Boxer dies in bike/van accident

[eddieo]

Gary Mason the boxer died yesterday morning at the scene of a cycling accident with a van in Wallington south london...be careful out there!

BBC News - Boxer Gary Mason dies in cycling collision in London

 

[Old Timer]

Gary Mason the boxer died yesterday morning at the scene of a cycling accident with a van in Wallington south london...be careful out there!

BBC News - Boxer Gary Mason dies in cycling collision in London

Yeh, was watching that on TV. strange life aint it, he spends all that time getting knocked around in the ring and survives and then some blind white van man turns his lights off.

 

[rustic]

R.I.P Gary. I have fond memories of him from the Bruno era in the 1980's.

According to the BBC website:

'Mason is the first person to die in a cycling incident in London in 2011, according to Transport for London'

I found that rather an odd statement given it was only the 6th January, but on reflection I see that it is merely a statement of fact.

 

[schoe]

Very sad indeed I am sorry for all the loved ones he leaves behind and for his friends, he was still relatively young.

After reading about this I had a look on the web to try to find the chance of being hurt or killed in a bike accident and was not reassured by what I found I have copy and pasted these stats from one of the websites I found.

A way of assessing the risk involved with cycling in the UK is to consider (based on the risk per hour of travelling) the length of time one would have to travel to have a one in a million chance of being killed.


By air – 4,300 hours
By car – 10 hours
By pedal cycle – 2 hours and 40 minutes!

 

[Mussels]

Yeh, was watching that on TV. strange life aint it, he spends all that time getting knocked around in the ring and survives and then some blind white van man turns his lights off.

Did it say it was the van driver's fault?

 

[Scimitar]

The van driver's been charged with careless driving, as far as I know.

 

[lectureral]

The van driver was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving - innocent until proven guilty, I suppose, but the evidence is clearly there that it was his negligence which caused the accident.

 

[Mussels]

The van driver was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving - innocent until proven guilty, I suppose, but the evidence is clearly there that it was his negligence which caused the accident.

The arrest is standard procedure no matter what the evidence is, I didn't see anything in that article to suggest it was the van drivers fault.

 

[overlander]

But the original point is still valid regardless of blame. In our quest to be Green/Save money/Lose weight we cycle on the public road. Does the danger of road use outweigh the benefits and are we just being silly??

 

[eddieo]

most of the time I feel fairly OK in traffic in London. when we go away in the camper speeds on country roads can be a bit intimidating, but there is no getting a way from the fact as a cyclist you are very vulnerable! and that what would be a bump and an insurance hassle in a car can mean insistent death on a bike........

 

[overlander]

Yes eddieo we are extremely vulnerable more so than any road user i would say. I do not know if i would feel different had i not had 20 + years experience riding motorcycles as 90% of the road awareness skills transfer. But i do feel more vulnerable on the bike, but do the benefits outweigh this apparent risk. In my case yes as i need to lose weight and going to the gym is not an option with a young family it really has to be integrated into my daily routine.

 

[Mussels]

Yes eddieo we are extremely vulnerable more so than any road user i would say. I do not know if i would feel different had i not had 20 + years experience riding motorcycles as 90% of the road awareness skills transfer. But i do feel more vulnerable on the bike, but do the benefits outweigh this apparent risk. In my case yes as i need to lose weight and going to the gym is not an option with a young family it really has to be integrated into my daily routine.

It depends where you ride I guess, in London the risk of death is pretty low and easy to avoid if you know how. If I rode on fast and narrow lanes I might not be so happy about the risk.

 

[flecc]

in London the risk of death is pretty low

The last year that I saw the number of deaths (13), it worked out at 1 death per 18 million cycling commuter trips, either riding in or riding home.

So on average you'd need over 1500 whole working lifetimes of riding in and out to reach your turn. That's pretty safe.
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