Cycling: Are Cars Your Biggest Worry?

I was just browsing this article from the Toronto Star that contains some statistics on cycling injuries.

This part stood out:

Only about one in four of the overall cycling-related hospitalizations involved a collision with a motor vehicle


“For three out of four, something else is going on. It could be just a crash on a trail or a collision with another cyclist or a pedestrian,” Webster said.

Personally, I've only been in the hospital once for a cycling-related incident, and it was when I was hit by a truck... but some of my other crashes:

• Hit an off-leash dog on a trail, went flying over the handlebars - bruised ribs
• On two different occasions, my friend and I managed to misread each others intentions while on our road bikes and wiped each other out
• Multiple mountain biking spills, some of which were minor bruising, others were pretty bloody painful... my buddy cracked a helmet once on an endo

Incidents with cars are probably more likely to cause death, but it's worth thinking of other ways to make your ride safer.

Speaking of which - to nobody's surprise, helmets work!

While the numbers point to a positive trend, they also show the message about helmets hasn’t reached some. Of those who still ended up in hospital trauma units because of head injuries, 78 per cent were not wearing helmets.

When I was hit by a truck, it cracked my helmet.  I did not sustain a head injury.

Shouldn't that be enough?  Wear a lid!