Comment by Enginerrrd
7 hours ago
Yeah, it’s definitely higher risk.
When riding a motorcycle, you’ll encounter people that don’t see you almost every trip. The same is not true in a car.
Riding a bike is just a 100% engagement thing with higher risks and lower margins for error, for all kinds of reasons. And it’s not just traffic, minor pavement imperfections become relevant, the necessary skill floor is also higher. It just demands more attention, straight up.
In a car, you shouldn’t, and it’s not without risk, but you CAN occasionally get away with minor distractions: adjusting the radio, seat, etc. That just doesn’t work on a bike as well. I’m failing to properly articulate the why, but it really is fundamentally different in some ways. I’ve spent many years doing both, and the bike just demands more of your attention resources, independent of your vulnerability in the event of an accident.
Driving a car is a higher net risk than riding a motorcycle. The problem is that drivers externalize much more of the risk. People die riding motorcycles all the time - way more than people driving cars. But you know what people driving cars do? Blow holes into buildings. Smash cars. Kill pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and other drivers.
A motorcycle demands your attention because the risk is mostly on the rider. Drivers are pacified by how externalized their very existent risk is.