Motorcycling = selfish?

[skeetly]

I guess everyones seen the bbc crash map by now.
It led me to this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8344025.stm

Married, kids, dogs cats.
Am I being selfish risking life and limb on what is really just a hobby?

I'm sure this has been asked before. The answer is no, it's not, unless you're deliberately riding dangerously.

[hindle8907]

Originally Posted by metalangel

I'm sure this has been asked before. The answer is no, it's not, unless you're deliberately riding dangerously.

Yes it has lol and its not really a question to ask a bunch of bikers lol ...
As we Inc me will tell you no its not ....
The number one saying... You can get hit by a bus crossing the road but you still cross dont you . is that selfish ?

Originally Posted by metalangel

I'm sure this has been asked before. The answer is no, it's not, unless you're deliberately riding dangerously.

Seconded.

And looking at my locale, the percentage of car deaths far outweighs the percentage of bike deaths.

Obviously, this doesn't take into account the proportion of cars/bikes on the road, which is another set of figures and discussion entirely.

[Dave20046]

I think it's selfish, if I had the above commitments I'd have to rethink - whether or not it'd stop me I don't know.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by thedonal

Seconded.

And looking at my locale, the percentage of car deaths far outweighs the percentage of bike deaths.

Obviously, this doesn't take into account the proportion of cars/bikes on the road, which is another set of figures and discussion entirely.

Does that take into account the number of bike crashes there were and how many of them resulted in death against a car's statistics?
I have a feeling that statistic will be pretty grim.

Originally Posted by Dave20046

Does that take into account the number of bike crashes there were and how many of them resulted in death against a car's statistics?
I have a feeling that statistic will be pretty grim.

Looking at a few of the marked places on the map, the majority of them are single car/teenager accidents or multiple car accidents. But again, I guess this is because there are more cars on the road.

There's some higher factor probability that you'll be hurt or killed IF you crash your bike vs crashing your car. Not to forget that it's a lot easier to have a single vehicle accident on your bike.

I just got married (To a very lovely woman!) and have a baby girl due in May and I still ride, I don't think it selfish at all.

As a car is NOT an option to get to and from work in Central London every day and I could just as easily be killed on the train or while walking through central london from the train station and crossing all those roads as on the bike only on top of that I'd spend twice as long commuting and have even less time with my child when it's born, so no, I don't think so at all!

Originally Posted by skeetly

I guess everyones seen the bbc crash map by now.
It led me to this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8344025.stm

Married, kids, dogs cats.
Am I being selfish risking life and limb on what is really just a hobby?

I read this article earlier this morning and was going to post it.

I really can't understand why you think that motorcycling might be selfish. Surely the selfish person in this case was the drink driver who killed the rider.