My friend rides a motorbike. He has always ridden a motorbike. He loves it and he doesn’t think twice about the risks. A couple of weeks ago he took me for a ride on the bike, and my muscles are still sore from holding on for dear life! The sensation of riding was great fun, but I won’t do it again unless I really have to.

Despite having had a motorbike license since before she had kids, my mother is a worrier. She hasn’t been on a bike for over 30 years and, for 2 weeks after I told her about our little jaunt, she went to the trouble of finding, tearing out and saving an article each week for me from the West Australian newspaper about the risks and current local injury and death toll for motorbike riders.

All three of us know the risks of riding a motorbike. We’ve all enjoyed the thrill of riding motorbikes at one time or other. We are all intelligent people and we all know how to reduce the risks of having an accident but only one of us is likely to get on a bike again, ride fast and expose himself to those risks. The question is… why?