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RIP Davide Rebellin

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Too many of these horrible accidents involving riders have happened on Italian roads, don't know if it's the roads or the drivers but every grave injury, let alone every death, is one too many. As an outsider, I can only hope things change for the better some day, in Italy and beyond.

RIP Davide, you dedicated your life to the sport and when age finally took it away from you, fate took your life as well. Can hardly think of a crueller or sadder irony. Tears were shed today.
 
Too many of these horrible accidents involving riders have happened on Italian roads, don't know if it's the roads or the drivers but every grave injury, let alone every death, is one too many. As an outsider, I can only hope things change for the better some day, in Italy and beyond.

RIP Davide, you dedicated your life to the sport and when age finally took it away from you, fate took your life as well. Can hardly think of a crueller or sadder irony. Tears were shed today.
It could also be statistical variance. Do we have any data on cycling accidents (or even accidents in aggregate) in Italy as opposed to other European countries?
 
Too many of these horrible accidents involving riders have happened on Italian roads, don't know if it's the roads or the drivers but every grave injury, let alone every death, is one too many. As an outsider, I can only hope things change for the better some day, in Italy and beyond.
I don't have data but I'd say the drivers are at fault. It's very common to hear people making jokes about running over cyclists because they're too slow to be on roads. For many people it's inconceivable to be on a narrow road and slow down since there's a cyclicst ahead. They will try to overtake the cyclist no matter what. No rules on how to overtake a bike here, which causes many risky situations.
Generally speaking, Italians have a flexible interpretation of road rules (and that includes drivers, pedestrians, bike riders, etc).
 
I don't have data but I'd say the drivers are at fault. It's very common to hear people making jokes about running over cyclists because they're too slow to be on roads. For many people it's inconceivable to be on a narrow road and slow down since there's a cyclicst ahead. They will try to overtake the cyclist no matter what. No rules on how to overtake a bike here, which causes many risky situations.
Generally speaking, Italians have a flexible interpretation of road rules (and that includes drivers, pedestrians, bike riders, etc).
You're correct on that one. Cyclists riding in double pace lines on open roads during group rides also doesn't help. Of course cyclists are usually the victims if something happens, but stuff like that doesn't exactly improve the view that many drivers have of cyclists.
Usually I have no problem with car drives, as long as you're respectful most of them are also respectful. Reckless truck drivers and motobikes are more of a problem, at least in my experience.
 
Here, on page 7: https://road-safety.transport.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-03/FF_cyclists_20220209.pdf
2017-2019 Italy was actually below the EU average when it came to cycling fatalities per million inhabitants.
This is becoming quite the off-topic discussion, but imo the Netherlands being second-worst on that list (and the likes of Belgium and Denmark also being worse than average) shows that you need to control for the percentage of the population that cycles. When more people cycle, all other things being equal, you get more cycling fatalities. Then you also have other factors, like age distribution and urban-versus-rural, that impact fatalities. That makes it really hard to statistically measure cycling safety.
Interesting. And I would assume Italy has more road cyclists per million inhabitants than your average European country.
In terms of cycling as a sport/recreational activity, probably yes. Factoring in people who commute by bike, probably not.
 

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