....POK posts a bbc link about Cudicinis accident?

Sounds quite serious to be fair. Broken wrist and pelvic injuries described as “possibly life changing”

A friend of mine died in a motorbike accident a week or so ago, they are death traps.

I wish you a full and swift recovery Mr. Cudicini.

i broke my hips and pelvis it is life changing this is why im retired.

I can remember reading, when I was still quite young, that there is 1 death for every 80,000 miles of motorcycling, and 1 death for every 1,500,000 miles of car travel. I made my mind up then that I wouldn't ride a motorbike. If you travelled an average of 10,000 miles per year those stats would mean your turn could come around after 8 years on a bike, or 150 years in a car. I know that isn't quite how it works, but you know what i mean.

I'd like to see the statistics for ages. Riding a motorbike safely is all about experience and riding sensibly. Go crazily fast if you like but do it in the right place in the right conditions. I've ridden bikes of various sizes all my adult life and the only accident I had was entirely my fault. and never included another vehicle. Most times I've gone down the road on my arse has been at a piece of road a few miles from here called Donington Park and there ain't any telegraph poles or kerbs to hit there. I've done 176 on an empty 4 lane motorway in Holland but in town you'll never see me go above 30 - 40 mph.

In town you have to ride paranoid. Assume every car hasn't seen you and keep your concentration levels very high. Sometimes in a car you can drive miles and miles on autopilot but never ever does this happen on a bike. When you pass a junction you don't just look at the car, you're looking at the driver and what he's doing: does he look like he's going to pull out, has he seen you? etc. You have to always assume the worst and give yourself an way out.

This is the sort of stuff you learn to do over the years and the sort of stuff that 17/18 year olds don't know when they jump on a machine capable of 160 mph+.

Precisely why so many young bikers die, their inexperience kills them. But no matter how well you ride your bike, if a car driver makes a mistake, involving a motorcycle, it's almost certain that it will be the biker who is hurt or killed, and the car driver has a damaged car. Those stats I quoted, are probably still relevant now almost 40 years later, and if anything may be even worse, not because bikers are poorer motorists, but because of the inbuilt fragility of the vehicle.