Is motorbike riding more dangerous than driving on a car?

james_pain · September 6, 2016

Is motorbike riding as dangerous as everyone claims?

Is there any chance that driving cars may be more dangerous than riding a motorbike?

What does everyone here think?

If you had to pick either being a car driver only or a motorcyclist only, which would you rather be and why?

Edited September 6, 2016 by james_pain

**Phi for All** · September 6, 2016

Is motorbike riding as dangerous as everyone claims?

Is there any chance that driving cars may be more dangerous than riding a motorbike?

What does everyone here think?

If you had to pick either being a car driver only or a motorcyclist only, which would you rather be and why?

1. What everyone claims is anecdotal evidence at best. Statistics show motorcycles are less likely to have accidents.

2. Define dangerous. Is it more dangerous to be involved in many minor accidents, or in a few major ones?

3. I wouldn't place any importance whatsoever on people's opinion on a matter like this.

4. Car driver only, because it snows where I live.

Memammal · September 6, 2016

The main safety argument counting in favour of cars is of course that if you are strapped into the vehicle you are being restrained in a position that has been designed for maximum protection; so you are basically secured in a safety harness. The main safety argument against bikes is the very little structural protection it offers and the ease by which a driver will be flung loose at high speed with only a helmet to protect against the collision/fall.

zapatos · September 6, 2016

...compared with people driving cars, motorcycle drivers face a much higher risk of dying in a crash: U.S. government data from 2013 show that for every mile traveled that year, the number of motorcycle-related deaths was 26 times the number of car-related deaths [source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety], with a total of 4,381 motorcycle fatalities.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/are-motorcycles-more-dangerous-than-cars.htm

**swansont** · September 6, 2016

Here's a link with the info from zapatos' link updated for 2014
http://www.iii.org/issue-update/motorcycle-crashes

"In 2014, motorcyclists were 27 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a crash per vehicle mile traveled, and almost five times more likely to be injured."

**Phi for All** · September 6, 2016

I thought I had a link to statistics that show motorcycles have fewer accidents per capita than other motor vehicles, but riders are far more likely to be injured or killed in the event of an accident. I'd seen it a few months back, but now everything I see is related to injury and death. I don't have the evidence to claim you're less likely to be in an accident in the first place while driving a motorcycle.

Many non-motorcycle related accidents don't get reported because the damage-to-hassle ratio wasn't high enough, but virtually every accident with a motorcycle is serious enough to report. In the light research I did previously, I got the impression that riding a motorcycle vs driving a car is like bungee-jumping vs skiing; not as many accidents, but the ones that happen are so brutal that you have to ask yourself if it's really worth it.

Moontanman · September 7, 2016

I've been riding since I was 14, I am now 61, I have always felt that riding was safer until you actually wreak, then the potential for injury becomes much worse...

Ken Fabian · September 7, 2016

Motorcycles are more dangerous. Yet every situation can be different. Recalling a terrifying close call whilst riding - I spotted a job vacancy sign on a factory front and was looking at it as I approached the top of a rise and returned my attention too late; traffic was backed up and I was going way too fast to stop behind it. Only hard braking and swerving just in time - still travelling quite fast - to pass just on the verge side saved me from serious injury and possibly death. But had that happened driving a car I could not have swerved around like that. The consequences might not have been so deadly in a car but it would have almost certainly been a serious collision.

Memammal · September 7, 2016

One should perhaps also look at the other side of the coin, which is that a (out of control) motorcycle would most likely be less harmful to other motorists and pedestrians than what a big & heavy motorcar, SUV or pick up would be.

**swansont** · September 7, 2016

I thought I had a link to statistics that show motorcycles have fewer accidents per capita than other motor vehicles, but riders are far more likely to be injured or killed in the event of an accident. I'd seen it a few months back, but now everything I see is related to injury and death. I don't have the evidence to claim you're less likely to be in an accident in the first place while driving a motorcycle.

Many non-motorcycle related accidents don't get reported because the damage-to-hassle ratio wasn't high enough, but virtually every accident with a motorcycle is serious enough to report. In the light research I did previously, I got the impression that riding a motorcycle vs driving a car is like bungee-jumping vs skiing; not as many accidents, but the ones that happen are so brutal that you have to ask yourself if it's really worth it.

This seems right, and I have anecdotal experience to that effect. I bumped sides with a couple of SUVs on the highway. My car probably got the worst of it. Everybody was uninjured, no police report was necessary since everybody could drive away (we checked on this). I didn't even file an insurance claim, since the damage was around my deductible.

Had a motorcycle been involved, there would have been a very serious injury, since this all happened at highway speeds. But it's possible a motorcycle might have avoided the swerving cars.

But if safety is taken to be the ability to avoid injury, then these minor accidents that a motorcycle could avoid don't enter into the analysis.

DrKrettin · September 7, 2016

For what it's worth, my experience of decades of motorbike riding is that generally, with obvious exceptions, motorbike riders are much more capable than car drivers. Any idiot can drive a car, but the majority of bike riders are aware how vulnerable they are, and behave accordingly, kmowing that car drivers can be idiots. I'm not excusing the organ-donor biking idiots by the way. But to me it is blindingly obvious that motorbike riding is more dangerous, simply becuase you are so vulnerable.

zapatos · September 7, 2016

I rode for a few years and there were many potential accidents that I experienced while on a motorcycle that I wouldn't have experienced in a car. I slid on some gravel that accumulated in the road, hit a large pothole that almost tossed me off the bike, and of course being much less visible I was cut off more often.

I was also a much safer rider than most people in cars because as you said, you know how vulnerable you are.

**Phi for All** · September 7, 2016

Has anyone had any experience with fully electric motorcycles? I know one of the justifications for loud pipes is so everyone on the highway knows there's a motorcycle pretty close, and I'd like to know if that's a myth or not, that it makes driving safer. I would imagine an electric motorcycle is like a ghost, not seen or heard. More dangerous? Less obnoxious? Wicked cool?

DrKrettin · September 7, 2016

My guess is that a car driver is far more likely to be visually aware of a motorbike than acoustically. I have no idea whether a quiet ride is preferable to some, but I have seen people on motorbike forums complaining that their "bike is not loud enough and how can I make it louder?". People can be weird.