I completely agree that different roads carry different risks - I think cycling around a city centre is completely different than cycling on a winding country road - but indiscriminate of the magnitude, I think it is undeniable to say that there is a risk.

Causes of accidents have such a diverse and complex range of causes, I think it is not right to make as clear-cut an argument 'if everyone drove safely there would be no accidents'.

In my mind it is much safer to consider the road as a complex system with relatively predictable probability of injury (which in its function contains the risk of meeting an unsafe driver, but is not limited to that). I realise on a case-by-case level there is a definitive split of blame and I'm not attempting to isolate drivers from any blame, but simply from the cyclist's view all I'm asking you to accept is the following:

1) a risk of injury for cyclists originates from the 'system' of traffic on a road

2) someone who enters willingly into a situation, aware that doing so carries a risk (eg climbing a ladder) must accept some (not necessarily all) responsibility in that decision if the risk becomes realised.