🚀 go-pugleaf

In <65f1bb$mhm@panix2.panix.com> mpoly@panix.com (Michael Polymenakos) says

> In <65evis$r70@panix3.panix.com> fishman@panix.com (Harvey Fishman) writes:
> >situations than bike-riding.  When walking on the sidewalk, I am fairly
> >sure that I am unlikely to be hit by a car; would that it were the same
> >with bicycles.
> 
>  You should not be. You are >20 times more likely to be killed by an
> automobile *on the sidewalk* than by a vehicle. The DOT's figures for
> NYC "off-road" car fatalities (sidewalks, parks, parking lots) are:
> 
>   1989 15
>   1990 19
>   1991 15
>   1992 15
>   1993 8
>   1994 16
> 
>  Bicycle-caused sidewalk fatalities are extremely rare, probably less than
> once a year (I have seen no statistics). The only time I've been hit by a
> moving vehicle (not seriously, tg) was on a sidewalk (woman exiting an NYC
> garage as if though she was on the highway).
> 
> Cheers, 
> Michael
> 
> PS. I am not defending sidewalk biking, which is illegal, dangerous and
> stupid. 

I will reply to this with the same answer that I gave to an email message.

That is deliberate obfuscation of the problem; how about comparing numbers of
injuries?  The point is that the number of bike-riders putting pedestrians at
risk by deliberately flouting the law is obscene.  And the percentage of all
bike-riders that act out this totally asocial behavior is even more disgusting.

Harvey

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