There are a lot of positive statistics to back up why you should cycle. As the chart above shows you, cyclists are sick less than others, they live longer, and they enjoy levels of fitness equivalent to someone 10 years younger than them.

However, there are also a lot of downsides to road cycling at the moment as well, every single one of which revolves around the safety of riding on the roads.

It will shock many to learn that there’s nearly 23,000 cycling accidents in the UK each year, that over 3,000 of these cause serious injuries and that a massive 67 percent of the non-cycling British public think riding on the roads is just too dangerous.

What the chart above doesn’t tell you is that 80 percent of cycling accidents happen in broad daylight, the most dangerous hours for cyclists are between 8-9am and 3-6pm – rush hour – on weekdays, and that most accidents that happen in the dark are likely to be fatal.

Unfortunately, these are statistics that won’t be worked upon as quickly as they should be.

Just recently a protest was held in South London after the death of 32-year-old cyclist Esther Hartsilver, the sixth cyclist to die after being hit by an HGV in London this year. Change is people called for, and is being promised, but let’s just hope there are no more fatalities before it comes.

Be careful on the roads when you’re riding even the shortest of journeys people. Here’s hoping the situation will get a whole lot better in the not so distant future.

Infographic provided by MiFile, a unique service that can send an SMS automatically to your loved ones after a crash in the event that you are unable to.

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