[pdelbarba]

Statistically speaking light aircraft are closer to motorcycles in terms of fatalities. On the bright side though, you're much less likely to me maimed in an aircraft accident :)

When people get upset about the FAA's safety stance in GA, it has less to do with the part 61/91 regulations (airman certification/operating procedures) and more to do with the equipment certification standards. A common example is the reliance on vacuum driven gyroscopic instruments when MEMS technology provides better performance with a much lower probability of failure. Up until recently the FAA made it almost impossible to retrofit old aircraft with generic glass panel systems even though these systems provide vastly greater safety margins when used correctly. I personally have experienced a vacuum system failure, but luckily not while in IFR conditions.

Beyond instruments, the bulk of the fleet of 30-50 years old and beginning to show it's age, but it's prohibitively expensive to certify new designs that incorporate more safety features like CAPS (parachute systems), composite energy absorbing seats/fuselages or digital engine management systems. We're also still entirely reliant on leaded fuel (100LL) due to cost hurdles in certifying engines that can run on JetA or anything else for that matter.