Wellness and technology, the quantified self movement

Going back a few hours to the Strava questions. It is probably true that we do not yet have enough data to prove that Strava encourages more reckless behaviour.
What Strava does do is to encourage people to go faster [I don't do Strava so tell me if I have got this wrong]. Going faster doesn't necessarily increase the risk of crashing, I doubt if it would decrease that risk.
It seems very likely that the physical/medical consequences or any crash are likely to increase with speed. Where a crash involves hitting a solid body the consequences are likely to increase with the force of impact which increases with the square of speed.
So if you go twice as fast and crash the force of impact will be four times higher. Or with Strava you are encouraged to go 10% faster the force of impact will be 21% higher. That is enough to change a minor injury into a major one, or a major injury into a fatality.

I don't use Strava.

That said, I am not sure I understand how it would make people more reckless.

If I ride down New North Road at 4:30am, I will ride faster than if I ride down the same stretch at 8:30am. Thus, when riding at 8:30 I know I won't break any records. Riding fast down New North Road at 4:30am is not reckless and I would do it with or without Strava. If there is unex-pected trafffic, I can come back and try another day.

If I try and climb Box Hill as fast as I can, I am hardly likely to do it recklessly. If there is danger, i will come back and try it another day.

I was concerned at one stage that obsessive types might see the achievement of Stava records as an incentive to dope. It now appears that there are easier and safer ways to cheat, either using some software that automatically discounts your time (see CW last week) or by using mortorised transport. Better still is that a number of pros downloaded their times for the London Surrey Classic to Strava thus making the achievement of record breaking segments anywhere on route neigh on impossible for weekend Strava warriors.