I agree-- the actual percent chance of being involved in an incident is much much higher when traveling to and from hunting within our vehicles....
BUT, personally, I am very comfortable driving in horrible conditions. I have the right equipment--all wheel drive car, studded Hak's, good windshield wipers--I scrape and brush all the snow off my car before I leave the driveway. I do everything I can to mitigate my own risk of being involved in an accident. But not everyone does that, and it's the outliers, people on the road on bald tires, their defroster doesn't work, there's 12" of snow on top of their car that are the wild cards. They are the risk you can't account for, and the "environmental" factors that you cant control.
What we do is inherently dangerous. It is important for us to recognize this, and that those who are new recognize it as well. After years of working with rope systems and such we can become complacent and comfortable, and and let down our guard to some of the "environmental" factors.
Risk cannot be eliminated. The term "safe" is really non-existent. What we do every day is manage risk to the best of our abilities and the level "EDUCATION"we have on the activity we are partaking in. Control everything we can to the best of our abilities.
IMHO it is our job as members of this community to help those seeking the education and direction in order manage their own risk and comfort level. And, it should be done in a clear, nonjudgmental and respectful way so as to allow them and others to be comfortable asking questions and sharing information for the bettering of the saddlehunter.com community. The better we do this, the less of a chance their will be for an accident in the saddle hunting community, and the methods and gear we have all come to love will potentially receive less scrutiny from the greater hunting community as "crazy" or "unsafe".
@redsquirrel Thank you for bringing the topic of safety and self policing back to the top of the priority list for the upcoming year. It's something we should always be focused and and not take for granted.