Here is an interesting study on motorcycle riders conducted by Consumer Reports.  It is pretty consistent with my riding experience.  I have over 5 years, consider myself an “experienced” rider.  I do fall in the 10% for single vehicle accident in the last 5 years, not much damage to the bike, just my ego.

June 6, 2010 – Consumer Reports conducted a survey of U.S. motorcycle riders recently and found that 70% of the respondents “consider themselves to be experienced riders and have held their motorcycle license or endorsement for at least five years”.

10% of the respondents said they had been in an accident within the last five years, and reported that almost half of those were single-vehicle crashes, with many of them either running wide on a curve or sliding out in a turn.  This is consistent with the Hurt Reportinformation from nearly 40 years ago.

Slightly more than half of the riders responding to the survey said they had taken a formal riding instruction course, and about 25% indicated that they do not always wear a helmet when they ride.

The report also found this information about the respondents:

• Only half reported regularly wearing protective boots, and less than half said they regularly wear gloves.
• About 25% said they always wear a leather or other protective jacket when riding.
• Fewer than 10% always wear protective pants or clothing in high-visibility colors.
• Three out of five riders admitted to riding in a short-sleeved shirt, and about 25% said they rode in shorts.
• More than 33% of all accidents resulted in a painful road rash and almost 25% involved broken bones.

More information on the survey can be found in the Consumer Reports Car Blog.  Note that the respondents to this study were not from the general public but from Consumer Reports readers, so there may be some bias in the results.