text: Safety and regulations Research estimates that the activity is slightly safer (fewer fatalities per thousand participants per year) than riding motorcycles and more dangerous than riding in cars. The most likely cause of serious injury is body contact with a spinning propeller. The next most likely cause of injury is flying into something other than the landing zone. Some countries run detailed statistics on accidents, e.g., in Germany in 2018 about 36,000 paragliding pilots registered 232 accidents, where 109 caused serious injury and 9 were fatal.
  Some pilots carry a reserve parachute designed to open in as little as . While reserve parachutes are designed to open fast, they have a system length between 13.3 ft (4.5 m) and 21.9 ft (7.3 m) and usually need at least  to slow down a pilot to a safe sink rate (certified design speed according to LTF and EN certifications is max  per second). With enough height over ground, many potential issues with the canopy can be resolved without applying the reserve parachute. The required skills can be acquired in SIV trainings, which improve the overall safety of flying by providing a better understanding on the system limitations and practical training of extreme situations.
  The lack of established design criteria for these aircraft led the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch to conclude in 2007 that "only when precise reserve factors have been established for individual harness/wing combinations carrying realistic suspended masses, at load factors appropriate to the maneuvers to be carried out, can these aircraft be considered to be structurally safe".