Want a statistic to use to sound smart or for an answer in a game we got you covered here. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2017 statistics, “the number of motorcyclists killed in crashes dropped by 3% to 5,172. That still might sound like a lot of deaths per year, but compared to some activities that others take part in every day, riding on two suddenly seems like a better plan. So we here at AMERiders decided to dig around and find out what could possibly be more dangerous than riding a motorcycle and found a few that made our list.
1) Tobacco Still Taking First Place
Still, think it looks cool to smoke? Think again. The number of deaths caused by smoking is still climbing – 480,000 total. Plus, of those who survive, count on having 10 fewer years to do any of the things you love, including hugging your grandkids. And yet you will find that a lot of bikers do smoke. So if you know a biker that smokes or you are a biker, know this your smoking is more dangerous than riding your motorcycle go figure.
2) Our Daily Drink
Coming in a solid second place is alcohol. Excess drinking leads to over 88,000 deaths in the US. Might as well go for a soda.
3) The Flu
80,000 people died of the flu in 2017. Seems even more preventable than bad driving and yet here it is.
4) Drug Overdose
Sad but true, but the number of Americans dying of drug overdoses has continued to climb, reaching 70,200 in 2017.
5) Second-Hand Smoke
To date, being friends with someone who rides hasn’t proven fatal, but hanging out with a smoker could kill you. Second-hand smoke caused 41,000 deaths in the US alone. It also made our list of things that are more dangerous than riding a motorcycle.
6) Owning A Gun
So much for safety; owning a gun is more likely to kill you than save you. In 2017 there were 39,773 gun deaths in the US, two-thirds of which were suicides.
7) Distracted Driving
Eating a sandwich, shaving, finishing up a PowerPoint, even watching a movie-these are things people do when they drive, but texting is still the winner, claiming the lives of 9 people per day!
8) Having Sex
Not only are the rates of STIs on the rise, but there are still, on average, 23,000 people dying from sexually transmitted infections every year in the US – and we thought it was all fun and games.
9) Falling Down The Stairs
Before you go bumping up your steps count on your FitBit, you might want to reconsider. Falling down stairs results in the deaths of approximately 12,000 Americans yearly.
10) Falling Out Of Bed
Keep one eye open: Worse than taking the stairs is sleeping too soundly. Apparently, a “fall involving a bed” has killed 10,386 snoozing Americans.
11) Household Hazards
The thing with poison is that it could be just about anything. Seems a lot riskier to be in your house among all those potentially hazardous substances than out for a ride, to the tune of about 33,000 deaths yearly.
12) Driving A Car
Commuting to work isn’t just dead boring, there’s also a 1:103 chance it’ll kill you, as opposed to that motorcyclist who just passed you who has a lesser likelihood of 1:858. They’re also having more fun!
13) Going For A Walk
It’s good for your health to walk, or is it? Based on 2018 projections from all fifty states and the District of Columbia, the Governors Highway Safety Association Executive Director Jonathan Adkins stated that “While we have made progress reducing fatalities among many other road users in the past decade, pedestrian deaths have risen 35 percent.” That’s again higher than riding with a 1 in 556 chance that it won’t be the best idea you had that day.
~And as always…
~Live Free Ride Hard~
~AMERiders
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