There seem to be 3 categories of crashes. #1 I didn't watch what I was running over. #2 I was going too fast. #3 Another driver trashed me. It looks like 70-80% of "crashes" are #1 gravel/stones, a stick, an oil patch, a curb. Basically just stuff you CAN run over, but not carelessly. Very few seem to be "an SUV sideswiped me". It seems as if they are caused by a mind lapse for the most part. Just not paying attention to where their front wheel is going. I'd love to say "If you were obeying the speed limit it wouldn't have happened". But that doesn't seem to be the case in most dumps. Most are "I was dumb, and hurt my bike".
Then there are the serious ones. #2 and #3 crashes. I'd say at least half of them are going over the speed limit crashes. The other half are where "An idiot in a cage was involved" type wrecks. As for the going too fast ones.. If you are breaking the law and crash, it doesn't matter that much to me. Save it for the track. I'm not here to help you increase your skills to the point you can go way fast on public roads and not get hurt. You might not crash, but you will give me a bad reputation by breaking the law all the time. If you crash it will hurt my insurance, but maybe you'll learn. Go way fast on public roads and crash is ok with me. See Darwin's work on natural selection.
The accidents where you are tooling along and get squished by an idiot in a cage all I can say is ride scared. All the cages want to kill you. They are old and feeble, they are texting, they don't use their mirrors, they are in a hurry, or they are just dumb. Ride scared and keep some distance between you and them. Having them telling the police "I didn't see him" isn't going to help you a bit when your bike is totaled and you are dead or paralyzed. You are not Superman, your bike is small and fragile and so are your bones. Ride scared! There is a very small percentage of "a deer jumped out in front of me" but it is very small. I won't address acts of God/Karma because there is little defense from them besides gear.
If you pay attention to what your front wheel is about to run over you avoid many crashes. If you keep your speed legal you avoid many more. And if you ride scared you avoid many. This is why you run into some old guy that has been riding for 40 years and never really had a wreck. It is also why some young people have had 3 already. It isn't just luck. Use your brain.
Enough of a rant. Feel free to correct me..
- Joe