How Dangerous Are Motorcycles?

People don't understand this basic fact about averages: you throw away most of the information! If you want to talk about the chances of dying in a plane crash, then these kinds of stats are ideal, because everyone who flies has about the same chance, and there's nothing you can do to change it.

But with motorbikes, you can influence your chances of surviving. And not just a little bit! When I started I remember reading that something like almost half of fatal motorcycle accidents in the US don't involve another vehicle. Incredible! Literally almost none of those people need to die - they are dying because they go too fast, don't wear proper safety gear, refuse to use their brakes, and/or they never explicitly learned how to control a bike. All choices.

There's a major caveat to all that though: yes you might behave better than many other motorcyclists, but it takes discipline. That's why bad behavior is so popular (it's easy). How much to you trust yourself to never make a mistake? So yes it is dangerous but you do have a lot of control but extra-but also you will probably have the occasional lapse in that control.

Rather than dangerous, the word I tend to use for motorcycles, small aircraft, bad neighborhoods etc. is unforgiving.