Is 'safe motorcycling' possible? Or, to rephrase the question: Is it possible to ride a motorcycle 'safely'?
If you take a dictionary definition of 'safe', then 'no' you can't - as 'safe' means an 'absence of risk'
There's no two ways about it: ride a motorcycle and you expose yourself to risk.
The same goes for all activities, the key to surviving them is to be aware of the specific risks, and manage them.
A little while ago I 'celebrated' 30 years of motorcycling (and next year it'll be 30 years involvement with rider training!). I was challenged to create a simple - no more than 20 words - philosophy for anyone who wanted to ride that long.
This was my reply:
Develop 'healthy' paranoia. They're not (usually) out to get you, it just seems that way. Ride, enjoy today, again tomorrow.
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I find the dictionary definition interesting, as I maintain it is impossible to be alive and be completely without risk. So we all have to live with reasonable risk, and the assessment of what is reasonable is a very interesting topic.
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