Safety

At the start of the North Shore Century last Sunday, right about here, the group I was riding with was passed by a black Dodge Stratus. Crossing over the double yellow line, accelerating to over 40 MPH and nearly taking out an oncoming SUV before swerving back to the right lane just ahead of the paceline, it was an unnerving start to the day.

That experience, coupled with the events of the last few days, got me wondering about the relative safety of bicycle riding vs. other activities and just life in general. A little net surfing and I came across this interesting chart. The data is from 2003 and is the lifetime odds of one's dying from the specific activity as reported by the NSC.

Of course these are averages and does not account for those of us who ride 6000 miles per year or drive like that moron in the Stratus.