http://members.iinet.net.au/~kelly/ridingBible.pdfExcerpt from section on "Beating the Odds...."
...some more information from the NHTSA. There were 33.38 fatalities per each 100 million miles of travel on a motorcycle while there were only 1.28 fatalities per each 100 million miles of passenger car travel. That argues that you are TWENTY-SIX times more likely to get killed riding a motorcycle than you are when riding in a car.
There were 632 injuries for each 100 million miles of motorcycle travel while there were only 122 injuries for each 100 million miles of passenger car travel. Meaning it is FIVE times as likely that you will get injured riding a motorcycle than riding a car.
But on the other side of the statistics is the following: 74,000 motorcycles were involved in an accident in the year 2001 which is only 1.5% of all registered motorcycles while there were 6,705,000 passenger cars involved in an accident in the same year which is an astonishingly large 5%. That means that the odds of your motorcycle being involved in an accident is SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER than your car being in an accident while the odds are overwhelming that if you are involved in an accident on your bike it will be catastrophic in comparison to what would happen if you were in a car.
At the very least you must conclude from the above facts that riding a motorcycle is substantially more dangerous than riding in a car.
Statistics are only true if the population behaves 'normally.' Let me explain...
A substantial number of motorcycle accidents involve a rider who has been drinking.
Those of you who take your bikes to a parking lot and practice braking or slow speed manoeuvres and who ride more frequently and obtain more experience and familiarity with your bikes as a result are acting 'abnormally', and your odds of surviving the experience increases as a result.If an incredibly high percentage of motorcycle accidents occur within the first six months of ownership and within just a few miles of home then those of you who have years of experience - not just years, but EXPERIENCED years - are 'abnormal' and your odds of being in an accident are not the same as those predicted by normal statistics.
if you DO ALWAYS wear a helmet you are acting 'abnormally' and your odds of survival increases.
The fact is that it is more dangerous to ride a motorcycle than it is to ride in a passenger car. The way to beat the odds is to BEHAVE in ways that decrease YOUR odds of being involved in an accident or being injured or killed if you are in one. In other words, you must behave 'abnormally'. (i.e., defensively, intelligently, soberly, with learned (practiced) skills, with protective gear and as if your life depends on it, because it does.)
Relying on luck (odds) is simply stupid.
