I remember reading a study that looked at life expectancy of cycling vs driving, which I unfortunately can’t find right now, in many cities around the world.
The TL;DR in almost all cities you’ll live longer cycling (even considering extra exposure to pollution and road accidents) than driving. Except in a very small handful of city, none of which were in the US.
So cycling in SF is probably better for you than driving. But that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be a pleasant experience. (I mean getting injections isn’t fun, but vaccines are definitely good for you).
The studies looked at predicted life expectancy when you consider the various health benefits of cycling vs increased severity of road accidents and expose to pollution. They don’t need to model for survivor bias, they weren’t tracking individuals, but deriving specific population stats from larger general populations stats.
> The author of it died in a bike crash.
I’m not sure what your point is?
People die that’s not a surprise, the fact the author died in a bike crash doesn’t invalidate their work.
Doctors die of smoking, some scientists studying nutrition are fat. None of that changes the validity of their work.
https://sfbike.org/market-street-2020/
It isn't perfect, but, keep hopefully people will keep voting for improvements.