You were absolutely right until you said “By the way, still safer than getting pinned in the wreckage of a Geo Metro while you bleed out, or in a Prius as the battery pack shorts through the chassis... and you.”
US fatality rate per 100,000,000 miles driven.
Motorcycle 24.10
US all vehicles, all drivers 1.5
passenger car male driver >20 0.75
passenger car female driver >20 1.56
I’m not claiming to know anything about the Prius but I googled Prius + accident. There is an automatic relay that shuts off the power at the battery if the air bag deploys.
Having been on site as they cut someone out of a Metro only to have them bleed out before they could get to the victims, I’d say that you need to do some observation.
As for automatic relays... they don’t always work in a crash. That’s why fire departments are having to train up on hybrids specifically because of this issue.
Also, seeing as how there’s a large number of idiot kids on bikes as well as idiot newbie middle-age-crisis riders out there, I’m not surprised by those stats. That *should* come down as the squids and the RUBbies lose their taste (and cash to pay for) their toys.