There were additional studies, all of this along the lines of safety, that took a closer look at accident rates for bikes.
The study looked at WHERE bikes are ridden vs. just how they are ridden and by whom.
Sport bikes tend to be ridden closer to urban areas where traffic is more dense.
Cruisers, particularly the most popular variant, touring bikes, tended to be ridden out of metropolitan areas where traffic is sparse.
Unfortunately, insurance companies and legislators lack any sort of common sense or imagination.
It's just easier to lable sport bikes as "unsafe" and cruisers as "safe" and legislate accordingly.
Strangely enough, rider skill plays very little into the thinking of what constitutes "safe".
I would much rather see a concentration on rider education.
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"I do get tired of reading,'my buddy is a racer and says the Buell will never work' I always want to say 'Who the F*CK is your buddy and is he faster than Shawn Higbee?"
--Erik Buell
 
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