Broken legs and ankles heal better if you walk on them within weeks

I don't know that "normal" mountain biking is any worse than cycling in general, or sports like tackle football.

A lot of the injury risk when mountain biking is reasonably easily mitigated by controlling your speed and walking the bike through terrain that's above your skill level. There was a report out of British Columbia a few months ago about injury rates, and they were high, but BC is also a major downhill trail region.

Certainly, compared to road cycling, I know more people with major injuries from being hit by cars than from crashing solo on a mountain bike. And for my own cycling injuries - a few concussions, the worst of which was on the road bike (during a race) and a few torn rotator cuffs/mild AC joint separations.

Yeah. I did have a fall (for no good reason) cycling on a carriage path in Acadia National Park. But that's almost certainly safer than road biking on a busy road. And I do think a world in which you have insurance companies micromanaging what they will cover for various outdoor activities is not one we want--and it's not clear that it even distinguishes from people who are very sedentary.

Another factor worth considering is that being physically active also prevents other ailments, so (even downhill) bikers may still be more profitable for insurance companies!

The way I always looked at it (based on my own anecdotal experience, plus those of my friends around me)... you're probably more likely to get "hurt" in some sense while mountain biking, but probably more likely to get "killed or maimed" while road cycling (eg, being struck by a car).

Curiously enough, I have been road cycling for 10+ years now (and mountain biking much longer) and I only just picked up my first crash and injury from road cycling on Jan 1. I crashed and sprained my wrist. :-(

> I know more people with major injuries from being hit by cars

_hit by drivers_, you meant?

Well, it was the car that touched them. But yeah, the driver was at fault in ALL instances.

> Certainly, compared to road cycling, I know more people with major injuries from being hit by cars than from crashing solo on a mountain bike.

Speed must be part of it. Low sun and going into the back of a parked car or other obstacle is a common mistake, and road bikes get up some good speed on most rides. Many riders pass 80kmh on a regular basis, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for error. I’m rather slower than that, but 50-60kmh would be a daily event.

I couldn’t agree more. Road biking has entirely fixed my lower back and neck issues, my knees have come right and getting up hills has knocked 15-20kgs off me in the last year. I just wish I could get out there more.

> A lot of the injury risk when mountain biking is reasonably easily mitigated by controlling your speed and walking the bike through terrain that's above your skill level. There was a report out of British Columbia a few months ago about injury rates, and they were high, but BC is also a major downhill trail region.

Yeah, with downhill biking, “controlling your speed” means making sure you go fast enough to land the jump on the intended downslope. Go too slow and you’ll land wrong.

I think I like what you're getting at (placing blame on the human not the object), but could you tone the attitude down? This read to me as an almost snide correction, I genuinely think you'd convince people if you 'invited' them instead

Nah. Decades of politeness have failed, it's time to get more aggressive about people deciding it's ok to kill other people as long as you do it by driving a car into them and aren't drunk at the time.