Motorcycle and Car
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Motorcycles are Safer than Cars
Everyone knows that in a crash motorcycle riders usually come off worse than car drivers. Riders avoid some problems, like being trapped in a burning or sinking car, but in general an accident that dents a car can put a motorcyclist in hospital. However motorcycle fear is often based on rumor or reports, not actual experience. It is guilt by association.
Guilt by Association
A friend once told me she didn’t like motorcycles as her brother was killed on one. When I asked how, she said he stopped at an accident, got off his bike, and was struck by a car as he walked over to help! I wondered, “Well, couldn’t the same have happened if he had been in a car?” This guilt by association ignores the fact that lots of people who drive cars also die. It is a "fixed attitude", that just associates motorcycles with danger. Like many other fixed attitudes, it is often reinforced by the media. It is hard to see the reality amidst the smoke of false fears, worries and imaginations.
A motorcycle is safer than a car if it is less likely to have an accident in the first place
But safety also depends on how likely you are to have an accident in the first place. I find motorcycles safer because one can better avoid accidents on them. In a car, I feel safe because I have protection, but on a motorcycle I feel safer because I have more options. A motorcycle is safer than a car if it is less likely to have an accident in the first place. That the careless can kill themselves more easily on a motorcycle is not denied. However what about competent riders? Competent riders are less likely to haveaccidents because they: 1. See more 2. Evade better 3. Attend more 4. Assume less
Do motorcycles cause deaths?
The death rate for riders is higher than for drivers, but perhaps that is because so many motorcycle riders are young men, who are still developing risk awareness. It seems a hard
Motorcycles are Safer than Cars
Everyone knows that in a crash motorcycle riders usually come off worse than car drivers. Riders avoid some problems, like being trapped in a burning or sinking car, but in general an accident that dents a car can put a motorcyclist in hospital. However motorcycle fear is often based on rumor or reports, not actual experience. It is guilt by association.
Guilt by Association
A friend once told me she didn’t like motorcycles as her brother was killed on one. When I asked how, she said he stopped at an accident, got off his bike, and was struck by a car as he walked over to help! I wondered, “Well, couldn’t the same have happened if he had been in a car?” This guilt by association ignores the fact that lots of people who drive cars also die. It is a "fixed attitude", that just associates motorcycles with danger. Like many other fixed attitudes, it is often reinforced by the media. It is hard to see the reality amidst the smoke of false fears, worries and imaginations.
A motorcycle is safer than a car if it is less likely to have an accident in the first place
But safety also depends on how likely you are to have an accident in the first place. I find motorcycles safer because one can better avoid accidents on them. In a car, I feel safe because I have protection, but on a motorcycle I feel safer because I have more options. A motorcycle is safer than a car if it is less likely to have an accident in the first place. That the careless can kill themselves more easily on a motorcycle is not denied. However what about competent riders? Competent riders are less likely to haveaccidents because they: 1. See more 2. Evade better 3. Attend more 4. Assume less
Do motorcycles cause deaths?
The death rate for riders is higher than for drivers, but perhaps that is because so many motorcycle riders are young men, who are still developing risk awareness. It seems a hard