[ijpoijpoihpiuoh]

An important and oft-ignored aspect of participating in certain activities! Even this doesn't capture everything. I am also very concerned about the possibility of being maimed by my chosen activities.

For example, open water swimming seems pretty dangerous, but the outcomes are (I would suppose) pretty binary. At the end you're either alive or you're drowned. I suppose that, rarely, someone almost drowns and is left partly brain damaged. But I think most of the time it's on or it's off. Motorcycling, on the other hand, probably maims far more people than it kills. So that makes it relatively more dangerous per hour!

But then you have to adjust by your risk factors. I am an extremely cautious driver. I stay in the right lane, I follow the speed limit, I try to avoid merging, and I check my mirrors. I do these things because, although I have spent a lot of time behind the wheel, I don't trust my fallible human perception and reflexes to take on riskier habits. I suspect, just based on the frequency with which I get into collisions compared to other people I know, that I'm safer than average. If I brought my driving attitude to motorcycling, it seems reasonable to believe that I'd be at much lower risk than the typical, weaving-in-and-out-of-traffic sport-bike rider. But how much so? Nobody has done any study that will help me guess. So, for now, I avoid it, and find fun in things that are less likely to leave me paralyzed.

Anyway, just some things that bumble through my head when I think about activity risk.

[perl4ever]

"For example, open water swimming seems pretty dangerous, but the outcomes are (I would suppose) pretty binary. At the end you're either alive or you're drowned."

Don't forget the brain-eating amoebas...

As far as motorcycles, in my opinion, the key is to remember that while motorcycles commonly have much higher power-to-weight ratios than cars, the simple fact they have only two tires means they are handicapped compared to cars when braking and cornering. So weaving and speeding is one thing, but don't tailgate, especially because something can go between the wheels of the car in front of you and surprise you.

I sold my motorcycle without ever having an accident and then I had two incidents in my car in the next few years where I would have been dead on a motorcycle because of other drivers' stupidity. So I'm probably not going back to riding.

[japhyr]

> If I brought my driving attitude to motorcycling, it seems reasonable to believe that I'd be at much lower risk than the typical, weaving-in-and-out-of-traffic sport-bike rider.

With motorcycling, there are a number of factors that significantly reduce the risk of a significant injury or fatality:

- overall experience as a rider - high-visibility clothing - professional training (ie a safety course) - age

When I started riding someone told me that most accidents happen in the first six months of riding. I don't know if that particular number is accurate, but that idea made me hyper-vigilant those first months of riding, and I sure learned a lot in that time.

I moved to Alaska in my 30s and sold my motorcycle, but I sure do miss it at times.

[foxyv]

I was watching a video by Trent Palmer talking about his friend who had crashed his plane. It really opened my eyes when he answered one question about who the most dangerous pilot was, complacent experienced pilots or low hours pilots. Pretty much he said "I am always the most dangerous pilot."

We try to rationalize why we are the "Safe" ones because we can't imagine getting hurt because we are different. The thing is, we aren't different. We can all make the mistakes or be sleepy and we can't relax our vigilance when we're engaging in these high risk activities. (Flying a plane, riding a motorcycle, driving a car, riding a bike...)

We always have to look for better training, equipment, infrastructure, and technology.

[perl4ever]

If everybody thinks they are above average, half of them are wrong, but half are right.

I pay about 60% less than average for my car insurance, it appears.

[lostmsu]

Not sure how is this related to parent point. That applies to any activity you do where you are in control.

[eweise]

I would think driving in the right lane is more dangerous on the freeway at least, because of onramps and offramps. I only drive in the left lane on a motorcycle.

[ijpoijpoihpiuoh]

Not to get too into the weeds, but depending on the stretch of road (frequency of onramps, and also the style), I might be one step to the left of the rightmost lane. Being in the leftward lanes isn't really an option at the speed limit, since I'd be blocking traffic, which has risks of its own.

[eweise]

my understanding is that going with the flow of traffic is safer than sticking to the speed limit.

[foxyv]

It certainly feels safer. But I could imagine how it would be MUCH more dangerous. It's amazing how much difference even 10 MPH can make in an accident. Stopping distance increases by 25% between 60-70 mph. Keep in mind that the kinetic energy of your vehicle goes up with the square of the velocity. This makes braking much harder at high velocities. Not to mention the damage of a collision is increased accordingly. Surviving an accident at 70 is a lot less than 60.

Also risk to pedestrians goes up REALLY fast. At 30MPH a car has a 10% chance of killing a pedestrian. At 40MPH it's close to 50%.

https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/chapter8/secti... https://nacto.org/docs/usdg/relationship_between_speed_risk_...

[asdfasgasdgasdg]

I'm not aware of any data that backs up this oft-repeated viewpoint.

[MandieD]

Yeah, downhill skiing fatalities are rare, but plenty of serious injuries.

[ghaff]

If by serious injury, you include things like ACLs, certainly.

If you mean broken legs, spinal injuries, etc. that's going to vary a huge amount by what kind of skiing you do. If you're a racer in Downhill events, that's one thing. (How many times did Lindsey Vonn seriously injure herself?) Add in high speed tree skiing much less more extreme off-piste skiing of various kinds.

But a recreational skier doing basic blue and black diamond runs with a fair bit of caution? It's pretty safe. Sure, you can wipe out on ice or someone can blindside you. Or you can hit your head--although many wear helmets these days. But, overall, I'm guessing the driving to the hill is more dangerous. (Often fairly long drives in winter conditions.)