As bike riding
increases in Germany,
so do the bike rider
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% more
than in the previous year.”
German AfD
conservative party
parliamentarian
Dr. Dirk Spaniel
told the Parliament:
“Soberly considered,
bicycles are highly
impractical and
dangerous.”
Spaniel, a transportation
expert, says a child
transported on a bicycle
is exposed to much greater
danger than in a car.
“Parents who transport
their children on bicycles
increase the risk of injury
to them 25 times more
than those who transport
them by car.”
Commenting on
the Green Party’s
grand vision of a
bicycle utopia
in Germany,
and the rest
of the world,
Spaniel mocked:
“They want to draw
an ideal fairy tale world
here with bicycles,
which do not exist
in this form.”
The Washington
Post wrote 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”.
The Post cited a 2007
study led by Centers
for Disease Control
and Prevention
epidemiologist
Laurie Beck.
A common
bike accident
is from someone
opening the door
of a parked car,
which is then hit
by a bike rider
( almost happened
to me one time ),
or the bike rider
bailing out to avoid
hitting a person
exiting a parked car.
The serious old problem
of head injuries caused
by bike accidents,
has been reduced by
riders wearing helmets.
There's a new problem:
Auto drivers distracted
by their smart phones
are a menace to bicyclists.
Side roads are safer
than busy streets.
Dedicated bike lanes,
or bike paths, make
biking much safer.