How the hell did we survive to age 30?
Here are some dumb ass things I did from pre teen til 30 (maybe 50).

1.  Riding on my buddy’s handlebar.  There’s this thing called inertia.  When he hit the brakes at an intersection to avoid a car. Guess what my wittew body did?   Yup, it flew. Into the intersection in front of oncoming car.  But, due to my nimbleness and alacrity, I was able to safely elude said car. Yay.

2.  Swinging on a tire and rope hanging from a tree branch out in front of oncoming traffic. Trying to scare drivers. ( no explanation of stupidity needed)

3.  As a young lieutenant in Air Force, off duty, agreeing to ride in back of my friend’s Cessna. He had his private pilot license.  I should have backed off when he asked if I’d ever crop dusted.
We took off calmly and climbed to a safe altitude. Then he started to dive to about 3 ft off the ground. Then Climbing steeply    Then diving again.    We landed safely.  I thanked him and never accepted another flying invitation. 

Unfortunately, he was killed in a flying incident in Vietnam. 
4.  Here’s a smart example.   Riding across the Williamsburg Bridge on the back of my friend’s Lambretta motor scooter. In 1958.
Sho nuff, we hit some grease and gravel near the Manhattan end of the bridge. The scooter started to go down, but I was tall and limber ( I was , once) and I could just stand up to escape the scooter.  Of course the speed of about 20 mph caused me to run and eventually fall.  Minor scrapes for me.  My buddy, however, was trapped on the scooter and scraped the hell out of his leg.  Several stitches.  But ok other than that and a busted up scooter.

5.  This last example occurred many years later.  Like about 25.   Circa 1982
Enjoying the hospitality and camraderie of several officer friends, I imbibed a few very tasty Margaritas.  Then I thought and my friends agreed that it was a good idea to stand in front of a dart board a dare my friends to see how close to my face they could come without hitting me.  Luckily our wives put a quick end to our nonsensical charade and I survived again. Enuf for now.