more dangerous - city or country

cantdecide

Obviously, the skill sets are different for each kind of driving but the question is

Which is more dangerous- city driving or country driving

MikeC101

Think it's hard to judge, especially trying to work out which is actually more "dangerous".

For accidents with more than one vehicle involved I'd say the majority of them happen in the city, probably more chance of an accident, but more likely to be a lower speed one.

Country roads, less chance of an accident, but more likely to be higher speed - consider people pulling straight out onto the road because "sure I've been doing it for years, there's no traffic around here".

Single vehicle accidents, coming off on corners, running off the road etc, definitely more likely outside the city area.

Of course, the above are all due to speed limits, amount of traffic, and the riders personal skill. Personally, I really like riding in the city, really keeps me focused on what I'm doing. It's awfully tempting on an empty country road to click into "autopilot" and lose concentration.

So maybe you're more likely to have an accident in the city, but it's more likely to result in minor injury / damage, whereas on country roads, the accident itself will probably be more damaging, if that makes sense?

My personal hatred is roundabouts - a big chunk of Irish drivers don't seem to know how to use them, and lack of indicating (or indicating while you're already changing direction).

Edit: Not to mention, there can be more dodgy drivers / drunks / boy racers shooting around narrow country lanes due to the fact that they know theres less Garda presence. And seeing a bike can really get the boy racers blood up.

jameshayes

I picked country due to the fact that people are heavily restricted when driving in the city (speed, congestion, pedestrians, cyclists etc)

where as when driving in the country side you are more likely to push yourself that little further because the roads are quieter - little knowing that there is a pile of horse sh!t around the corner or a tractor parked up on the side of the road...

Laserface

lol good idea for a poll cantdecide

voted country..as i personally find it more challenging consistently

bladespin

Laserface wrote: »

lol good idea for a poll cantdecide

voted country..as i personally find it more challenging consistently

That's more likely down to your riding style, the more things around you that can hit you or that can step out in front of you the more dangerous it gets IMO.

jameshayes

bladespin wrote: »

That's more likely down to your riding style, the more things around you that can hit you or that can step out in front of you the more dangerous it gets IMO.

sheep, debris, farmers, livestock in general, tractors, trucks needing both sides of the road on certain bends, fallen branches, leaves, roadworks, bad roads due to abnormal weather codititions, harvesters, killer sheep, zobmie sheep, kamakazi sheep (i fuggin hate & dont trust sheep)

Laserface

bladespin wrote: »

That's more likely down to your riding style, the more things around you that can hit you or that can step out in front of you the more dangerous it gets IMO.

thanks but I realise this already..no offence

i wasn't wondering why

there are millions of reasons why i choose country being more dangerous

the main reason is i drive a fat cruiser. and fat cruisers are not great on country roads

Xios

I picked city, i spend a lot of time on both, i find that the city is much more dangerous, as even at slow speeds, there is not a lot of time to react to unpredictable events, because of the volume of traffic and the restricted road size etc.
Country roads have some drawbacks, but i think that the larger space and freedom to change position on the roads well in advance of the obstacle as visibilty is hugely increased (unless of course there's blind corners/tractors/trucks etc.)
Also, the huge increase of insects splashing off your visor is annoyingly distracting.

bladespin

jameshayes wrote: »

sheep, debris, farmers, livestock in general, tractors, trucks needing both sides of the road on certain bends, fallen branches, leaves, roadworks, bad roads due to abnormal weather codititions, harvesters, killer sheep, zobmie sheep, kamakazi sheep (i fuggin hate & dont trust sheep)

Wow, been riding bikes nearly 20 years and haven't come across a sheep on the road yet, must just be lucky lol.

TBH debris, fallen branches???, road works etc aren't all that common on country roads, I ride with enough in reserve to deal with tractors and reide defensively through any unknown areas so shouldn't really be getting caught out by bad roads or sharp corners (rider not road).
Good road skill covers everything you're listing, the same as in the city, my point on it being more dangerous is that you're much more reliant on the other guy in the city.
I don't trust other drivers with my safety, I prefer to be as far away from the next car as possible.

Run_to_da_hills

Worst accidents seem to happen down the country yet they are less frequent.

Getting Tboned at 60mph is obviously going to be more deadly than being hit at doing 35mph in the city. Fortunitally all my spills in the last 30 were city / town base and under 30mph and have walked away from most of them.

alanmc

As some of the other posters have said ....

I think if you get involved in an accident on open roads (not just country roads, but main roads and motorways), 9 times out of 10 you're going to come off worse than if you were involved in a low speed off in the city.

Most motorcycle fatalities are on open roads, to my knowledge anyway. You hear the odd report like the 19 yr old lad who collided with a parked car somewhere in Tallaght a few months back (RIP), but I think these are exceptional cases.

If I was asked which is more dangerous, I simply couldn't answer.

If I was asked which I feel more comfortable in, I'd have to say open-road riding. I feel I have more time to react, more time to plan and above all more time to enjoy biking.

Run_to_da_hills

alanmc wrote: »

Most motorcycle fatalities are on open roads, to my knowledge anyway. You hear the odd report like the 19 yr old lad who collided with a parked car somewhere in Tallaght a few months back (RIP), but I think these are exceptional cases.

A guy from my former school.hit a skip on a Honda 50 and died, prob no more than 30mph.

alanmc

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

A guy from my former school.hit a skip on a Honda 50 and died, prob no more than 30mph.

Jaysus! :eek:

Paparazzo

Country I think. I most of the motorcycle deaths you read about in the papers seem to be in the country.

frodi

More likely to have a crash in town.

More likely to have a serious crash in the country.

Quantity v quality.

cantdecide

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

A guy from my former school.hit a skip on a Honda 50 and died, prob no more than 30mph.

Actually, my uncle was an absolute mad man and had several BIG crashes in his twenties that he walked away from. Having had some serious machines, the closest to death he got was on a Honda 70 on the lower road in Cork.

Fiskar

City ................. by a country yard.

Too many jaywalkers, too many chancers with headphones, too many cyclists with headphones who simply will not obey traffic lights or yellow boxes.

Have put up 95 K miles in 7 years so I know my favorite and safest roads.

Paparazzo

Fiskar wrote: »

City ................. by a country yard.

Too many jaywalkers, too many chancers with headphones, too many cyclists with headphones who simply will not obey traffic lights or yellow boxes.

Have put up 95 K miles in 7 years so I know my favorite and safest roads.

You'll probably be ok if you hit any of them though.

Fiskar

Paparazzo wrote: »

You'll probably be ok if you hit any of them though.

I think they are bigger than sheep!

smartarse2007

personally i voted for the city as being a commuter myself and living in the country i would have to say with more cars, cyclists and pedestrians on the roads in town theres a way way way higher chance of being involved in an accident

however if you drive recklessly on unfamiliar country roads well theres a huge chance of an accident there

any road is dangerous but once you drive with care, watch out for the idiots (especially in the city) and remember be ready for surprizes on those lovely twisty and windy roads which we all love

BigBenRoeth

The city in terms of the number of accidents would be worse in that respect but in terms of severity I think ye could say country is a good bit worse

paulieeye

country...more chance of a crash in the city (had 2 myself) but more dangerous in the country (especially in places with ****e roads and higher speed limit)

LookBehindYou

bladespin wrote: »

Wow, been riding bikes nearly 20 years and haven't come across a sheep on the road yet, must just be lucky lol.

TBH debris, fallen branches???, road works etc aren't all that common on country roads, I ride with enough in reserve to deal with tractors and reide defensively through any unknown areas so shouldn't really be getting caught out by bad roads or sharp corners (rider not road).
Good road skill covers everything you're listing, the same as in the city, my point on it being more dangerous is that you're much more reliant on the other guy in the city.
I don't trust other drivers with my safety, I prefer to be as far away from the next car as possible.

You must have never rode yer bike in Kildare or wicklow, or even done the Gap, cos you would have seen lots of sheep on the road.
As for road debris, i disagree with you there, there is always debris on country roads,also mud, cow****, loose stones especially on the line that is best to take. I could not say that i dont get a few frights every day while out on my bike, and i am an experienced rider. I learn something new every day.

Alkers

Tough choice but would be city for me, purely for the amount of cages you've to deal with on a daily basis. Pretty interesting split in the results. Would most motorways be counted as country?

bladespin

LookBehindYou wrote: »

You must have never rode yer bike in Kildare or wicklow, or even done the Gap, cos you would have seen lots of sheep on the road.
As for road debris, i disagree with you there, there is always debris on country roads,also mud, cow****, loose stones especially on the line that is best to take. I could not say that i dont get a few frights every day while out on my bike, and i am an experienced rider. I learn something new every day.

Lol, I've been all over the country and have encountered the odd sheep by the road, but not on any main routes, I live and work in Meath, my commute is from Navan to Oldcastle and back, they're some of the best roads for biking you'll find and cound never be described as dangerous.

TBH what you describe is someone driving wrecklessly, which is dangerous no matter where you are doing it, lots of comments reflect the same thinking - country roads are dangerous because they're too fast, what kind of thinking is that? surely that's a rider problem not a road issue.

If you're having slides then you're going too quick, and not riding to the conditions (sorry that sounded very Dempseyish but it's true).

LookBehindYou

bladespin wrote: »

Lol, I've been all over the country and have encountered the odd sheep by the road, but not on any main routes, I live and work in Meath, my commute is from Navan to Oldcastle and back, they're some of the best roads for biking you'll find and cound never be described as dangerous.

TBH what you describe is someone driving wrecklessly, which is dangerous no matter where you are doing it, lots of comments reflect the same thinking - country roads are dangerous because they're too fast, what kind of thinking is that? surely that's a rider problem not a road issue.

If you're having slides then you're going too quick, and not riding to the conditions (sorry that sounded very Dempseyish but it's true).

The point i was trying to make is that even though i am an experienced rider and an advanced rider also, i would never be too cocky to think i would never be in an accident.

bladespin

LookBehindYou wrote: »

The point i was trying to make is that even though i am an experienced rider and an advanced rider also, i would never be too cocky to think i would never be in an accident.

Totally agree but as an advanced rider you should understand you're more at risk from other drivers aroung you than your own trained decisions so the busier the location the more dangerous it is.

zzr

Imo driving anywhere is dangerous even in a car park you have to be on the ball all the time.
My rule is never trust other road users to do what they should do and slow at the next bend or junction CAUSE YA NEVER KNOW :cool:

Hotblack Desiato

bladespin wrote: »

Totally agree but as an advanced rider you should understand you're more at risk from other drivers aroung you than your own trained decisions so the busier the location the more dangerous it is.

And as an advanced rider you need to assess and mitigate as far as possible the potential risk from the behaviour of other road users. If you're trusting them to do the right thing in order to keep you safe, you're not doing this.

On the poll question, far more riders get killed on country roads.

rubensni

You're more likely to be killed out of town, but I would be interested to see overall crash stats by area as opposed to fatalities as lower speed in town makes fatal accidents more likely:

EGOSHEA

rubensni wrote: »

You're more likely to be killed out of town, but I would be interested to see overall crash stats by area as opposed to fatalities as lower speed in town makes fatal accidents more likely:

Interesting table, thanks. So about three quarters of motorcyclists die on the 'outside urban area' roads.

I'd like to see a similar table with figures for accidents resulting in any kind of outcome. Personally, I reckon that slower speed, less fatal accidents would be more frequent in the city. I'd still expect the non-fatal but very serious (maiming/paralysis) injuries to follow a somewhat similar distribution to the above table. High speed, multiple-vehicle accidents with combined impact speeds of 120+mph.....nasty stuff on those open roads.

On a lighter note, fantastic weather this weekend for a ride!