(CNN) Cycling to work can lead to better fitness and health, but to some biking newbies it can feel like an accident waiting to happen.

The fear of injury while cycling through traffic deters many people from biking to work. In the UK, only 4% of people cycle to work even though around 40% have access to a bike, with 64% of respondents in the British Social Attitudes (PDF) survey agreeing that cycling to work is too dangerous.

Is that fear justified? Researchers at the University of Glasgow decided to find out. They examined hospital records and other data from 230,390 commuters from 22 places in the UK, 5,704 of whom said they used cycling as their main form of transportation. The results of their study were published on Wednesday in the BMJ medical journal.

They found that commuting by bike was associated with a 45% higher risk of admission to a hospital for an injury compared with other methods of commuting, and longer cycling distances were linked to a higher risk of injury. However, they found the health benefits of cycling were considerable, being linked to a lower risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and premature death.

Participants were recruited between 2006 and 2010 as part of the wider UK Biobank data set and tracked for an average of 8.9 years. Of the people who only cycled to work, 7% were injured, while among people who cycled for part of the commute, 6% were injured. In contrast, 4.3% of the commuters who traveled by car or public transport were injured. Walking to work wasn't associated with a greater risk of injury.

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