Whenever media, politicians, people or even the police complain about dangerous cyclists, with their reckless driving, without a helmet, without a light, please remember it is a distraction. They don't want you to know the truth, because they love their cars more than the neighbors children.
I kindly ask you to remind them of this table whenever the topic comes up. For example: 'yes, cyclists should have a light to reduce danger, but remember that the car is the bigger danger by far. Always. And whenever we ignore that, we accept the loss of lives.' This is not whataboutism, because regarding safety, the numbers clearly show which culprit to urgently address first.
Even if the car was more dangerous in the past and safety regulations have helped: these numbers are from 2022. If you feel safer driving in a car, instead of walking or cycling: look for the deaths for car-on-car collisions.
There is no way around this: if we have that many cars driving fast, we will have that many deaths.
Thank you!
Sources:
similar matrix but for cities only
[academic] [image]
At least here are some numbers https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File%3ATravel_distance_per_person_per_day_by_main_travel_mode_for_urban_mobility_on_all_days_%28%25%29_v3.png
Travel distance per person per day by main travel mode for urban
But then obviously pedestrians or cyclists don't compare in distance by far. Cars drive autobahns and whatnot. There should be a statistic for daily use instead. Like: ride the bike to work versus drive the car to work versus take the train to work, etc. How many people die?