It's not the motorcyclist's fault: the data proves it

The motorcyclist is the victim, not the culprit: the data that breaks the stereotype

Road common sense carries a prejudice: the motorcyclist is a reckless daredevil looking for an accident. Accident statistics flatly refute this: in collisions between a car and a motorcycle, the rider is deemed at fault in only 25% of cases, while in nearly 60% the accident is caused by the other vehicle. In other words, the person on two wheels is usually the vulnerable party, not the careless one.

Accumulated experience is no kinder. There are known cases of motorcyclists killed at 15 with their parents riding behind, or rear-ended at a traffic light. Another example: a fully capable driver, on a straight road in good weather, ended up crashing into a pole at 100 km/h because of a small stone on the asphalt. He spent two weeks in a coma; his helmet saved him. No one who gets on a motorcycle is free from that kind of chance.

Riding on two wheels obviously carries an objective risk. But the problem is not the group itself, but sharing the road with cars. A veteran motorcyclist describes needing "twenty extra alarms" compared to a car driver, because someone else's mistake is, literally, a matter of life or death.

Given that asymmetry, the question of who the real danger on the road is should answer itself. It won't. As long as the car remains the standard, the stigma against motorcyclists will persist. But accident reports will keep telling a different story.