If those tiny cars are not allowed on the roads for being "unsafe", what about motorcycles that are even more unsafe?
Imagine a population/world in the present day that didn't have private motor vehicles but everything else was the same. Trucks deliver goods and professional drivers move vehicles around in a much safer manner. Now you stand up in public and propose that:
Everyone should be allowed to operate a 2 tonne armoured metal box, that has nothing keeping it from colliding with other objects beyond the skill and attention of the driver. We need to reduce the licensing barrier to entry for vehicle use because.... [insert argument here]
You'd be laughed out of town in the current safety environment in most countries, private cars only continue to exist because they have been grandfathered into "safety" considerations. If we moved to smaller and lighter vehicles it would be a net positive improvement in safety. As for motor cycles, they can be driven safely but the self selecting group of people who use them are more likely to be high risk takers and drive them in very unsafe manners, this inflates the average rate of deaths and injuries. Even so the majority of accidents are found to be not the motor cyclists fault but with external sources. More reading is available here:
http://www.maids-study.eu/pdf/MAIDS2.pdf
I have no disagreement with you. In the Bay Area I think you would be surprised how many motorcycle accidents are the riders fault. I was on the freeway doing 80 MPH and a guy on a motor cycle pulled up next to me, and he signaled me to watch. He then dropped back about half a mile. Next thing I new he as doing 100+ (MPH) on the back wheel. We call them wheelies. I nominated him for a Darwin award.
The last accident I was in a motorcycle driver I was nearly stopped on the freeway. The guy knew he could not stop and laid his bike down on the asphalt. I still have the speedometer and tachometer impressions in my bumper. If the guy had not dropped the bike I am sure he would have gone flying over the top of my car into the one in front of me.
One more story. SF/Oakland Bay Bridge. My buddy was on the upper deck which is few hundred feet about the water. He's can't remember what happened but he was sent flying over the edge of the bridge. Lucky for him he hit one of the supporting cables which hold the deck of the bridge to the suspension cable. Those cables are only an 2" in diameter and spaced 20 feet or so apart. It was his lucky day he hit that cable and didn't go for a swim. Crud, can't even think what it would have been like if made the dive into the water with his helmet on.
Ever think if cars hadn't been invented yet. And Benz today was trying to describe to the government his new invention for the car?
Benz - My invention called a car will have 15 gallons of highly combustible gasoline in a tank just a few feet from the driver. The gasoline will be used to power an engine that's heated to 350 degrees just a few feet from the driver on the other side. And lets not talk about the pollution or carbon monoxide and dioxide which will be emitted. And these car things we hurl people down the road at 60 MPH.
Think the government today would approve of such an invention?
Now compare that to a Baker electric car. No chance of a gasoline explosion, no 1,000 pound mass of iron heated to 350 degrees. Not exhaust fumes, no pollution and no noise.
Seems to me the EV would easily receive approval today and the ICE would fade into history as a crazy idea that's way too dangerous. Kind of like the atomic powered planes the Soviets built and flew. Seemed like a good idea at the time but way too dangerous.