How dangerous is biking?

I just found out a good friend's sister was killed training for a Triathelon. She was biking in the morning and hit by an SUV. One of our Oregon swimmers was similarly killed earlier this year. Every time I read about a Triathlete it seems somewhere in the story they had to spend a year recovering from when they were hit by a car. Is this as common as it seems? I don't know what we can do,but it seems we should do something. Last summer, mid august, a cyclist got killed hit by... an other cyclist. A good friend of mine was leading a pace line over 40kmh on a Formula1 race track (that's where we do our intervals), when a cyclist engaged on the track without looking first. My friend hit him, the guy didn't wear a helmet. Head knocked the ground and he died right there. Cycling is probably by far the most dangerous thing cyclists do.

Biking is as dangerous as you make it... I liken it to driving or flying - the vast majority of the time it is safe as can be, but the disasters are disasterous. Speaking from experience, any time you bike on the road or on trails with plenty of other "traffic," the cyclist should be completely aware of their surroundings. A crowded paved trail was my nemesis summer '05 (crashed into another biker, broken wrist), but I learned my lesson - slow down in the crowds, even when you're training. The speed factor is a good one too - everyone wants to push it for training; thats part of the reason my accident was as bad as it was. Crashes usually happen when the speed gets too much for the cyclist to handle. But like I started my post - if you ride faster than you can handle, you're asking for it. Always wear a helmet -jeff