Originally Posted by wphamilton

In my experience if you're "thrown" from a motorcycle, you hit something and most likely the bike pivoted around the front wheel, throwing you up as well. You'd fall for a greater distance. But it's no mistake, the initial impact on level ground is primarily from the height of the fall plus force arising from friction at right angles to it. I know it's not intuitive to most people, but feel free to check up on me with a physics professor who's spent too much time crashing motorcycles or bikes, and/or also trained in some physical art involving tumbling.