edt wrote: ↑Fri Aug 26, 2016 11:16 pm
it's impossible to grade sports that finely. You can pour over the statistics as much you like, but everything gets measured differently. The most you can do is grade them in order of magnitude, so something is about ten times more dangerous. With that said, That said here's the levels
(edit: I'm changing bumping up how dangerous motorcycle riding is due to some stats and arguments people have made in their responses)
tier 0, you have death wish. Only two sports for this very special category, death rate somewhere around 1 in a 100
wingsuit flying, Isle of Man Motorcycle racing
tier 1, everyone has friends that have died and you know if you keep doing it your number is gonna come up. There's a special element to this section, you are either underwater and can drown or up in the air and can crash or an animal is trying to stomp you to death. A lapse of concentration can be fatal. Death rate somewhere around 1 in 25,000
underwater cave diving, traditional climbing, paragliding, hang gliding, ultralight aircraft, helicopter skiing, bull riding, base jumping, conventional motorcycle riding
People in tier 1 tend to block you out when you explain how dangerous it is, and explain how they are different and special. But when they get married and start a family suddenly they remember hey this sport really is dangerous and switch to kiteboarding instead.
tier 2, this is the sweet spot of sketch, exciting enough to feel a little on edge, but not so dangerous you have to make your will every time you head out death rate somewhere around 1 in 250,000
kiteboarding, bmx or downhill bicycle, whitewater kayaking, motocross, motorcycle racing
tier 3, sports that are usually safe, something has to go wrong to get killed doing these things
wakeboarding, windsurfing, skateboarding death rate somewhere around 1 in 1,000,000
tier 4, we finally reached the category of sports where you are probably safer off doing a sport like this instead of sitting at home and playing it on your playstation, so you are more likely to get cardiovascular benefit from doing the sport and it makes you have less fatalities not more.
swimming, running, soccer, basketball, basically all the other sports.
If you look at it reasonably you have to understand there are very few sports in the world which are as dangerous as kiteboarding. And that's ok. At least we're not wingsuit flying and I think we understand there's risk and don't try to downplay the level of risk.