Modern Vespa

National motorcycle crash data from 2019 shows that "there were 2,495 fatal two-vehicle crashes each involving a motorcycle and another type of vehicle. In 41 percent (1,034) of these crashes, the other vehicles were turning left while the motorcycles were going straight, passing, or overtaking other vehicles."

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813112

A lot to absorb. Thanks for posting.

Lessons to be learned.

Wonder how many single vehicle scooter/ motorcycle fatalities -- rider NOT impaired?Helmet and without?
O.S.

same.

and the 30% not licensed mentioned above which were probably lost for speeding or drinking ...

definitely a lot of Darwinism going on (and a bit of bad luck for some). I hope no one gets offended by this

Darwinism. Have you been in urban cities where packs of crotch rocket bikes are passing cars like they are standing still? Passing you doing wheelies? Lane splitting at frightening speeds? It's no wonder. I for one think Europe is right giving out provisional licenses with cc restrictions for new riders. 1000 cc modern bikes are often 150 hp. No beginner should be on one of these. As a rider, you must be hyper vigilant and assume every car is going to hit you. It sucks but you have to keep your guard up.

Bad numbers for us two wheeled lovers.

Insurance agent recommendation. Because the chance of injury or death
is high for M/C scooter riders the coverages that protect you are expensive.
Further, due to this they allow you to wave the coverage. Not smart to
wave these coverages.

All you need for the Medical Payments coverage is enough to cover
the deductible on your health insurance if you have a medical plan.
Select a $1000 deductible for Medical Coverage.

The most most misunderstood coverage is Uninsured/Under insured coverage.
Essentially, if you are injured or killed in an accident caused by the vehicle
that hit you (referenced by the above posted statistics) you get paid
for injures that exceed the coverage by the party that hit you had or if
they were uninsured.

Lets see what this means. You get to collect from your policy excessive
medical bills, wage loss, and pain and suffering from the at fault party
if your loss is more than their coverage or they we uninsured.
If you died, your dependent survivors could collect your loss of income
to until your normal lif expectancy.

Keep it simple, buy the shit out of this coverage. You have to match
your liability coverage to this coverage. Liability is not important because
M/C scooter do not hurt many or cause much damage to the other vehicle.
But, your body is more important.

Example, if you were injured or killed you could collect a bundle.
Further example, you are 50 years old making $35,000 a year in
income. You get killed or permanently injured. Life expectancy
is 78 years. Your family could collect what limit of coverage you
bought. If you bought $500,000 in uninsured/underinsured your
family would get $500,000.

Please buy a combined single limit of $500,000 or at least
$250,00 of this coverage.

You are not going to get hurt in your cage car. You are going
to get wacked on your bike.

Bob Copeland

yup yup yup.

here in Victoria Australia we also limit bikes that newbies can ride (and a few exceptions)

https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/licence-and-permit-types/motorcycle-licence-and-learner-permit/approved-motorcycles-for-novice-riders

Some are/were lost licenses, sure, but there's a lot of people here that don't think they need to get their motorcycle endorsement. I've heard it from younger riders as well as the older ones, just with slightly different rationale.
Younger: "I've been riding dirt since I was a kid. I know how to ride, I don't need to pass some government test."
Older: "I've been riding for (x number of) years without a motorcycle license. I'm not stopping now. If I'm not grandfathered in, well... I should be."

I usually just quietly walk away, take note of what they and their bike looks like, and avoid them if ever again I encounter them on the road.

Bob Copeland, Thank you for explaining this, I will look at my coverage tomorrow. Meanwhile, percentages on these accidents do not really change much from year to year. You have idiots in cars and idiots on bikes. As Bob mention, the biker rarely hurts some one else and every year a fair amount of bikers get killed/ hurt from a cager taking a left hand turn into them. The same kinds of accidents happen over and over again. This is why a MSF course should be mandatory for any new rider with the possibility of having to repeat if enough traffic violations are issued. Before anyone on here thinks I'm nuts, most states require some sort of driving course for new car drivers with them having to attend a more demanding course if they have gotten too many tickets. Why should riders be any different?

Thank you Bob for that point of view of the insured motorcyclist.

In short:

Get your license. Watch your speed, esp in congested areas and with respect to side streets. Limit your night time riding activities. Don't drink and ride. Watch for cagers turning left in front of you... from side streets, from traffic lights, etc.

Do these things, and you substantially decrease your chances of a crash.

^^^ Agreed.