Is falling/crashing really this common?

[u/Careless-Comedian176]

I see so many threads about their first fall/crash and i'm really starting to wonder if I get a skewed perspective on how common this is? The attitude in these threads is also like they treat as you will crash serveral times before you get the hang of it. This feels weird to me and of course there's always a risk of an accident but I don't know anyone that has crashed, including my parents and their friends who have been riding for 35 years +.

I want to add that I live in Sweden and they have pretty advanced requirements before you get a license. I don't know if it's more uncommon than I think or if it's because other countries have lighter regulations and thus doesn't give you proper instructions on how to handle your bike in certain situations?

[u/jcforbes]

I have been riding since I was a child and finally got rear ended at a stop sign at just a few kph. If you have your wits about you and mitigate risk you can stay safe; even my "crash" was minor due to mitigation of risk - I stopped where I did because I knew there was a stopped car behind me and that worst case scenario was going to be minor. If there was no car behind me or even worse if there was a car approaching from behind I would have changed what I did (in my case I would have take the riskier move to try to beat the traffic approaching on the road I was turning on to).