The numbers are based on #of accidents/registered vehicle/kilometer traveled.
For example if in state A
3 accidents/50 motorcycles/5,000 miles
and state B,
6 accidents/100 motorcycles/10,000 miles
By taking the numbers this way, eliminates the influence of the absolute number of a type of vehicle.
Quote:
So motorcycles had 2.4 percent more likely of fatalities. That might be an impressive statistic if it was much higher.
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I am not sure of your intent here. In MSF class there was much emphasis on the high ratio of motorcycle fatalities compared to cars. The ratio was 34 to 1.
Quote:
Per vehicle mile traveled in 2004, motorcyclists were about 34 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a motor vehicle traffic crash
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If you take the absolute percentages it is going to be something like 3.4% motorcycles, 1% scooters, 0.1% cars. So the difference between motorcycles and cars is also a not very impressive 3.3%.
The problem with quoting the difference in absolute percentages is that many people will mistakenly think you are saying that they are 3.3% more likely to get killed on a motorcycle than in a car but that number is really 3,400%.
In my opinion MSF has it right to emphasize the danger.
P.S. I have a Kawasaki Ninja so I am a motorcyclist anyway with two scooters.