Riding a motorcycle amongst CA drivers is taking on a significant injury risk.
The efficiency gains of a motorcycle vs economy car aren't that significant and the emissions are worse.
The efficiency gains of a motorcycle vs economy car aren't that significant and the emissions are worse.
Although many motorcyclists do ride well maintained, quiet machines responsibly, there's a minority who modify their exhausts to increase noise and pollution in pursuit of a little more power. The noise levels can be ridiculous!
Personally, I can't wait for electric motorbikes to take over.
Loud motorbikes are very bad for your own hearing and disturbing everyone else's peace, but it does make you safer as cars can hear you come. Except if they are playing some loud Metal on the car stereo.
My car would be more noticeable (and therefore safer) if I held my horn down while I drove around.
I've lived in enough metro areas to know loud bikes are low on the list. There's plenty more annoyances. God forbid you live near an airport, hotel (idling diesel buses), or a plethora of other annoyances.
The emissions are worse, but not worse than older cars that are still legal to drive.
More than in anywhere else? Citation needed.
I ran the numbers for myself. Statistically, the amount of time I save per day by riding a motorcycle in San Francisco heavily outpaces the number of average life-minutes lost due to the risks of riding a motorcycle.
Those are the minutes spent stuck in traffic vs the minutes spent being dead. Some people might want to use a weighted model here.