Bike Riding May Be Gentle On Climate, But Remains Extremely Dangerous To Health And Life!

Not long ago one (right wing) politician warned before the German Parliament that the bicycle as a means of transport was extremely dangerous – especially for children – and thus ought not be promoted.

“Highly impractical and dangerous”

This of course brought ridicule from the infallible leftists and greens – and yes, even from German centrists who have long become all drugged up on green and “climate protection”.

AfD parliamentarian Dr. Dirk Spaniel told before the Parliament: “Soberly considered, bicycles are highly impractical and dangerous.”

According to Spaniel, a transportation expert, a child transported on a bicycle is exposed to greater danger than in a car. On the Green Party’s vision of a bicycle utopia in Germany and the world, Spaniel mocked: “They want to draw an ideal fairy tale world here with bicycles, which do not exist in this form.”

Twice as likely to die on a bike

As much as the left and greens like to ridicule Dr. Spaniel’s claim, it is backed up by most studies.

For example, the Washington Post here writes that “bikes are the most dangerous way to get around with the exception of motorcycles” and that in the USA, “you’re more than twice as likely to die while riding a bike than riding in a car, per trip” and riding a bicycle is “about 500 times more fatal than riding in a bus”. Here the WaPo cited according a 2007 study led by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist Laurie Beck.

Why so many German politicians are now striving to transport children using such a dangerous mode of transport remains a mystery. It’s one of the side effects of being drugged on green. In their doped minds, addicts dismiss all the risks and amplify the promised benefits.

Bicycle deaths rising in Germany

As bike riding increases in Germany, so do the accidents and fatalities. According to Spiegel, citing the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden: “445 people died in accidents on a bicycle – 63 cyclists more than in the previous year and the highest number since 2009.”

“A total of 88,850 cyclists were involved in accidents on German roads in 2018,” Spiegel wrote earlier in 2019.  “That is around 11 percent more than in the previous year.”

25 times higher risk of injury

According to AfD Parliamentarian Dr. Dirk Spaniel: “Parents who transport their children on bicycles increase the risk of injury to them 25 times more than those who transport them by car.”

Time for parents to be responsible for their kids and to stop pretending they can be responsible for the climate.

16 responses to “Bike Riding May Be Gentle On Climate, But Remains Extremely Dangerous To Health And Life!”

  1. Jacques Lemiere

    per km?
    for me the main point is .you cannot simply compare a bicycle to a car…
    it is not about the vehicule it is about policing how much people can move …

  2. John F. Hultquist

    Years ago a friend was riding and a child opened a door and stepped into his path. Rather than hit her, he tipped sideways and slid on the pavement, getting a severe bang on the head and nearly ripping an ear off. The head injury ended his career.
    The child got back in the car, it heading away and the driver apparently not realizing there was a medical emergency in her rear view mirror.

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
    I’ll guess that riding a bike, for most people, is not an option for travel and their daily activities.
    I grew up in a small town in a rural area. We road bikes all the time. At about age 16, we switched to cruising.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruising_(driving)

    1. Zoe Phin

      A friend of my hubby’s had to swerve while on motorcycle because someone opened a car door. He landed on his ass. No serious injury. He rode to work, put ice under his ass and sold his motorcycle that very day.

      https://phzoe.wordpress.com/2020/01/17/precipitable-water-as-temperature-proxy/

  3. Petit_Barde

    This is why I only use a longboard ! 🙂

  4. Curious George

    Biking may be impractical in many places, but isn’t it popular in The Netherlands?

    1. Georg Thomas

      I have not made a scientific study of it on my occasional visits to the Netherlands. My impression is distinctly not that the Dutch use bicycles on distances that are easier and faster to be covered by car. And even on shorter distances they are not disinclined to use the “bromfiet”, vehicles that at first sight look like bicycles but turn out to be motorised.

      Incidentally, search the Internet and you will find articles that challenge the idea that bicycles are significantly better in terms of CO2 emissions.

  5. Murray Snyder

    While bicycling across Canada and US I met many cyclists – two of which have now died in cycling accidents. One was hit by an RV and another was riding without a helmet and fell, hitting her head on a rock. Both were very experienced cyclists.

  6. drumphish

    China has graveyards of discarded bicycles. Plenty of bicycles go unused in China.

    The Chinese don’t want to ride bicycles, obviously, they want to ride in cars, buses, trains, planes, any other mode of transportation other than bicycles. A rickshaw will make you some money.

    When you are eight miles from town and the bar has more beer than you do, you don’t ride a bicycle, you drive the pickup truck to go buy your beer.

    The high temp today was -5°F, not going to ride a bike today.

    I rode my bicycle for 55 mile ride 50 years ago now, didn’t have flat tire, so I arrived at my destination 5.5 hours later. That was the last time a bike ride was more than a mile or so.

  7. Michael Lewis

    This is irresponsible fear-mongering! All studies clearly demonstrate that bicycling is far safer than driving an automobile.

    Using such tactics to vilify climate change proponents is unnecessary and casts a poor light on this blog and its authors.

    I have been a daily bicyclists in Nebraska, Wyoming, Alaska, New Mexico and California, bicycling for more than 60 years, and I have never had an accident nor an injury, no do I know any bicycling campadres who have.

    Stick to climate change and other topics you know something about.

    1. Steve

      You have been lucky.
      My next door neighbour about your age broke his hip with a simple slow speed fall off his bike.
      1 in 3 people die within in a year of breaking a hip … all causes

    2. Georg Thomas

      Show us these studies.

  8. RoHa

    The main danger comes from driving on roads that are filled with motor vehicles. If the Greens have their way, there will only be bikes, and so it will be much safer.

    Unless I still have a car.

  9. James Walter

    http://www.bellboycott.com/cached/www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/health/risks.htm
    Shows it is idiot kids that are at risk, not adults. The older, the lesser the risk (i.e., craziness of the rider)

    https://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2013/08/21/is-cycling-more-dangerous-than-driving/
    Marginally, though the author of the above exaggerates it to “bloody more dangerous”. Look at the figures.

    Moreover, if they would have bike lanes, and exclude the crazies (mainly male – female statistics are much better, the numbers would show biking much safer

  10. Lance

    Aug 22, out of exercise (typically do 4-6K km/summer), and on my return leg, just about 2 K from home, car coming towards me, turned left, didn’t see me…., mild concussion, separated shoulder, 2 fractured ribs, partial collapsed lung, various cuts and bruises…yes, wasn’t fun at all.
    I’ve had other close encounters, but this one didn’t see me….17 y.o. driver too.

  11. Chris in Calgary

    If you ride a bike intelligently and responsibly, it’s comparatively safe.

    I live too far from work to ride now, but when I rode my bike to work I took bike paths or side roads that rarely intersected with busy streets. I’ve had friends that ride on busy streets nearly get killed by stupid, unobservant drivers, of which there are legion. (Most drivers I encounter on my bike are competent and polite to a fault — but there are still waytoo many stupid ones.)

    So go ahead, ride your bike! Let your kids ride their bikes, too. Just avoid places where they’re exposed to high volumes of traffic, especially fast traffic.

  12. Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #396 | Watts Up With That?

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