Higher age does not mean that someone has been riding for many years, and high number of years riding does not mean someone is experienced. Even people with loads of years and experience may be practicing the same bad skills over many, many kms. Example: I'm 44 and am in my 5th riding season. I've taken courses, practice in parking lots late at night, and ride 12-15000 km per season without touring. I consider myself a newb and read as much as I can find about technique and riding theory. Guy I work with has been riding for 20 years, has never taken a course, rides 1500 km in a "good" season (but holy cow is his bike shiny), and still doesn't know which tire track to ride in on multi lane roads. The "I've been riding since before you were born" argument only holds up if it is backed with real experience and effective technique. I very easily could have been a statistic a few nights ago when an idiot on an SS essentially lane split with me while he was passing a truck on a 2 lane hwy. The issue larger than him passing against a solid line, up a hill, was that he lane split with me GOING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS! Stats tell one side of a multi sided story, and can easily be manipulated to show bias. This article also leaves out the deaths in relation to motorcycle involved accidents. For a multitude of reasons, riding is not always safe. There is technology that makes it safer, techniques that make it safer, courses, experience, etc, but with so many variables, it will never be 100% safe. The same can be said about walking, driving, boating, sleeping, f****ng, whatever, but this article is about riding. Moral of the story: Do what you can to not become a stat.
