Citation

Clinch P. J. R. Soc. Med. 2007; 100(1): 8.

Comment On:

J R Soc Med. 2006; 99(8):402-5

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Royal Society of Medicine)

DOI

10.1258/jrsm.100.1.8-a

PMID

17197676

PMCID

PMC1761680

Abstract

I have recently read "Walking and cycling transport safety: an analysis of child road deaths" by Sonkin et al. [J R Soc Med. 2006; 99(8):402-5] and wish to comment as follows:

Sonkin et al. describe walking and cycling as 'poor relations in terms of transport safety', though if one comes off the roads and factors in trains and planes then cars would look rather poor, but this does not seem to affect the keenness with which cars are used. The fact is that cars are perceived to be safe 'enough', and if one looks at accidents per unit time rather than per unit distance then a comparable degree of safety to cars can be found for cycling and walking over a lifetime, with 0.55 deaths per 10 million miles accounting for very few deaths in a lifetime of cycling (even keen adults using cycles for everyday transport will typically travel much less than 5000 miles per year).

The conclusion that 'more needs to be done' is something that will, inevitably, always be true of transport safety for all modalities, but a first step is realising the true degree of danger. In the UK (and other countries where there is no longer a culture of walking or cycling for transport) the perception that walking and especially cycling is uncommonly dangerous compared to other day-to-day activities is a perception, not a fact.

Language: en