine not too long ago revealed within the journal Damage Prevention [1]. By analyzing accident statistics in England and Wales within the interval 2012-2017, they got here up with harm charges for varied exercise-related actions. Biking had an harm price of two.8 per 100,000 outings, whereas strolling had 0.03 per 100,000, and health actions (e.g. fitness center participation) had 0.21 per 100,000. All of those are comparatively low, I’m solely more likely to get injured about as soon as each 33,000 rides, and it may be argued that the well being advantages of the exercise outweigh the harm threat. However observe that biking had 100 occasions the harm price of strolling. So it is smart to do no matter potential to reduce the dangers. That is very true in my case, as within the few years I’ve been scripting this log, I’ve accrued the train advantages of many hours of exercise. However I’ve additionally: damaged a collarbone in a motorbike crash, ripped my rotator cuff in a mountaineering fall, and needed to go to the hospital for a head trauma (fortunately not too extreme).

For biking, listed here are some apparent security measures:

1. Accident threat increased at night time than in the course of the day, so if potential keep away from driving at night time, in any other case have good lighting and vivid reflective clothes.
2. Accident threat is increased at busy roads on rush hour. Using at these occasions could also be unavoidable for bike commuting, nevertheless it helps to seek out alternate routes on quieter roads. Again within the late Seventies I used to be commuting from Mountain View Ca to Palo Alto. Palo Alto is now thought-about a bike-friendly metropolis however was significantly much less so again then. I keep in mind my route went midway on Central Expressway, which had a pleasant bike lane, however then changed into Alma Ave, a busy road with no bike lane and a slim shoulder. I rapidly mapped out a route that prevented Alma Ave through the use of quieter streets, in any other case I may not be right here to write down this weblog.

I used to be already doing measures like these and others like holding my bike well-maintained. My current accident triggered me to rethink what I might need completed in a different way, and I got here up with: Use fatter tires. The bike I crashed on is taken into account a “gravel bike” and will have been sure-footed on the street I used to be on. It got here with 32 mm huge tires, and after they wore out I changed them with 25 mm to be quicker. Security first! I’ll be placing 32s again on the bike quickly. I’ve additionally at all times prided myself on being a “fearless descender”. Because the crash occurred on a downhill flip, I believe it’s time to slightly take satisfaction in being a “cautious descender”.

References

1. Davies M, Lawrence T, Edwards A, et al, “Sport-related main trauma incidence in younger folks and adults in England and Wales: a nationwide registry-based examine”, Damage Prevention Revealed On-line First: 24 October 2023. doi: 10.1136/ip-2023-044887.