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0 pointsrmbyrro3y ago0 comments

If you care, you'd extrapolate the 2 fatalities to how many would be if bikes were adopted in mass as a means of transport in the Washington state (comparably to cars).

The number of bike trips will not increase by 100x only, certainly by orders of magnitude more than that.

Now multiply the 2 fatalities considering 10K, 100K or even more bike trips.

Ebikes can reach and sustain higher velocities much more easily than normal bikes as well. If they were to be adopted in mass, I'd expect crash severity to worsen in general and fatality rates/trip to go up.

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3 comments · 1 top-level

otterley3y ago· 2 in thread

OK, let's take a look at traffic fatalities in Denmark (where bicycles are the primary means of transport in most cities). 25 bicycle fatalities, compared to 64 auto fatalities. It's a much closer margin, but bicycles still win out. The statistics are similar in The Netherlands, where bicycles are equally popular.

Sources:

https://www.dst.dk/en/Statistik/emner/transport/trafikulykke...

https://swov.nl/en/fact-sheet/road-deaths-netherlands

rmbyrroOP3y ago

How many kilometers cycled and driven?

I find it very dubious to assume that cars drive the same amount of kilometers as bikes in the Netherlands...

ehnto3y ago

You can measure mixed risk like this in hours exposed, since the outcome of a car and bike trip in Denmark is the same (you get to work or whatever). That will also be fairer to cars, since I suspect there are more deaths per KM for cars.

I ride my bike just shy of 40kms per commute, the same amount I would drive.

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