Cars and bikes are a bad solution to long commutes. The best solution is short commutes or WFH. In that situation bikes are fine and even cars are less bad.
> Cars and bikes are a bad solution to long commutes
Yes, exactly.
Long commutes are the problem.
> The best solution is short commutes or WFH. In that situation bikes are fine and even cars are less bad
Except for traffic jams, I agree.
The more time people spend on the road, the more accidents are going to happen.
It's true for cars, bikes, mopeds, motorbikes, but not for walking or using the subway.
So every time a person says "we should all be cyclist" is only expressing an opinion, not a fact!
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For those who want some crude numbers.
Stop here if not interested
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An e-bike that goes 20-25mph in a park full of people, it's actually more dangerous than a moped at the same speed, also because mopeds don't access to pedestrian areas usually.
In my country every year a report on pedestrian accidents is released.
The most recent issue is about year 2019, that says:
- 352 bikes were in accidents involving a pedestrian, they killed one and injured 366 of them.
- 325 mopeds in the same period killed no one, injured 271.
- 1,831 motorbikes killed 26 people and injured 2,131
But there are 7 million motorbikes, going around every day, while bikes are only 1.5 million and most of them aren't used daily.
E-bikes are basically mopeds, but are statistically more dangerous than mopeds for pedestrian and have a death rate that's only 20% of the deaths by motorbikes, that are much heavier (15x) and can run a lot faster (10x).
If there were as many bikes as motorbikes (4.6x) it's possible to predict at least 352 * ( 7 / 1.5) = 5 deaths and 1,685 injured people.
Add that a safe +20% If they traveled for as long as motorbikes (5 days a week instead of 1 or 2), and you get 2.022 injured and 6 deaths, worrisome numbers if you ask me.
Also, due to COVID-19 and people ordering delivery more than ever (usually delivered by bike), Milan have seen an increment on bike accidents of 30% year on year, in the face of only a 7% increase of traveled distances.
In this case it can't even be said it's because of cars, cars could hardly run during the lock downs!
The problem with short commutes is most people are part of what we call a "family". Most have two people with jobs. The shorter the commute the harder it is for both to find a job within range.
WFH is nice for those who can do it, but there are a lot of jobs that cannot be done from home.
