Here’s a nice infographic slapped together by Sutliff and Stout (a bunch of motorcycle accident lawyers.)

If you take a good look, motorcycles are overall involved in few accidents, a product of there being fewer of the vehicles on the road than automobiles. The accidents that do happen are mostly due to irresponsible riding — speeding, drunk driving, not knowing what the hell you’re doing, not wearing decent gear… The big difference between a motorcycle accident and a car accident: you crash on a bike, you’ll get hurt. Simple as that. It might not be life-threatening (I broke a should and pranged a toe pretty badly in my first motorcycles accident…I haven’t had another, but I’m sure it’s lurking out there in the murky depths of probability.), it might be a serious injury (I’ve known two people that got mangled pretty badly but recovered), but you’ve nothing between you and the idiots. Like skydiving, rock-climbing, or jaywalking — it’s dangerous.

But it you pay attention to your surroundings, wear proper gear, and don’t ride stupid you will most likely get through your motorcycling life without serious mishap.