Cambridge Ideas - Professor Risk

David Spiegelhalter's proper title is Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk. He is in two minds (literally) about playing it safe or chucking caution to the wind. Decisions, decisions!? Are bacon sandwiches really that dangerous and is it wise to drive when you love cycling? David shows us how to use statistics to face up to life's major risks.

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[huschak1]

Fantastic video

[mynameisevalai]

I wish my professor of statistics at uni had been as much fun as this

[TheRealBoff]

Did the risky side of him just run over the cautious size?

[muhammadzahmad]

100% educational and 100% fun...

[MrPEDOCTOR]

Nice sharing Prof. I wonder if one day I will be your student.

[natickducks]

Wonderful video. Thanks for doing it. Amy Rubin

[MrLarky96]

he came to our school and gave us this awesome lecture. he seems so much fun :)

[DestroManiak]

Am I the only one who thinks he resembles bill murray?

[EffUsh]

Re micromorts cycling versus driving:

1. Does it not depend whether you measure risk per hour or per mile or per commute? This becomes interesting when you consider that car drivers tend to live further from their place of work and thus end up with the same risk exposure as cyclists (within ballpark anyway)

2. You might want to examine Dorothy L. Robinson's work on determining the (in)effectiveness of bicycle helmets in reducing life and cognition threatening brain injuries.

[jonessg3]

@hbp2m ah but they are not all car related. According to the DoT in 2008, 52 of 115 cycling fatalities were due to collisions with a single car (45%). Of the rest, there were 8 sole riders, 8 colliding with pedestrians, 24 with HGVs (in London it's a third), 6 with buses plus some others. In fact per mile driven HGVs and buses kill far more than cars.

Also, in 2008 you could cycle 25 miles for a 1-in-a-million chance of dying in an accident and drive about 208 miles in a car.

[hbp2m]

200 miles in car or 20 miles on bicycle gives you a 1-in-a-million chance being killed - that sounds like bicycling is a bit of a problem. But we can put it another way: driving 20 miles on bicycle gives you a 1-in-a-million chance of being killed - by a car!

It is not because bicycles are dangerous - its because cars are dangerous.

[rocksteadyable]

Great video. Who are that amazing samba band? Great stripey pyjamas - hope they are flame resistant natural fibres - you can never be too careful ...