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What do the numbers mean? 5.7 what?


The study says: "Number of deaths for every 10,000 registered motorcycles in 2005". My rule of thumb is that people will tolerate a 1 in a million risk of tragedy. For example (roughly) one in a million ski days ends in death or a crippling accident, one in a million airplanes doesn't land and even one in a million car trips ends badly. Bikes though, are a lot worse. if you just take the 7.5/10,000 overall statistic, and say people ride 100 days a year, thats 7.5 chances in a million, way riskier than any other activity you're likely to engage in.

My skiing, plane, and car figures are from years ago but they're probably still roughly right.