I've always liked "Ride like everyone else is trying to kill you, because they are."

Myself, I'm a cyclist, but a lot of motorcycle rules and bike rules overlap.

Definitely, the common theme is you're on the outside of the vehicle and any impact is gonna be really personal.

I actually feel far safer on a motorcycle than a push bike, because I have much bigger contact patches, far better brakes, stickier tyres and the ability to out-accelerate almost any kind of trouble. I'm also wearing at least half leathers and a proper full face helmet.

As a rider myself, I don't understand that philosophy, and I've never seen another rider follow it, even when they claim to. Certainly, if you believed that, you would never be within a mile of any other vehicle on the road.

"The Matrix Reloaded" featured a 30 minute action sequence showing what it's like when a tiny fraction of other drivers are actually trying to kill you. Spoiler: without Neo swooping in to "do his Superman thing" and save you, you're dead, even if you've got automatic weapons and kung fu training.

If everyone is literally trying to kill you, someone will, regardless of how careful you are.

I'm not being pedantic—there are situations, like the one described in the GP, that you just can't humanly do anything about.

That's really not that helpful as a point of view. If it were really the case you'd avoid using nights at light because they'd just draw attention from all these bloodthirsty motorists and you'd be better off in a ninja suit.

I see your point and there are some things that as a rider you could never be expected to anticipate, like your example where the drunk driver swerved at the last minute. (Even more defensible cases include things like "the control arm broke and the car instantly swerved across 3 lanes of traffic" which actually happened a few years ago in my city, if that happens you just gotta accept that $deity is out to get you).

I'd amend it to "anything that you could reasonably have anticipated is your fault, including people pulling out in front of you, cars changing lanes as if you weren't there, etc."