Donkey-riding.

Today was the day my Mother and I had the conversation about the dangers of what I do: road cycling, and the fact that sometimes I have to ride on roads where the speed limit exceeds 55mph. You know how these things go, though. Moms seem to have the latest "information" on the ready, complete with a gillion reasons why what you just said is a terrible idea. I think that's even in a Mother's job description (especially when her children grow up)--provide reasons for why certain ideas are "bad".


And, of course, it's just the law of the universe that right before you have an important conversation with your parental units about something (i.e. being on our super-safe campus after dark) something relevantly-horrible happens to a relative/coworker/person on the news (i.e. a coworker's daughter getting robbed after volleyball practice one night). So as I was telling my Mom about riding my bike on "highways" she mentioned my cousin Kelly, whose husband just died in a motorcycle accident. Horrible coincidence.



But I had a crown card ready.


"Mom, you do know that more people get killed by donkeys than airplanes every year?"


That stopped the conversation dead in its tracks, and I left the kitchen area to give Mom some thinking room. When I was upstairs, though, I decided to investigate that particular statistic, and I now report my findings.


- Moose (meese if you prefer) are the biggest man-killers in US and Canada.
- In totally unrelated headlines, a guy got 12 years in jail for killing a donkey.
- 2.3 million people got killed by elephants between 2002 and 2008(worldwide).
- About 700 cyclists die per year in car accidents.
- Realistically, a cyclist is 3x as likely to die on the road than a motorist however 40% of those deaths are with children under 16.
- Cyclists account for only 2% of all road fatalities.
- Most cyclist accidents occur in urban areas between the hours of 5 and 9.
- 4 states out of 50 account for 50% of bicycle accidents.
- 1 in 20 cyclists (worldwide) is injured (not fatally) annually.
- And dig this:


"An analysis based on the life expectancy of each cyclist killed in road accidents using actuarial data, and the increased longevity of those engaging in exercise regimes several times a week compared with those leading relatively sedentary lives, has shown that, even in the current cycle hostile environment, the benefits in terms of life years gained, outweigh life years lost in cycling fatalities by a factor of around 20 to 1."

If you are a cyclist and want more info, go here: http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/almanac-safety.html

My question is:

Can I just ride a donkey on the highway instead of my bike? If donkeys and highways are dangerous separately from each other, does that mean the dangers will cancel out when they are combined?

--E.A.