Ultimately you have to come to a decision that both you and your spouse can live with. If she is honestly worried like you say she is then you should seriously consider getting out. It's not fair to her to have her worried like that every time you leave for a ride. It absolutely would suck for you, but you aren't JUST you anymore. Imagine the rolls were reversed and your wife had a hobby that had very real risks involved and you were worried for her safety. How would you feel if she told you to just suck it up and accept it? It probably wouldn't go over very well. I'm in the same boat as you. Wife, 2 small kids. My situation is a little different though in that my Wife used to ride her own bike (pre kids) and understands my love for riding and she has a real first hand understanding of the risks involved and is okay with me continuing to ride. I can say that I do get those pangs of guilt some times when I'm up before everyone else and leaving for a ride and knowing I won't be home until bed time. I work every other weekend as it is so our weekends together are special and it's hard to carve out enough riding time that makes the expense feel worth it. I've honestly considered selling my ST1300 for a Grom just so I can keep a bike around and keep my insurance valid but that I won't be upset if I don't ride much. I won't feel like a beautiful bike is sitting there not getting the riding it deserves and costing me what it does to insure and maintain. If I had the Grom the insurance would be super cheap and if I only put 1000km on it per season it wouldn't bother me like it does when I only put 3k on my ST. Then when the monkeys are bigger and don't want to hang out with their dorky Dad anymore I could swap back up to a bigger bike and not have to restart the whole insurance game.
I think you're doing the right thing by staying away from it. Motorcycles are wonderful and I've loved every minute on them over the past 22-23yrs but I wouldn't continue to ride if it was upsetting my family as you described. There are plenty of other hobbies out there to feed your soul. Just dabble in different ones until you find something you love.
Well put. The hard part is when the person opposing an activity is overprotective or has a fixation on what is dangerous. Those fears can be imprinted on young impressionable minds.
The chart doesn't include the participant hour rate but it points out a lot of other ways to die. Drug overdose and suicide are two that are hard to forecast. Of course death isn't the only consideration. A crash can result in catastrophic life altering injuries, para and quadriplegic situations permanently affecting the family.
The chart is also USA based where helmet laws are different.
A weird thought. If riding is the highest risk thing you do is there a tendency to let your guard down when doing less risky things?
Do you have an ATGATT attitude when climbing ladders, working with power tools, driving the cage etc?