Definitely! I don't mean to downplay the inherent dangers of motorcycling. My point is simply that motorcyclists, as a whole, skew less cautious than drivers do

Definitely! I don't mean to downplay the inherent dangers of motorcycling. My point is simply that motorcyclists, as a whole, skew less cautious than drivers do. So e.g. a rider who never drinks and drives makes up more statistical safety ground than a driver who never drinks and drives. I suspect that in the US, the lack of caution in bike culture is exacerbated by how relaxed our laws and regulations are (I've looked for data on this, but I haven't found great cross-country comparisons). We just don't impose on bikers in the same way we do on drivers. For example, we mandated ABS on all new cars nearly two decades ago, but we still don't require it on new bikes. In fact, even in the US, I suspect riders have European laws to thank for the safety features on their bikes. It can't be a coincidence that, for example, Zero Motorcycles began installing ABS with their model year 2015 bikes -- just in time for the EU law that went into effect in 2016.