this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2025
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Data is Beautiful
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The stats are the stats, driving a car everywhere at 15mph and covering it in airbags would probably change the car stats as well. If everyone drove perfectly and maintained their vehicles properly then we'd get a nice flat line.
You're way more likely to die if you don't know how to drive a car or do so drunk as well. The graph is showing the relative unsafeness of various vehicles as a whole, the fact being drunk or dumb on a bike has an outsize impact on killing bikers emphasises the fact it's less safe.
I've absolutely nothing against bikes or bikers and I'd suspect that overall biker's deaths are likely to be more self contained and have lesser impact on other road users.
Yes. As a whole. As an average of the entire population.
Which I acknowledge and don't dispute. Bikes are inherently less safe than cars.
Cars have a lot of mandatory safety features like airbags, crumple zones, and seatbelts. They have four wheel stability and four points of contact on the road. They are relatively forgiving when it comes to mistakes and crashes.
Bikes don't even have universal helmet laws in every state... and if they do mandate helmets, often a brain bucket is legally sufficient. However, with only two points of contact, and a potentially high rate of acceleration, it is much easier to lose control and crash, especially if you are riding recklessly or without experience.
My point is that inexperience and recklessness can lead to a fatal crash much more easily on a motorcycle and likely contribute to the statistics for motorcycle fatalities more than it does for car fatalities.
Basically, squids kind of juice the numbers and make them more scary. It's not just squids - riding is not as safe as driving. Still, if you plan to ride responsibly your odds will be better than the stats suggest. Yes, the same logic applies to anything, but I believe it applies to bikes more than it applies to cars.
Doing hard things is harder to do. This doesn't mean you can't successfully do hard things it just means you have to try harder to do them. Taking a shortcut often ends in failure. In this case, failure can mean injured or dead.
And no, I'm not trying to say I'm cool and skilled because I ride a bike. I'm not yet that experienced or skilled on a bike... but I ride responsibly. I take it slow. I wear protective gear. I'm aware of my limits and I push them carefully.