How dangerous is motorcycling?

Alpinestars SMX-4. I have some waterproof touring-style boots from Hein Gericke aswell, which serve their purpose of keeping your feet warm and dry brilliantly, and are much more comfortable to wear off the bike, but I have no doubt I would have destroyed my feet if I had been wearing them in that particular accident. Then again, if I had been wearing my commuting gear I wouldn't have been tear arsing around trying to get my knee down in October and wouldn't have crashed in the first place. Swings and roundabouts! The Alpinestars took minimal damage on one foot - a dent in the toe region which is more like a line than anything else, they're not deformed. And I assume as I dislocated my ankle my foot took the brunt of the impact. Pretty amazing really. They still work great for me years later.

Out of curiosity, how many of you ride with extra armour under your motorcycle clothing? So the back protectors (though many seem to be zipped into the jackets by default anyway), chest protectors, etc. I've seen some upper-body armour which covers wrist, elbow, shoulder, chest and back for about £200-£250 or so. Would it be a worthwhile investment?

Any statistics on the most common places of injury on crash victims?

It's very difficult to say how dangerous it is because there are far too many factors involved.

Example, a family friend is now in his 60s, has ridden bikes for 40 years, and still rides far too quickly and takes a lot more risks than I would on my bike. In 40 years he has had precisely 2 accidents, one where he hit a patch of ice at about 20mph and one where he left his disk lock on as he tried to ride away.

Then at the other end of the spectrum was about 8 months ago a lad who lived in the same village as me, 22 years old, had his bike license for just under a year, and having ridden with him a few times I can say that he was one of the most careful, most sensible riders I had ever ridden with. He was knocked off his bike and killed while commuting to work.

So yes it can be extremely dangerous, but you do learn a lot of ways to minimise the risk. You become extremely good at observing what other motorists are doing, learn to always try and put yourself in a position where you can safely react to the actions of another vehicle, and generally keep yourself pretty safe. But at the end of the day there is only so much you can do, you can't eliminate the risk, you just have to do your best to minimise it.

Personally though, even though it can be dangerous, even though I know people that have been killed or seriously injured while on a bike, I can't see myself stopping riding any time in the future.

*EDIT* Also, I've been riding for almost 3 years now and in that time I've been involved in 2 accidents, one when I hit a patch of gravel while going around a bend at 30mph, and once when I locked up the back wheel at 110mph at Castle Coombe. Only injury was some minor tendon damage in my right wrist, and that was from the 30mph off!