h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The old saying is: "Lies, damn lies and statistics".

You say that "Unfortunately, about a fifth of those injured are children, indicating that inexperience is a major factor. "
However, my experience would indicate that on average kids have a much higher per-capita bicycle ownership than adults and and as a group tend to spend more time on them.
Also, the nature of children's bike riding lends itself more to risk. Rather than riding directly from start to destination along defined routes, kids tend to start-stop; entering and leaving traffic more frequently, crossing roads more often and having destinations which may not be immediately obvious to the adult mind.

In short I might suggest that perhaps: "While tragic, the fact that *only* about 20% of injuries are to children indicates that inexperience is not as great a factor as many would assume".

Great article BTW.

Thanks, silverygibbon.

My son cycled as soon as we felt he was old enough to do so but either I or his Dad would go with him until he was old enough to be sensible. Probably, a lot of the accidents to kids happen when a group of them get together and start larking about.

I suppose education and responsible adult guidance must be the answer.