Your anti-bike rants are wearing a little thin Jeremy. So please just back the hell up and dribble on about cars will you. Please leave the bikes to people that understand them and who do not have to question other peoples sexual predelictions, in an attempt to cover up your own obvious flaws.

Rob Colligan, Merimbula, Australia/NSW

I just read my post and it sounded weird. What I meant to say that if a divine being would give me the assurance that I'd live until the age of 100 by leaving biking; I might think about it. As it is I don't know if I'm going to be run over by a car as I walk to lunch tomorrow and I don't think about it. If you keep thinking about how fragile your life is and how everything (driving jet cars, performance cars, aviation) is so dangerous, you will end up staying at home for the rest of life and that is kind of dying if you ask me. Sorry for the second post.

Murat O. KANPAK, ISTANBUL, TURKEY

I have read ALL the comments - interesting and mostly obvious - just one that has not been mentioned - the view. Motorcycling in the Alps is wonderful - car-driving in the mountains is pathetic and possibly more dangerous if you try to crane your neck to see the views.
Having so much power under your hand is too tempting for most of us given the dangerous environment we ride in - but TRY to ride carefully everyone!
Perhaps a helpful tip is to try to have a different goal from speed in riding, e.g. enjoying the view, or a smooth ride, a polite ride etc.
PS Vangelis - bikes do not corner (or stop in the wet/gravel/rubber/grease/oil/dust/leaves etc.) better than cars - don't fool yourself. Have fun!

Les, Ramsgate, UK

"Riding a motorised bike is like playing Russian roulette."

And...... Do you really think people who ride dont know that they are at danger if people are happy to let THEMSELVES be at risk let them i know i'd be more happy dying on a fast bike than in a slow bed when im 70.
Also i think drivers should be made more aware of bikes and to act around them when they are on the road, if someone cant pull out without seeing a bike then they need to retake they test.

martyn, leeds,

Concur with Jeremy. My 42 years of motoring, IAM membership and as an approved driving instructor tells me this. Riding a motorised bike is like playing Russian roulette. It is only a matter of time before someone pulls out at a junction without looking, or you hit ice on the way to the nearest tree. Give me some metal around me any time. And cost! For the price of a decent superbike you can buy a nice small hottish hatch, and keep dry and warm too. OK you might not get the same adrenaline rush so try bungee jumping or aerobatics.

Chris Hanley, Newcastle-under-Lyme, England

Motorbikes are a stupid idea. Fact. My Granddad has one leg shorter than the other, and a giant metal pin through the short one because of them. His two sons have almost had just as stupid and needless accidents. Cars are fun, but should only be used for fun at race-days on tracks where it is legal to speed - as Jezza and the TopGear crew always point out. Day to day driving is simply about being in a nice comfortable environment while getting from A to B. Not about the thrill of whizzing about padded in leather on a machine which doesn't stay standing upright while it is stationary.

RC, London,

Jeremy,
I hope you stopped and told the mother of that child that she needed to take propper control of her child. That happened to me once (I too was being careful) and the mother had a go at me, The cheek!

Ellis Smith, Halifax, UK

So, who sniggered when they saw the Bugatti headline? I wonder if that driver was 98% certain too ...

Thank goodness nobody got hurt.

Starling, Lancaster,

Yes, one day I may get off my bike dead, but every other time I get off it I feel more alive than when I step out of any car. Jeremy, you'll never get it...because you don't do it.

Scot Maclachlan, Taunton, Somerset, England

The headline 'I saved a girl's life in this' should really be 'I nearly ran over a little girl in this'.

Philip Braide, Plymouth, UK

Jeremy, If slightly over 5m people died in Britain last year the entire population would be turning over ever 12 years. Nobody would reach the age of puberty. Or is the illegal immigrant situation even greater back home than the news media is leading me to believe? The country must be burying 100,000 corpses per week. No wonder the roads are clogged with slow moving traffic. You should be road testing hearsts rather than Bentley Continentals as the demand and need is surely far greater. Where did you get that statistic from and can I ever trust your 0-60 mph figures again?

Ian, Vienna, Austria

why be so mean?
the article was great, i love the car, although would not be able to comment on how it drives due to having a provsional only (too young!), and also on a students part time wages, i daresay it would take me about 30 years of hard saving to even get near enough to purchase one.

nice to know that you now also have a sense of kiddies, they're the future you know.

Danielle Kay, Ipswich, UK

If you had been driving at 30 you would have past the girl before she stepped out.

Will, Porsgrunn,

Come on Jeremy, we have all seen the stupid things you do on TV! Its for the same reason we love motorcycles, its great fun and nothing else. Bikes are for fun not getting from A to B like most cars.

Martin Stanley, Hull,

I can't believe bikes are dangerous, it's the combination of bad driving and lack of respect for the next person that comes into play here. Yes you are more exposed on a bike and yes if you come off, it's going to hurt but what the hell...better than a bicycle. Yes Johannesburg is dangerous, so is Cape Town, in fact being an ex Cape Tonian myself, I think drivers and after dark situations are far worse in the Fairest Cape, or Cape Town itself - The Mother City.

Glynnis, St Johns, Surrey

The comment on Belgian road awareness and safety concerning young children struck a real cord with me. South Korea - where I live - has an unbelievably blase attitude towards kids and cars. It's not unusual to see toddlers with no belt and face inches from the front windscreen; just as common is parent's letting their kids poke their heads through the sunroof on the motorway.

matthew french, GWANGJU, S KOREA

Its bigger than a Chelsea Tractor, probably uses more fuel and makes more emissions and could only appeal to an up-market chav like Jeremy. On his own emission (sic) he is mainly attracted by the label on his Volkswagen!

Michael Organe, Godalming, Surray

bikers dies because they are less protected than car drivers, not because they drive badly...........just wanted to type that myself to see if it still sounds ridiculous. yes. it does. can i be the only road user that sees bikers driving round corners on the wrong side of the road every weekend? overtaking on the left? racing each other? of course there are bad car drivers but i honestly believe that in the biking fraternity it is almost compulsory to behave like an idiot. i jusy know somebody is going to say something about a "tiny minority" but don`t waste your time, cause i see them everywhere.

andy, leicester, leicestershire

You say you don’t get motorcycling; ‘playing a lottery where the prizes are small and the cost of failure is just gigantic’. You are correct, you don’t get it.

The risk of dying is around one in ten million kilometers ridden. I’ve been playing those odds for nearly thirty years and if can still swing a leg over the saddle fully intend to play them for the next thirty.

The rewards go far beyond your sterotypical idea of what biking is all about. It's a pity you don’t get it because it means you are missing out on what more than a million UK riders know to be a great experience.

Nich Brown, Coventry,

Funny how you have to travel to the other end of the earth realise your own immortality, as a South African we deal with it everday.
I lived in London for 2 years and was always amaized at the uproar when someone was killed or murdered, but I suppose that is how a civilised society should be.

Craig, Johannesburg,

The problem with bikes is car drivers, who are responsible for 50% of bikes accidents.

Speed is not an issue, 75% of accidents happen below the speed limit and only a reason in about 5%.

Having ridden since I am 14 (soon to be 43), I can say that like pilots, there are bold riders and old riders, but not many old and bold riders.

As for dying on the road it sucks, but still less people die on the roads than people dying in hospitals because of contracting infections or medical malpractice. It is actualy quite amazing that so FEW people die on the roads considering the amount of car use.

P. Giraud, Woodford,

I work in a transplant team and the sad reality is that bikers are referred to as donor cycles. The thrill of the risks involved seem just too much for many bikers and time and again at work we witness the phenomenal emotional damage that 10 seconds' worth of 'buzz' wreaks. The strong consolation to Jeremy's story is that witnessing the loss of one life managed to safe another; which is frankly the only positive counterbalance to bereavement of this kind.

Juniper, Edinburgh, Scotland

I know that riding a motorcycle has always had a terrible price for mistakes, but the pleasure has always been enough to cancel this out. Keep in mind that two thirds of "bike" accidents are caused by other vehicles and one gets another perspective. I often think that if all drivers were forced to ride a motorcycle for a year, then they would all become far more competent and respectful drivers.

Ian Todd, Auckland, New Zealand

Errmm - lovely story - shame about the facts:
1) the death rate in Britain last year was less than 1 million.
2) the most dangerous form of routine travel in this country per mile is the pedal bicycle. (Admittedly, hang-gliders are more dangerous per mile, but not too many commute on those!) Motorbikes are dangerous, but it is unpowered cycles which should be banned as excessively dangerous both to the cyclist and other road users.

Desmond Persaud, Wimbledon, London, UK

5 million people died in a country of 60 million? So life expectancy here is about, what, 12? I don't think so.

Anyway, glad to see you seem to be developing some sort of conscience.

Ben Hutchings, Cambridge,

You mean to say you have been driving on roads for years and at great speeds without realising you could do damage to yourself or anyone else with an attitude of I AM THE ONLY ONE ON THE ROAD....what a dope you are!!! education you may have....common sense you have not. (Psst, the thing is, it really shows on Top Gear..dope!!)

Brian Taylor, Poole, UK

Ah but Jeremy, all men die but not all truly live!

Speno, Kingston, Jamaica

I remember, 60 years ago, a statistic being published in Britain that you were nine time more likely to be killed on a motorcycle than in a car in the event of an accident. Since then, cars have become much safer with integrated chassis, anti-lock disc brakes, seat belts, and airbags just to mention a few of the improvements. Motorcycles have improved too, but not to the same extent as cars have. It makes you wonder what the death ratio has climbed to now. Drive carefully, you "knights of the road"!

Barrie Collins, Long Sault, Ontario, Canada

smart american! scary thought though, motorbikes are a hobby of many of my girlfriends family, and her uncle not long ago was very badly hurt in a motorbike accident... he's still recovering.

Andrew Bell, Belfast, UK

Bikers die because they're less protected than people in cars. Not because they drive badly.

Yes, you do have biker loonies (with a death wish, obviously), but most of the loonies on the road are those who drive cars.

Starling, Lancaster,

According to the latest Government statistics (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/PopTrends126.pdf), "The number of deaths which occurred in England and Wales in 2004
reduced by 5 per cent to 513,000 compared with 2003."

Jeremy claims that "Last year in Britain, slightly more than 5m people died." Britain isn't England and Wales - and 2004 wasn't "last year" - but unless 4.5m people died in Scotland (almost the entire population) or there has been a massive increase in deaths generally, then maybe Jezza's got his facts wrong. Again.

Sam Tana, Preston, UK

...and 75% of all accidents involving bikers are caused by the inattention and just sheer bad driving of car/van/lorry drivers. Funny how that bit of the statement is always left out....

Deryck, Scarborough, UK

re: 5 million deaths. Probably just a typo. A quick look on the national statistics website shows that the number of deaths in the UK last year would be around 500,000.

JL, London, UK

Jeremy - just stop being such a big jessie.

Bikes - you either ''get'' them, or you don't. You clearly don't.
Yes, there's a chance you'll die, but an absolute certainty you'll feel very very alive with every throttle-twist.

A question - After Hammond and the jetcar, and May and the Veyron, aren't you the SLOWEST of the TG triumvirate?

Neg Richards, Beds, UK

I wish I could have everyone here in Belgium read this article.

More than twice the number of people die on the roads here every year compared to Sweden where I used to live before, which has roughly the same population. And when you see the Belgians entering a street without even looking if they have the least notion of having the right of way, pressing up at you from behind at full speed on the motorway so closely you think they'll get stuck on the hitch, or when you see other parents outside my childrens' school shoving their kids in the car both front and back with no belts or kiddie seats to be seen (worst I have seen was putting an unbelted four-year-old in a convertible with the TOP DOWN!!), it's easy to see why.

The government here in Belgium just decided to try to halve the number of road deaths. Oh, please, any UK FCO ministers reading this: Use some foreign aid money to have Jeremy's article translated and plastered onto every windscreen here.

Jonathan Newton, Vlezenbeek, Nr. Brussels, Belgium

Hi Jeremy - if you are 98% confident that the road ahead is clear before overtaking, you only need to overtake 35 times to have a 50% chance of at least one accident. Overtake 100 times and you are 87% sure to have an accident. I would suggest you take Keith Manton's advice and change that 98% to 100% permanently.

Ollie, London,

Jeremy - My wife is South African and has happily escaped. We have visited many times and to be honest driving in SA full-stop is a health hazard. Next time you're there you better brush up on your anti-hijacking measures. Driving in Melbourne on the other hand is bliss - would love to see the team down under some time.

M. Scalzo, Melbourne, Australia

Dear Richard Cannon of Ashford, Kent, UK. I am sorry about your daughter.

You may however, be relieved to know that those boy racers didnt get their foolhardy tendencies from Mr Clarkson and Co. because, well, James Dean never watched Top Gear, did he?

Pete, Cov,

Dear Jeremy, i'm impressed you're writing about slowing down. To be up front: I've never given more than a few minutes to your wildly popular programme.
A couple of years ago my teenage son was in the back of a car involved in a fatal car crash: a young driver was killed. A nightmare time for the boys and all those who loved them. Thankfully my son was lucky: he made a complete recovery, apart from PTSD for a while (which counselling and good friends helped with).
Like so many men and women, young and older, he loves the thrill of being behind a wheel and going fast, but he was shocked by your programme focusing on the glory of doing a 100 mph on country lanes.
And I loathed your programme's macho ethos. There is enough anger and heartache without it.

Yeh, we all go too fast some of the time. It's easy to sit in a car: today's great mask, and feel powerful and treat others badly. When you get out and need to be a person with flesh and bones: there's reality.
best wishes.

Lauraine Leigh, Newbury, UK

It's very true, one small mistake on a motorcycle and it's all over. i'm 21 and i've been riding since i was 16 and had my first major crash before christmas which made me re-evaluate alot of things after the realisation of really how easy it is for everything to go wrong especially when you're trying to control a twitchy machine with 1000cc, and 180 bhp when it weighs little more than a rather fat man 381 lb. However, that said, motorcyclists are by far the best drivers mainly because those who aren't die very quickly.

Derek, Aberystwyth, Wales

I have to travel 50 miles each way to and from work, Palmers Green to Reigate. North Circ, A13, M25. How? Car, 180 minutes each way. Rail, too expensive and cancellation-prone, as every halfwit knows. Motorbike: 60 minutes each way, carefully filtering through the stationary queues most of the time. (Bentleys, Porches, BMWs, see you later, suckers.)

Plus, driving time is dead time. Riding, you're alive.

John Dempster, London,

It is true that life is terribly short and sometimes it is hard to see the reason for taking extra risky activities such as motorcycling. Yes it is much more dangerous than driving, it is not necessarily a death trap. You learn to take responsibility for your own and others' actions because you are not coccooned in an airbagged ABSes, safetycaged car. If someone, or something, a divine being, whatever, could give me the assurance, that I'd happily live until the age of 100, I might think about giving up biking. Who/what can give me that guarantee though? If I gave up biking, I would be giving up one of the few things that give me happiness; so I might as well be dead (well, sort of). So I weigh this against the possibility of dying in a bike accident; I decide I will keep on doing it. Instead of thinking of death, I try to manage the risks. I try to learn something from each mistake that I (or someone else) does and refrain from doing it again (hopefully).
Just my 2 cents....

Murat O. KANPAK, ISTANBUL, TURKEY

"But dying in a motorbike accident seems so completely futile."
Any death, on/in any vehicle, is totally futile. By the time motor manufacturers wake up to this fact (and don't tell me that their "safety features" so readily touted in advertising is any effort in this regard) fossil fuel will have been exhausted. Then the whole idiot cycle of more power, more speed will start with the next fuel source, and the hence too, the mayhem.
Until that time arrives, the motorcycle will impinge on our lives more and more. Fuel prices will rise further as availability tapers off, and the modern need to cover great distances will continue. The economy of the motorcycle under these conditions will ensure their emergence from the luxury "boy's toy" to the affordable transport of the future. The potential for mayhem is immense.
What is required NOW is the realisation by all manufacturers that no matter what they do to make their products "safer", making them faster will only lead to more "futile" deaths.

Chris Baytopp, Durban, South Africa

Jeremy, I enjoyed your article as usual but take issue with you being 98% sure the road ahead was clear before overtaking. That comes across as rather cavalier although I appreciate you are (probably) a good driver, along with the other 98% of all men. Also that the remaining 2% of the time when you overtake and the road is not clear the result is not necessarily a fatal accident involving a huge vehicle with it's deadly cargo and a bus queue outside an orphanage.

AW LUKES, Salisbury, UK

what a prime example of doublethink -- don't you mean "i endangered a little girl's life in this"?? surely if you hadnt been driving that car as she went past, her life would not have been in peril!

AL Brown, London, UK

just several days before the chinese spring festival,four person lost their life in a bad traffic accident near my company,a car drove by a drunkard ,the overspeed car knocked down the poorly passerby,and the murderer run away ,left the blooding person on the street.
life was so frail,the passerby should take care ,and what's more ,the driver must control the speed ,with the two aspects of effort,the traffic accident will be lessened more or less .

sunny , guangzhou , china

All very poignant stuff. But you say "You’re playing a lottery where the prizes are small and the cost of failure is just gigantic. And I don’t get that."

But you do get doing 300mph+ in a jet car, or going for a joyride in the back of a Lynx over Basra, or doing 240 mph down an airfield runway in a bit of garden-shed engineering (ever wondered what a 200mph+ blowout and barrel roll would do to a supercar and its driver, without the benefit of roll cages, helmets or neck braces?).

Your appreciation of risk is dramatically skewed. Riding a motorcycle is perhaps the most dangerous thing I do on a daily basis. But on average it's safer than riding horses, and people are happy to let eight year old girls do that. If it was like playing Russian Roulette, I wouldn't do it either. But it isn't. I'm still much more likely to die lonely and miserable, drooling uncontrollably in a nursing home, than I am to die on a motorcycle.

You really do need to overcome your irrational fears, Jeremy!

Ken Haylock, Carmarthen, Wales

You lot are twerp:
1) Keith - You need an education in Risk - there is not such thing as 100% certain.
2) Jason - A bike is only as dangerous as the rider - I'll tell that to the Bloke who pulls his car out infront of the next biker
3) Brad - Like Jeremy said - if he'd been doing 30mph he'd have hit her - that was the speed limit no doubt.

Face it, there is a risidual risk that we all accept in our lives and driving/biking is just too damn convenient to do without. I once had to go to the police station in Kuala Lumpur and was faced with a wall of mutilated odies in accidents - was enough to make me think - Damn good idea Jeremy!

Alistair Morrison, Perth, Australia

Its too easy to go too fast and fit into the smallest gap.

Bikers often criticise car drivers, but you watcher a biker drive when they are in thier car instead of on thier bike and they are often the same as any other car driver.
Lets face it cars and bikes don't mix well on the same road.

Most people who ride , fall off at some point and that is the way it is.

Maybe it is riders who need to slow down on the road and make the assumption that they have not been seen.

After 15 years on a bike and in a car, I try to distance the thrill from the bike and leave the frolics for the track

Harrinder Dhatt, swindon, UK

I must digress that Clarkson's heightened sensitivity towards death is moving, and his anecdote with the girl adds tremendous effect to his message. However, for the article to plunge into a rather technical review of a car that advocates excess power (as a substitute for safety) is rather crude.

I can see where the advantage of 15-inch disc brakes enters the picture, but why should one buy a car built for speed if safety (and massive discs) is also a priority? And why doesn't Clarkson make any mention of safety features about the car to tie it back to the introductory story. Justice would have been served if, at least, there was simply a mention of the little girl or the man in South Africa at the end of the article.

Beyond a doubt, Clarkson has said the essentials about safe driving behavior and mentality, but his lack of relating this message to purchasing the right car weakens his concern. If we bought reasonable cars and drove them maturely, the roads would surely be safer.

Daniel Moss, Manchester, UK

Could it be that purile, paper wasting Clarkson is finally maturing beyond adolescence?

Richard, Shanghai, China

5 million people died in Britan last year? 10% of the population? I don't think so.
Time Mr Clarkson switched to ethanol!
It's still a lovely motor...............

AMLeahy, Yucca, California

I sadly lost a daughter, with her partner, in a motorbike accident some 10 years ago Twenty five, beautiful and no ones enemy.
I see where you're coming from and it is the case that often one can say "Serves them right" etc.
But every person killed in any accident is someones wife, husband, son, daughter or other. It is they who suffer and on a personal basis, the pain is just as much now as it was when Louise was killed.
I still go past the spot quite often and it is a reminder I could do without, to take my driving more responsibly and never forget how fragile life is and how just one small error of judgement, or foolishness can spread disorder and sadness to so many people.

But, I still watch the antics on Top Gear and love the programme having great respect for you all, but seeing some of the boy racers around, I just hope they didn't get the idea from there!

Richard Cannon, Ashford, Kent, UK

I couldn't even bring myself to read the rest of the article after the opening. It really is amazing how we hear statistics of dead and wounded in wars and think nothing of it, but when we see one person's life snuffed out in their prime, it affects us deeply.

JP, Edinburgh,

Jeremy, if you are going to overtake into an oncoming trafic lane, is it not prudent to be 100% sure it is safe, not 98%?
I have addopted that philosophy for many years with well over a million miles in several countries under my belt to very good effect.

Keith Manton, houston, usa

J. C.
Love your stuff, keep it up.

Derek Brown, Baton Rouge, LA USA

No Jeremy! Push the button labelled "Think" and you will know that your figure of 5m people (dying in Britain last year) is utter cobblers.

There's about 60m of us. We live, on average, at least 60 years. Which means that roughly 1m of us kick the bucket every year. (I seem to remember the actual figure is under 900,000, but one of your researchers will find the answer in seconds. )

Peter Schaefer, Stockport, UK

it took having my own kid for me to slow down when i see a child. really brings home the possible realities...

Dom, Swindon,

Jeremy, I really do love your articles and wit, but speaking as a biker and a motorcycle mechanic please just get off our case. Wouldn't you have more fun attacking the greenies than us? A bike is only as dangerous as its rider. Same goes for any vehicle. I enjoy my 916 for what it is - a stupendous piece of stunning Italian engineering that deserves care and respect lest it rip my head off in spectacular fashion. You, Jeremy, seem to keep seeing the bad side of our hobby, the "squids" and "stuntas" who decide they will ride like twits on public roads, and make up the vast majority of the statistics. IF a hormone-filled 18 year old could walk out and buy a 600hp supercar for less than £10 000, you'd see just as much carnage as you do when a hormone-filled 18 year old hops on a 450lb litrebike with 180hp. I'll keep reading your articles and overlooking the jabs at bikers, all the while knowing I'm enjoying something utterly incredible and life affirming you can never hope to experience.

Jason Cormier, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

It's the way they ride. Sharing a road with a biker is like sharing a room with a hyperactive toddler. He's here, he's there - no he isn't, I've lost him, Help! He's six inches from my back bumper! Now he's trying to overtake on the inside, now it's the outside, HE'S GOING TO HIT THAT VAN, thank God my brakes are good, oh please, please, please make him turn off....relax, he's off at 130 mph into the distance...

Frank Upton, Solihull,

I just wish he'd stick to commenting on the car and forget all the other nonsense.

Gerry Watts, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

So its taken you 40 odd years and a trip to Africa to realise that kids run in front of cars so you had better slow down..................

Brad, Bradtown, Ihoa

First of all, I want to assure everyone here that I absolutely adore top gear - to the extent that if I have to miss it I will get it recorded!

But, back to the car, isn't the whole point of a Bentley, and other such cars, not to be seen? A drop-top seems very weird, following that logic, but even so, most Bentley owners would not have to drive themselves around - they'd have chauffeurs.

Again, isn't it weird that Bentley made such a great-performing car to sell to people who'll never appreciate it?

P.S. Although I recognise that what I'm about to say isn't true of all bikers by any stretch of the imagination - we saw a couple of bikers a couple of days ago and they were going ridiculously fast - really, for some bikers it's their own fault (not all, I stress once again!)

Douglas Henderson, Fleet, UK

I'm a biker and a bike instructor. I had a Harley Davidson as my hobby and a row of Kwakers as my work bikes. I am dedicated to teaching biking skills for survival and I weep inwardly when I see some of the riding demonstrated by people getting an adrenalin rush in rush hour traffic (pun intended by the way). Each dead biker has either done something daft or failed to aim off for someone else being daft. Think and trust to nothing and you will survive.

Badger, Corby, Northants

JC refrained from allowing for all the people, badgers , frogs and toads sqashed , maimed and killed by the millions of miles travelled by journalists testing cars and motorcycles worldwide in his lifetime..perhaps the child wanted to see a car so opulent and grotesque she forgot the peril she and world were in ..or perhaps the colour blinded her . It is folly and we wont have hindsight til its too late , shes gone or the leaves dont come back on the trees. Theres still time to become a Buddhist monk me ole China ..

Chris, So Portland , Maine, USA

Hang on a second!!

Clarkson is definitely big enough and ugly enough to stick up for himself but he has hardly turned in to Blair because of his comments. He has suggested nothing in the way of 'nannying', he has merely pointed out what many of us know to be true that through no fault of your own you could have a fatal accident. Many of the crashes that occur in a car without so much as a stiff neck or a bruised sternum would/could cause horrible injuries or worse.

The message I took is that reducing your risk-taking whatever vehicle you are in charge of is sensible and possibly life-saving.

I understand why people love bikes - but calm down dear...it's only an article!!

Mark, New Jersey, USA

Jeremy,

You should just give biking a shot. Join Hammond and rent a bike and do some easy off road riding. Until you ve skidded around a corner, done a little jump and gone up banks no car would make it up, all within half an hour of sitting on a bike for a first time, it is hard for you to see why biking is fun. My girlfriend and her friend managed it, so you should be able to too! The immediacy of the experience can never be matched cosseted in leather metal and steel.

Harry, London,

During my training as a nurse I have stood by and watched the heart wrenching decision someone has to make to turn off a life support machine.
This was the lives of young motorcyclists.
I always said to my two sons if you bring a motorbike home I will drive my car over it and then reverse over it aswell..........harsh dramatic words and I'm sure they both thought I was bonkers.
Maybe they will understand and accept the fact that motorbikes are extremely dangerous when they read your article .
Life is very precious and to put it at risk for a thrill is unacceptable.
I'm glad that you saved that little girls life by reducing your speed, maybe you should advocate it more on your television programmes.

Ann Smith, Harlow, uk

in Mexico, the families of road casualties put up crosses made of metal at the sites of their loved one's deaths. The crosses are about two feet tall. One thing about driving in Mexico is that there is not a lot of money for signs, so if you see a sign that says slow down, you definitely slow way down. A cross has the same effect; occasionally there are several crosses which tells you that this is a VERY DANGEROUS area and to be very careful. I am beginning to see this in the southwestern United States where the Mexican influence is growing. The tragedies can have a beneficial effect on the living.

Bruce Dearborn Walker, West Haven, Connecticut, USA

The road to which Mr Clarkson is referring is well known in JHB for breakfast runs - bikes and cars are regularly at 200km/h and over on this strecth of country road. I don't know whether this unfortunate man was part of a 'run' or just commuting between nowhere and nowhere else, but it's a bit pointless to argue about what's safer at 200km/h....

Stuart, Johannesburg, South Africa

well, at last!
Did you say you saved a child's life - or was it that you stopped driving inadequately in close proximity to pedestrians. Hopefully this feeling will stay with you the rest of your life, that your life has been charmed enough not to have any shunts up till now, and that you will keep your safetly hat on from now on!
Just one dead sighting? I've seen several deaths on the road in UK and continent, am your age, and started driving more carefully when I had children.
I run a small bike to get me to work and back - does 100 mpg, saves space on the road ( and the planet a little). I ride defensively but keep your eyes peeled for me - and tell your powercar mates to as well!

chris dainty, Amersham, bucks

Jeremy,
You know that giggle you have when you've driven something fast and it brings a smile to your lips? I get that every time I am on my bike. I make allowances for all those people in cars who don't have any concept of how fast I can accelerate and I drive as if I am invisible. I don't intend to become a statistic or a cross on a morgue sheet but I do intend to carry on riding for the pure pleasure it gives me, not to mention the time I save every day commuting...now that is something money can't buy. How about having some bike events/reviews on Top Gear? Great show - never miss it!

Jim Harris, York, Yorkshire

Gosh !

I've heard some sanctimonious drivel in my time but for the self-proclaimed enemy of the nanny state and lover of all things fast (bar Motorbikes .. natch) to pontificate in this manner is quite astounding !

I wouldn't want to accuse Mr Clarkson of hypocrisy .... self delusional double standards maybe ?

Mal, Lytham, Lancashire

"I saved a little girl’s life in this"?

Sorry Jeremy, but NOT running someone down and killing them is not the same as saving their life.

Michael Wolf, Vancouver, Canada

Just a small point, I believe the death ratelike in most countries in the west is about 1% per year. At a population of 60 million, about 600,000 people died in Great Britain last year.No need to scare people any more than you have to.On a motorcycle, the potential of death enhances the life experience and you become more cautious and appreciate life more.Cheers 1

Richard, calgary, Alberta, Canada

I'm sure that leaving the body in place will make a few people stop and think, however, my first dead body was my brother's, on a hospital bed. That was bad enough. To have his mangled carcass on display in a hedgerow would be too much for me. Too much for his friends, too. I have many biker friends and I wouldn't want to have to pass their mortal remains on the way to work, particularly if the maggots move in. I've seen the pulsating carcass of a badger and it's quite repulsive, I can assure you.

Irene Bujman, Wedmore, Somerset

If Jeremy Clarkson was listening to Radio 2 in the morning, could he be a TOG?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/wogan/togs.shtml

Kavan, London, UK

5 million died in the UK last year? So our mortality rate is 1 in 12. The highest in the world. I don't think so.

Peter, London, UK

Bikers are more honest and honourable than drivers. Their mistakes kill them, where drivers' mistakes usually kill other people.

Perhaps drivers should be required to spend some time on two wheels- pedal cycles would be an even cheaper option without the learning curve- to get or keep their licence. Anything to teach them to respect smaller, less well protected, road users.

Ian Pattinson, Manchester, UK

I'm a car mechanic and on Thursday I'm going to funeral of a former apprentice of mine. He was riding a Honda Fireblade, a ridiculously powerful machine, when a horsebox pulled out in front of him. On impact the bike burst into flames and he burnt to death. He was 29. A few years earlier his Brother died a similar circumstances as did his father before him. I'm no fan of the nanny state but when you wind your bike up to 150mph think "what if" first.

David Bowall, Redhill, United Kingdom

My friend there is a saying (usually expressed by american chopper hungers) that goes "if I need to explain to you, you wouldn't understand it anyway". But I 'll try to anyway. Motorcycles have different way of being safe than cars. Par examble they allow you to avoid objects (badly driven cars most of the times) because the speed, stop, turn and corner better than most cars. Plus they can pass through a 80 cm oppening in a hazzard, saving you ass. If you know how to. What they don't do is provide you with that fake feel of security that cars do with that metal cage around you. Which is the very element that hits your head in a crash killing you.

And the experience of 15 years on the saddle can meke me swear in writing its worth the difference.

Vangelis Vangelatos, Athens, Greece

Hmmm Mr Clarkson biker baiting again....I'm biting though.

As someone who is happy for "his" tv show to showcase base jumping, parachuting and 300mph jet dragsters it's a wee bit hypocritical to attack those of us who get our adrenaline fix through two wheels. We already know it's dangerous, in some respects it's part of the attraction.

Given his usual vitriolic hatred of the nanny state, why is Mr Clarkson such a card carrying nanny when it comes to bikes? Is he slowly turning into a Blair....?

Ian, Nr Alton, Hampshire

In my biking days a wise old biker once asked me in Canada: "Son, you’ve been down?" “Yes sir” I respectfully replied. "Good", he said, “ ‘cause there're only two types of bikers: those who've been down and those who are goin’ down".

Rupert, Somerset West, South Africa

Of course the risk of riding a motorcycle is greater than driving a car. Still, I ride a (fast) bikes every day and love every minute of it. I'm 54, keep my bikes in good condition and have been driving a Subaru Impreza GT for four years. Even that car doesn't have that punch as even a small bike has. Compared to a real fast bike you need to think Ferrari or Porsche. Unfortunately the price of cars with that kind of performance is way out of my league. So, maybe I'm more at risk on a bike, it's the motoring thrill I can afford.

Frits van Straten, Well, The Netherlands

Two trips to South Africa and only one dead body. Sounds like your doing alright to me.

Stefan Barrow, Johannesburg, South Africa

I don`t usually read Jeremey Clarkson.More of a Guardian man me. But having just read his article on bikes, I have to say two things. Firstly he`s a damn good writer and of more import, his words on bikes are so true. Life to short to go flying without a plane. You might make it, but in a city you`ll hit a wall. Or on a bike, one day another object. Not worth your life.

stephen bluestone, London,

a 30mph accident in a car with another car is an inconvenience, a 30 mph accident on a motorbike is potentially life threatening. I'll sit in the traffic thanks....

jamie, tokyo,

I'm 49 and have been riding bikes my entire adult life - not just as recreation, but at various periods for commuting as well. My wife rides her own bike, my adult kids have ridden and will have my support (and concern, of course) if they choose to take up riding, and yes, I've had aquaintances, colleagues and friends die from biking. I've had accidents myself - every one of them avoidable.
And I love riding. I ride according to the conditions, my 2 bikes and riding gear are in excellent condition, and I expect that car drivers will not be looking out for me. Riding bikes enriches my life.
I'm pretty fit and healthy, and I'm confident that I'm less likely than the average old man to cost the tax payer a fortune in medical expenses due to my own negligence. I'm sure I'll be riding bikes until such time as I'm not physically able to.
Cars don't excite me in the same way. Admire, enjoy, appreciate, yes. Excite...you have to pay a fortune to get anywhere near the performance from a car that you will get from any number of common road bikes.

Dave, Mount Gambier, South Australia

Ha! So here's why I ride a 1100 Kawasaki. I sail past queues of traffic, watching carefully for like-minded riders doing the same in the opposite direction, I can park at work in the smallest space plus free parking in town, I get 50mpg, road tax is £65, I've got acceleration to match all but the most expensive supercars (for under £8000), I pay no tolls on my local road bridge, and enjoy the camaraderie of thousands of other bikers who acknowledge each other on the open road (only ever seen Chrysler PT Cruiser folk do that on 4 wheels). Ride defensively, and watch out for the corners!

Grahame Veale, Newton Abbot,

Jeremy.
How many people a year die of smoking related illnesses and heart problems due to inactive lifestyles?
Probably quite a lot more than die in motorcycle accidents.
I will still be riding my motorcycle around, long after you have keeled over due to years of smoking, drinking and not exercising.
Yours a non smoking, non drinking, motorcycle riding gym member.

Alex Miller, Bristol, England

As the owner of one of about 400 Phaeton W-12s in North America -- a number that will never increase, because VW has pulled this car from the market here -- I appreciate Jeremy's comment about the Bentley's origins.

I consider the Phaeton/Bentley to be an automotive I.Q. test. Whoever has the Bentley version is an idiot, and whoever has the Phaeton is a genuis. Natureally, I am a genius. But I've always known that.

Charles P, Seattle, Waashington, USA

The Times should take more care than to publish a figure for deaths in 2006 that is ten times the real one.

And it would be nice if Jeremy Clarkson remembered the days when he was read because he was a funny and talented writer.

Ian Spencer, Gloucester, UK

A thought-provoking article. I'm verging on calling the comments on biking being dangerous hypocritical, given that cars on Top Gear that get good reviews tend to have a predilection for lift-off or power- oversteer - surely one mistake in one of these could see you playing a harp just as easily? But I'll hold my tongue in this instance because the statistical evidence is just so alarming. It would be interesting to know, as someone else has remarked, what fraction of those 20% were found to be at fault.

As regards the dead South African, my thoughts go out to you. Somebody was pushed down the stairs in the bar that I work at this week, and suffered a broken neck as well as catastrophic head injuries. He's currently on life support, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Strange how the second-most common event in the world still has the power to shock.

Ruslan Kuybishev, Cirencester, England

Whether or not the accident was caused by an idiot car driver is immaterial. The fact is, he was on a bike with no form of protection from the high stakes gravity game into which his body was flung. As someone said, it takes a certain kind of bravery to ride a bike, which is true... Except that it isn't. Bravery is a term usually reserved for those people who climb over their fears in order to accomplish an altruistic goal. Puttering around on two wheels while sporting masochist gear which is wearing you for protection, all in the name of self-fulfillment, is not brave. It's, at best, odd. My thinking is that if you want to drive around looking like a twat, generally acting like one, and are aware of the risks and stigmas involved, then more power to you. Hopefully the medical student who gets to take you apart appreciates the sacrifice you made in the name of science. Wow, just like Marie Curie!

Darren Baker, Barrie, Ontario, Canada

After over 40 years of riding bikes, and a couple of seasons of racing them, I'm still here. I wouldn't take Jeremy's figures as gospel either. How does he know that it wasn't some idiot car driver who wasn't competent to drive that was responsible for the fatal accident that he saw the aftermath of? Lets face it Jeremy, you just don't understand bikes, and perhaps you're not really brave enough to have a go. That's your choice. Don't try and foist it on me though. I don't criticise you're favourite overweight, slow, gas guzzlers. Don't criticise my favourite means of getting from A to B and enjoying the bit in the middle. Many young people kill themselves, and more importantly, others, in their deafeningly stereo laden hatchbacks.

Geof Staples, Port Erin, Isle of Man

Jeremy's statistics on biker fatalities is probably sadly) correct. However in 19 of those 20%, the biker probably was not at fault.

The main problem with bikes is that they appear from behind far faster than a car driver expects. i.e. Check you rear view mirror and there's a car behind. Go to pull out to overtake and find there's now a bike behind you about to pass you.

Luckily bikers have got into the smart habit of driving with full beam headlights on at all times. It gives them the visibility they badly need. I gladly let them past.

Mick, Dublin,

JC is an entertainer - we read/watch him because he is very good at being an entertainer. Cars are his medium/subject matter. It is not prudent to take his expressed views seriously - they are presented to entertain, no more no less.
If one wants rational/objective arguments, read something else.

Jay, Leicestershire, UK

I've never driven a car that's as much fun as a decent bike and that includes my Jaguar XJR. Try it. You might like it.

Although the image of you in tight leather that's just flashed into my mind was one I could have lived without.

Andrew Thomas, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire

3 points on the above comments, 1) Jeremy has said on many many occasions that speed does not kill, bad driving (of which excess speed is often a factor) kills 2) it was the actual thought process of seeing the girl and slowing down that saved the girl not tottering along at 10 mph in all conditions and 3) nobody said the bike was actually speeding when he crashed (although I admit he probably was).

I understand your views on bikes, I really do, but you do so many daft and dangerous things on Top Gear that I can't help thinking that somebody riding a bike slowly and defensively is a lot safer than you. The problem with bikes is not that they are inherently dangerous but their size and manoeuvrability allow them to be ridden in a manner that is dangerous on Britain's crowded roads.

Chris , Beijing, China

Actaully speed is a main factor in just 7% of accidents...The main reason for crashes (in the UK anyway) is actually bad driving! To be honest, Ive seen more crashes caused by people driving too slowly!

Barns, Cardiff,

I must protest- Jeremy, As much as I enjoy your column, could you stop bashing bikes. As a lover of speed and handling in fast cars you understand what its like to feel totally in control of a machine.

Having watched your excellent piece on the awesome Bugatti on 'Top-Gear' I would like to make an analogy- Riding my bike (a 1000cc Kawasaki) would be like owning that car- it has a visceral (or eviscerating according to yourself) effect. I can't afford a Bugatti but I can afford it's riskier counterpart.

I subscribe to the defensive riding tactic of assuming I am invisible to every other road user. This I guess is harm minimisation. Also, I do all my racing on a track.

Regards

iain s , sydney, Australia

nice to see that at last a a member of the motoring press has at last seen reaiaty. All speed kills be it at the track or on the roads. All it takes is a split second and then you are gone. RIP Biker. Hope the buzz was worth it.

Paramedic, London, UK

Approximately 3000 people die on our roads annually. Here's how to reduce to less than 1000:
ban motocycling, raise minimum driving age to 21, reduce drink and drug drive limit to zero, introduce random testing for alcohol and illegal drug use - 5 year ban for offenders, enforce higher braking standards into the MOT, make run flat tyres mandatory, ban on street parking, restrict driving hours, mandatory annual eye tests including periferal vision.
Easy really.

NickJ, Bristol,

I think you guys have missed the point Jeremy was trying to make. He is not having a pop at motorcycle riders. His is just saying that in a crash, motorcycles riders have little chance of surviving or emerging without injury. Your better off in a car which has at least some health and safety features.

Piere, Preston, Lancs

I sold my bike after the first month in the A&E department working on twisted people on what were bikes. Their fault or not did not make much difference to the outcome. I miss the bike, but not my children. Good deal any day for me.
Fortunately NHS is not killing 5% of the british population yet, but will soon when the new doctors reforms are implemented this August by the Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt, too late for Tony to take credit for that.
Emigrate!!

Dr. J Grover, Wroughton, Wilts, England

For forty two years I have ridden a motorcycle all that extra living rather than being stuck in a traffic jam, I figure that if I went tomorrow I would still be ahead by quite few years.
As for the 5 million dying traffic congestion shouldn't be a problem should it.

bob, london, uk

Just as well JC doesn't have an honorary degree in medicine either as the spleen is one organ that you can quite well live without. Whilst often needing to be removed if ruptured following a motoring accident, it's one organ that won't need replacing by the transplant surgeons...

Dave, Birmingham,

Jeremy how many people have you driven past who have been squashed to oblivon inside their tin boxes on wheels? No doubt many, its just that they werent lying on the road in full view. Out of sight out of mind and all that.
What is it with Clarkson and motorcyccles? what has he got against them? He himself, in his out and out glorification of speed and power, through influencing the wrong types,has probably been indirectly responsible for many deaths of motorcyclists by morons in cars who have watched his antics on the road.

R. Rodgerson, Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear

Jeremy, maybe the car driver or lorry driver who pulled out and squashed the poor biker should have slowed down too...
Most bikers are killed by people like you, car drivers. Most pedestrians are killed by people like you, car drivers and guess what? Most other car drivers are killed by people like you too, car drivers! Pity you haven't realised that yet, but then, why would you?

Karl B, Singleton, UK

Doesn't Jeremy normally go on about how speed doesn't kill, yet here he is saying that he thought twice about overtaking and could have killed the girl (he did say he saved her life) if he was going any faster. He is actullay changing his mind for once?

Jonathan Bicu, London, UK

Motorbikes: It's because the cost of failure is so gigantic that they are fun. Surviving is winning.

Johann, London,

Doesn't it look bland? Atleast the coupe has a nicely sloping roof...

Haricharan, Chennai, India

Jeremy Clarkson, with virtually any car in the world at his disposal, telling us not to buy motorbikes is a little like Bono, the billionaire, telling us to feed the hungry. It may be a valid point, but, coming from him, fails to take into account the relative finances of "them and us" (assuming most readers are as poor as me, of course).
If I could afford a Ferrari, I probably wouldn't have bought a motorbike.

Tim Alexander, Gdansk, Poland

"Last year in Britain, slightly more than 5m people died."

Err... luckily Jeremy wasn't looking for one of his honorary degrees in demography and just as well we've got all that immigration then, or we'd be extinct as a nation in 14 years or so. The real numbers are:

650,000 births
614,000 deaths (about 1 in 200 behind the wheel of a car FWIW)

so that's + 36,000 (before you add the entire population of Lithuania and Krakow to the total.)

Paolo Bagarino, Roma, Italia

"Last year in Britain, slightly more than 5m people died."

Dont fancy the odds much, glad I emigrated.

Ian, Bangkok, Thailand

Couldn't agree more about bikes, they are always scrapping them up on sundays round our way. The cost argument is rubbish as you can buy a car as cheap as bike, i've never known anyone 'forced' to buy a bike as they couldn't afford a car, what rot. Mate in the ambulance service calls them 'organ donors'...

dave c, bognor regis, west sussex

At last, the boy racer says something thoughtful about speed.

Andrew, Basel, Switzerland