Don't commute it will hospitalise you

[vorsprung]

[Regulator]

I read the related article.  There is a bit of a flaw in the study...

[ian]

I did my own study on the people falling off their bikes. People who don't ride bikes have a falling off rate of 0. Therefore you are more likely to fall off a bike if you ride one.

Love the visual abstracts though!

[IanN]

Presumably, if you take walkers out of the non-cyclist cohort, the benefit for cardiovascular / cancer looks rather better

Broken clavicle vs MI...     apples vs oranges

[ian]

Really though, methodological criticisms aside, the point about safer infrastructure is key.

[Wanlock Dod]

... the point about safer infrastructure is key.

Mostly this, although it seems to be a bit of an oversight not to have included the number of diabetes diagnoses that would have been avoided if 1000 people cycled to work, especially in a medical journal (what kind of muppets are doing their peer reviews)

[perpetual dan]

I've been to hospital once for a cycle commuting injury. I hit a pedal hard with my shin and it kept bleeding. I've still got the scar.
I'd take that over cancer, heart attack and death many times over.
(Only read the graphic, hence the shallow reply.)

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[yoav]

I think I’ll take the reduced number of cancers, heart attacked and deaths any day.

[ian]

I think I’ll take the reduced number of cancers, heart attacked and deaths any day.

I think that's effectively what they say, along with cycling ought to be made safer, then there would only be benefits.

Plus a lot more people would be able to do it.

[andyoxon]

What do people think about that study -  cycling & risk of hospitalisation, in the light of coronavirus being a massive burden on the NHS, resources stretched beyond breaking point?

I commuted into today by bike, really nice morning.   

[ian]

In the longer term, the toll of 'lifestyle' afflictions will greatly outweigh coronavirus.

Plus a healthier population is better placed to survive diseases like this (the odds of mortality and severe complications from Covid-19, for instance, are significantly higher if you have cardiovascular issues, diabetes, etc.)

[andyoxon]

Indeed. I was thinking about short term 'risk of hospitalisation event' when cycling, and CV19 battered hospitals.   e.g. (anecdote to follow) Friend out for a ride last week, on country road was hit by a car emerging from a junction; cue trip to A&E for scan - some concussion. So fortunately not too bad.

[Greenbank]

Indeed. I was thinking about short term 'risk of hospitalisation event' when cycling, and CV19 battered hospitals.   e.g. (anecdote to follow) Friend out for a ride last week, on country road was hit by a car emerging from a junction; cue trip to A&E for scan - some concussion. So fortunately not too bad.

Dr Hutch got knocked off last week: https://twitter.com/Doctor_Hutch/status/1236363436126351362

Even if cycle commuting was twice as dangerous many people would still do it (myself included). It's not about being healthier/etc, it's just easier and nicer than the alternatives for many people.

[ian]

The problem is that many people don't do it. Outside of London, Cambridge and a minority of other places, cycling to work is a non-event.

And of course, it's not just the actual danger, it's the perception. No one is really comfortable cycling down a road full of close-passing vehicles at 40mph, which is pretty much what cycling to work would entail for most people.

[Kim]

And of course, it's not just the actual danger, it's the perception. No one is really comfortable cycling down a road full of close-passing vehicles at 40mph, which is pretty much what cycling to work would entail for most people.

I've noticed that non-cyclists assume they'd have to cycle the roue they'd currently drive.  Often it's entirely possible to substitute that road full of close-passing vehicles at 40mph for a road with parked cars on both sides and drivers bullying their way to the gaps between the speed cushions...

[ian]

Yes, there's that. Often the same roads as are 'recommended' for cyclists. Have fun, meet your local angry rat-runners.

[Kim]

And of course there's sometimes the Sustrans cyclocross option.  For anyone who needed reassuring that cycling was slow, muddy and carries a significant risk of falling off or being mauled by dogs.

(This is on topic, as the only time I required hospital treatment following a cycling injury was due to the above.)

[ian]

I have a section of the A22 to navigate to get to the station in the morning. The alternative is a muddy path in the park (on a Brompton, I don't think) followed by a challenging uphill climb (at the other end, to avoid a nasty roundabout, you have to cycle or push the wrong way up two one-way streets while dodging car drivers who are late to drop someone off for their train).

So it's that or close passing cars and lorries on a busy A-road.

There is another chap with a Brompton in the area (and there's another who goes to a different station), and someone turns up with Dahon at the station. That's it, the cycling community here is so small we all know each other.

[psyclist]

I feel quite lucky that 2/3 of my cycle commute into London is off-road, down the Lea Valley cycle path alongside the River Lea. The final bit mixes quiet side roads, parks and just two sections where buses are around. My biggest issue is the bike being permanently dirty from the path, but that's a small price to pay to be away from vehicles for so long.

[Jurek]

I'm equally lucky in as much as my cycle commute (when I do it) is just shy of 15 miles of which ~ 8 miles is traffic-free / traffic-lite / parks / riverside path.
That was until someone thought it'd be a good idea to re-locate my workplace a further 8 miles north, just adjacent to the M25.
Those last 8 miles are utter shite for cycling along.
Gah!

[Kim]

I feel quite lucky that 2/3 of my cycle commute into London is off-road, down the Lea Valley cycle path alongside the River Lea. The final bit mixes quiet side roads, parks and just two sections where buses are around. My biggest issue is the bike being permanently dirty from the path, but that's a small price to pay to be away from vehicles for so long.

That route is one of the all-too-rare examples of a traffic-free route that's actually quicker and easier than the road.  You roll slightly slower on the gravel, but there's no start-stop.   

[ian]

Mine is a bit universally horrible tbh, there's either a straight run down the A23 (Brixton, Streatham, Norbury, Croydon) which isn't quite as bad as it sounds, but the exhaust fumes can be unpleasant. Alternatively, I can follow CS7 down to Tooting and then across Mitcham Common. In theory that ought to be sound, but despite the CS7 moniker, it's really no better than the A23 and adds a couple of additional kilometres and throws in the Lombard Circus of Death. The most pleasant route is down Walworth Road and through Dulwich and over Crystal Palace hill and down the other side. The last bit features the A22 again for added yuk points and a hill that features the sort of potholes you can disappear down and not be found again. In summer though, I wander up over Kenley Airfield or the North Downs. Or sometimes take the Wandle Trail for a more leisurely and mostly traffic-free pootle. Options are better with the long days.

I guess I'm an 'extreme' commuter, but the majority of streets and roads I encounter are reminders of why cycling will never be a popular method of transport.

[joy of essex]

The article is infrastructurist propaganda.

[trekker12]

And of course, it's not just the actual danger, it's the perception. No one is really comfortable cycling down a road full of close-passing vehicles at 40mph, which is pretty much what cycling to work would entail for most people.

I've noticed that non-cyclists assume they'd have to cycle the roue they'd currently drive.  Often it's entirely possible to substitute that road full of close-passing vehicles at 40mph for a road with parked cars on both sides and drivers bullying their way to the gaps between the speed cushions...

Which explains (I assume) the bloke cycling up the dual carriageway A12 the other day, I slowed to pass him without close passing which meant waiting for MR ANGRY to pass me in the right hand lane and creating MR ANGRY 2 behind me. Bloke on bike rather oblivious to my predicament indicated right, then moved into right hand lane to turn at the roundabout. I tucked in behind him for his protection and he merrily carried on. There's a perfectly decent bit of old closed single carriageway A12 behind the hedge for cycling on, he simply had no need to be there.

My commute is slightly unusual in that it is from town into country in rural Suffolk (I live in central Ipswich). The rat runs are horrible on 'quiet' roads, what cycle paths exist are terrible in design and quality and no one gives a shit. If I ride the 15 mile direct route it's generally miserable but there is considerable joy to be found on some of the rural routes although it increases my ride to 18 miles I can actually forget it's a commute and call it a bike ride but I can't go the direct route for that.

[ian]

Cyclists don't automatically know there's a safe and/or better alternative though, especially if you're unfamiliar with the area. (Nor for that matter is twatty driving the fault of the cyclist, that's just blaming the victim as ever.)

The article is infrastructurist propaganda.

Come on, if you're going to troll, at least make some effort.