woman cyclists more likely to have accidents?

[sunnyjim]

I'll probably jinx myself with this post but in my cycling group, the 3 most recent falls have been me having a clipless moment (bruised and bleeding knee), one guy not securing his pannier properly and hitting the tarmac with a thud when it got caught in his rear wheel (lucky to walk away with nothing worse than bruises and aching muscles) and another bloke going too fast downhill and ending up sitting on his head (severe concussion and a week in hospital).

At least you manage to keep your crinoline out of the spokes.
<ducks>

 

[jefmcg]

There's a lot of confirmation bias in peoples observation. I once crossed north across Blackfriars Bridge, to turn right, but couldn't get into the ASL as the filter lane was jammed with idiots not moving over. I made some complaining noise and a fellow (male) cyclist says "there's nothing to be afraid of", I said "I'm not afraid", he responded "you'll be fine".

I really wasn't afraid. At the time I was going through Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly Circus, Hammersmith Gyratory and Chiswick Roundabout 6 to 10 times a week. (I've found a better route now) That smug <person> probably went away thinking he'd calmed a nervous women's nerves and for all I know posted onto some forum about it.

Oh, but I was down the left side of a vehicle where I wasn't as safe. But that was because of all the men who don't know how to use an ASL

 

[summerdays]

In my opinion I think that women do tend to hug the gutter a little more (though not exclusively), and that they are less assertive on the road. In-experience tends to leave you believing that it is the safer place to ride (speaking as one who started in the gutter herself ).

I don't feel that I now have more near misses than men, and I hope I'm reasonably cautious, though I would be the first to admit that I do make mistakes but that I now have the experience and skills (and luck) to get me out of them so far.

 

[Globalti]

Unfortunately I cover far more miles behind a wheel than I do on a bike. Being a cyclist myself I am very aware of others on two wheels and quite a keen observer. For me as a driver, it's all about body language and behaviour; of the cyclists I see actually riding on the road - not on the pavement - the majority are men and most of those are riding quite fast and asserting their position in the traffic. They are often wearing bright clothing, they usually look well set up and their attitude comes across clearly as "I'm here!"

However at a ratio of about 10 men to 1 woman I sometimes see women riding: they are seldom well equipped, seldom riding what you'd call decent bikes, often with the saddle at the wrong height and almost always hugging the kerb, nipping on and off the pavement, riding without conviction and generally looking intimidated by the traffic. They just don't look serious about their cycling; they look as if they've borrowed their friend's bike to nip to the town. To be fair I don't think most of them are regular commuters like the men I see every day. I treat them in the same way as I do the men but can understand why some drivers would view them as not a serious contender for road space.

Note for north Manchester folk: yesterday I did see Manchester's obsessive cycling woman; haven't seen her for about 18 months so it's good to know she's still on the road.

 

[lordloveaduck]

[QUOTE 1965740, member: 9609"]I agree with all of that, however I also largely agree with that professor from Bath who found the more vulnerable you look the more space you get. .[/quote]

So i should dress like Bambi or have a guide dog running beside me.

 

[lordloveaduck]

Jeez talk about stereotyping. Next it will be mandatory to wear pastel colors and have a wicker basket.

 

[Sandra6]

I find that I get more respect on the road if I'm on my "proper" bike, dressed like a cyclist than if I'm tootling around on the step through with my basket.
Don't know if that's due to their perception of me or the fact I go faster on the real bike.

 

[Norm]

Personally I'm a lot more cautious than most of the blokes I know who cycle, but I'm also more "rule" aware, I don't pavement hop and I ride in primary and signal clearly.
I also seem to have more "incidents" than anyone else, all of them misses though.

As mentioned above, I think it depends on the line between cautious and assertive. Cautious can be good but not if mixed with hesitant. Giving clear signals and riding in a position which makes you obvious to other users helps them to know what you intend. However, signalling and taking primary are also not things which come easily to the fearful and the hesitant. IMO, at least.

 

[dellzeqq]

It is the case that, proportionally, more women are killed than men in London, and the received wisdom is that, taken as an average, are less assertive than men, and, in consequence, are more likely to be caught by overtaking vehicles.

My observation, which is pretty much confined to London, but, nonetheless, is keen in the sense that I have reasons to think about this a lot, is that women are less assertive, and are more likely to be caught on the left hand side of the road. Having said that....the aggression levelled at women by male drivers is far greater than that levelled at men.

 

[Psycolist]

The origonal thread, women v men, reminded me of an observation made in an article I read some months ago. The assertion was that car drivers look at helmeted cyclists as being 'better' than thier bareheaded counterparts and therefore better able to deal with close encounters. In other words, if you wear a helmet, you are more likely to get cut up or cut off by car drivers because they think that you would be better able to deal with it, as opposed to an un-helmeted cyclist. Now as a cyclist, I have noticed that I assume that properly equiped riders will hold a straight and true line when I overtake,( yeah coz that happens) and expect them to give proper and correct signals when turning , slowing or pulling out. Whereas, Miss Daisy in her voluminous skirt flapping in the wind,or Mr Dozy on his ill fitting MTB & earphones plugged into his iPod, is given extra room, and no surprise at wobbles or un signalled actions SO is there something to this ? Your thoughts

 

[Psycolist]

So i should dress like Bambi or have a guide dog running beside me.

I think thats wot I was saying in my previous post on this thread

 

[theclaud]

It's an odd one, this. The usual shortcomings of anecdote and observation apply, whilst the evidence is simultaneously striking and inconclusive. That we have a culture that rewards assertiveness in men and punishes it in women seems obvious, and it is a small leap from this observation to conclude that, in general, we produce men who tend to be more assertive than their female counterparts. I have my own stock of anecdotes from teaching cycling to adult beginners that would support this in a cycling context. But then it's a commonly-held view that cycling on the road is an unusually dangerous activity, and one might therefore expect that women who do it regularly are a self-selecting sample of the more adventurous and assertive sort. Take a workplace analogy - it would be odd to argue, with everything we know, that women in managerial roles are less assertive than their male counterparts - in fact we might expect them to be (if anything) more assertive, because they have more barriers to overcome than their male equivalents, and are judged more harshly on their perceived weaknesses.

I'm just thinking aloud, and not really getting anywhere near a conclusion, but I think DZ might have hit obliquely on something when he mentioned aggression. I don't experience an enormous amount of unrestrained aggression on the roads, but there's a certain undercurrent of hostility, or perhaps just resentment, that surfaces often enough to be of concern. Going back to my first point, people find assertiveness in women threatening when the same trait in men would go unnoticed. I'm probably at the more assertive end of the scale of cyclists of both sexes, and I think that this mostly gives me an advantage in traffic. But just now and again I have a hunch that a driver is seriously pissed off not just because a cyclist has passed him, but because a woman has passed him. The two things are so ridiculously intertwined as to be inseparable, but we might just be talking about factors that combine to produce a flashpoint.

 

[Globalti]

Mixed up with all of this is the idea that if you make drivers feel insecure they will drive more carefully - streets blighted by speeders have removed all road paint, pavements and traffic furniture and allowed pedestrians and vehicles to mix, with the surprising result that drivers become cautious and slow right down. So maybe there's something in the idea that a competent-looking cyclist encourages drivers to pass more closely.

 

[summerdays]

I have been known to do a deliberate wobble - which I think does get you some more room if only temporarily.

 

[kiwi-Sal]

Having confidence - thats what its all about. I assert myself like I 'belong' on the road. I travel at speed and so far to date....no problems.