As I said before, when I crashed, I was part of the problem. I was hit when a girl who was high on crack ran a red light. Concussion, broken bones, etc., and legally her fault. Still, had I done a better job of defensive riding, I could have mitigated injury or avoided it completely. I knew a guy who was killed in front of his family when a drunk driver ran a red light and struck the driver's side door if his SUV. Cars are much less dangerous, but they're not safe. No one looks at an accident like that and says "I'm never driving a car again," because we're in a collective state of denial about risk. We hear about auto accident fatalities and think either there was nothing that could be done, or, they had an accident because they're not a good driver like me. Then we hop into our cars with our children and babies and roll the dice. ... View more

Safer? The worst I ever got hurt riding a motorcycle was at the track. Sure, if you putt around on the track the same way you do when riding to work, it's much safer. But that's not what really happens at race tracks, is it? It all comes down to how hard you push your luck. When I crashed at summit point I was chasing a guy I was never going to catch, and wound up in the gravel trap. EVERY time I've crashed on the street or the track I was doing something that put me at risk beyond the circumstances I was in. When my dad hung up his helmet at age 75 it was because of a crash. Nothing horrific, but enough to give him pause. Prior to that he hadn't crashed in over 50 years, before I was born. In those 50 years I crashed plenty of times. I habitually take risks, he rarely does. Riding defensively isn't nearly as much fun as going balls-out, but if it's safety you're concerned about, you are the master of your destiny, regardless of where you're riding. ... View more