A cyclist tends to be a lot more badly hurt in a collision with a motor vehicle than a pedestrian gets in a collision with a cyclist. In fact I would dispute the claim that a pedestrian is usually more seriously injured in a bike/pedestrian collision. The cyclist may be moving faster, but falling from the bike tends to be a greater risk than falling when standing so that element also affects things. Besides, in an entrance area, the bikes aren't going to be moving at street speed. And an elderly person or young child could be injured by a collision with a fast moving pedestrian too so that's not anything bike specific.
The fact is, in terms of momentum (which is simply mass times speed) a cyclist is much closer to pedestrianhood than to motoristhood. And it's the momentum that really creates the most danger. A cyclist's weight isn't much greater than that of the person without the bike (the weight of the bike is often no greater than the difference between the average man and the average woman.)
If you haven't already, I'd recommend reading the book Cycle Space by Steven Fleming. It discusses these issues (and many others) in great depths and really expands on why the "motorvehicleization" movement regarding bikes is not only wrong headed, but also extremely damaging to the efforts to increase public safety and encourage greater active transportation participation.
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw
Don't ask people not to debate a topic. Just stop making debatable assertions. Problem solved.
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