You can explain that in multiple studies on the cause of motorcycle accidents, an overwhelming majority of accidents are caused by the error of the rider. While there are exceptions, you are largely in control of whether you are in an accident or not. For every 100 fatal motorcycle accidents, 82 involve clear rider error. Of the remaining 18 where the driver did something wrong, a careful rider STILL could have avoided the accident in about 2/3 of them. Leaving only 6 out of 100 that aren't preventable if you are smart.
There are three major studies I'm aware of: The Hurt Report, the MAIDS Study and an NHTSA study. I've summarized them in
my blog. There are some easy conclusions to draw from the studies that can make you much, much safer. Once you review the studies and come up with ways you can ride safely, and talk about it with people who are warning you, I think your friends and family might see you are taking it seriously and understand that riding risks can be managed to a lower level. Here are some things you can do to SIGNIFICANTLY reduce your risk, as supported by scientific study of the cause of accidents:
*Take a course on motorcycle safety. (92% of those in accidents were self-taught or learned from friends.)
*Wear ATGATT. Strap your helmet.
*Don't drink and ride. (67% of fatal motorcycle accidents involved alcohol.)
*Wear bright clothing. (White helmets reduced accidents by 37% over dark ones.)
*Don't speed. (Speeding motorcycle 7x more likely to cause death than speeding car.)
*Don't ride like an idiot and learn from mistakes. (1/2 of those killed had prior incidents. Of all fatal accidents, 27 percent were the cyclist driving too fast for conditions, 15 percent failure to keep in proper lane or running off the road, and 5 percent operating in reckless manner.)
*Get a license and keep it up to date. (24% of motorcyclists killed didn't have licenses.)
*Slow down for intersections. Of the small percentage that were the driver's fault, 2/3 were failure to yield right of way in an intersection. Knowing this (and knowing that the ninjette can slow from 30mph to zero in the width of one intersection) you can avoid most of the "Sorry, I didn't see you" accidents. Be very careful in intersections, and don't go more than 30mph if there is a risk of someone pulling out.