Quote:
Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse
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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You make some good points (especially if the cyclist is still strapped into their clips), but what I was thinking about is that a cyclist is usually wearing a helmet at least and usually is aware of the collision before the pedestrian and thus has a split second to try to protect themselves. The force of impact is the same for both (as indicated in your p=mv formula) but if that impact is made with a part of the bike, such as the front wheel, different things can happen, such as higher stress on the pedestrian, due to the force being delivered by an object with a smaller contact area, which will probably take them out by the legs as well. If a cyclist's head (with helmet) hits a pedestrian's head, we all know who will come out on the top of that one.
Regardless... collisions are bad, people get hurt. I'm just saying that, if cyclists dismount when coming to a pedestrian area and walk their bikes to the bike rack, it's all good. But we both know the temptation to ride all the way over there is just too great for some people. That would be my concern.
Thanks for the reading suggestion, I'll give it a look when I get a chance.
When I used to ride a lot, as soon as I was on the street I considered myself a motor vehicle. I constantly looked around me and did lots of shoulder checks to see what was coming up to me. I stopped for pedestrians and red lights. I gave hand signals when I was going to make a turn, and I made a conscious effort to try to stay out of vehicles' blind spots as I knew blind spots are an accident waiting to happen. I wasn't overly concerned about my 'rights' when riding, I just did what I had to do to arrive at my destination in one piece. I guess also striving to be the best car driver I could be at the time helped me understand both perspectives. This is why I tend to be a little more pragmatic when it comes to cycling. Regardless of what the ideal world would be for cyclists if *this or that* were planned properly (or if cars weren't allowed on the same roads as cyclists or who or what has the right of way), you still have to cycle in the real world, and things really happen - quickly. Therefore, I consider it the responsibility of each and every car driver, cyclist, and pedestrian to look out for their own skin and everybody else's around them - assume the other guy is going to make a mistake and act accordingly. If you have to ride in a parking lot, then try to have ten sets of eyes to see what's going on around you at all times. If people can do that, then there will be few if any accidents and we're not having this conversation.
This is why when I see cases of stupid, lazy, selfish riding styles I become quite annoyed as I see it as people expecting everybody else to look out for their safety while they don't seem to want to bother.
Oops... off on another tangent... sorry folks.
