Humans are easy to break.
In cars we are shielded from the outside world through glass, steel, and specifically designed safety mechanisms that pop out and crumple to keep us safe. On a bike you have 2 brakes and a helmet. This disparity is why when the 2 meet out on the road the results are frequently fatal. Over the past decade, cycling deaths have gone up 10%, and even recent year over year data shows similar gains. The exact mechanics of a collision can be sorted into 3 parts: Climax, Collision, and Recovery.
Climax
The climax is the moment right before the accident occurs. This is when a series of choices or incidents lead the biker and the driver to get close to each other. Whether a car door opens in front of the cyclist, or they slam their brakes and a car slides into them, these are the split seconds that determine how each party will emerge.
Collision
The collision is the moment of impact, when metal and flesh come together. This can be enough to kill a cyclist instantly from their neck snapping under the pressure. Even if they are not killed on impact, the force of being hit can send you flying or sliding on the ground. What goes up must come down, and falling hard with your bike is a shortcut to lacerations, broken bones, and even ruptured organs. Sliding on the ground poses its own risks, as this is where facial injuries can occur because the nose/eyes/lips are scraped and burned. Nightmarish degloving is a result of some sliding injuries, where the fatty layers under the skin act as a lubricant and the whole dermis is yanked off your flesh at once. No matter how injured the cyclist is, the likelihood of the driver being hurt is rare.
“the whole dermis is yanked off your flesh at once”
Recovery
The Recovery stage is what happens after the accident is over. For a driver this may mean a police report and the mental health consequences(especially if the accident was serious). According to a NIH study, sudden accidents even without injury can create stress and flashbacks, which can be exacerbated by more driving. Cyclists are left with the shorter end of the stick, and on average require more extensive medical attention for every accident they get in.
“Cyclists are often left with the shorter end of the stick”
John Greenfield
John Greenfield is a Chicago based cycling advocate and blogger who was left partially blind following an accident downstate. Riding along a road shared by cyclists and cars, yet lacking a bike lane, Greenfield was struck by a hunk of piping falling off a truck. Greenfield nor the driver of the truck could have done anything to prevent this accident, yet because they were forced to share the same road one of Greenfield's eyes was permanently damaged. Without the metal supports of a car, or a dedicated lane to pull into Greenfield was nearly killed because he had to share with the cars.
A Sometimes it’s the fault of the road. Poorly designed roadways kills cyclists every year, to the point where a stretch of Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago has been named the deadliest bike lane in the city by Block Club, with over 50 collisions in under 2 years, including 3 fatalities. On either side are the stories of 2 cyclists who were the victim of faulty urban planning
Neill Townsend
In an accident closer to home, in 2012 a cyclist dodged an open door in the bike lane in front of Walter Payton College Prep and fell under the wheels of a semi trailer. It took the police over 90 minutes to extract his mutilated body, and his crushed bike lay a few feet away. That man, Neill Townsend was an avid cyclist who was brutally killed because the city’s bike lane was too narrow to make room for the open door. The same bike lane layout that squeezed Townsend between collision and crushing is the set up many of our students ride through every day.