I will confess to never having tried a recumbent bike, but it seems like it would be tough to balance with the lower center of gravity. I guess it must be possible because I see people on them, not falling over. 
I enjoy riding my bike, but also live on winding narrow hilly roads which zap the fun right out of riding from my house.
I really enjoy spin class. Having the music, the instructor, and the other people takes my mind off the fact that I am on a fake bike going nowhere.
And not getting out of bed in the morning is the safest.
Itās never pleasant to crash a bike. Any bike. From your description, Iād guess your physician fell over sideways and landed on his shoulder rather than on his head by going over the bars. If he had gone āover the barsā the injuries would have been skull fracture and/or cervical fracture(s). Clavicle fracture(s) would have been a secondary concern. Had he fractured his skull and/or broken his neck, he would likely be permanently disabled or paralized. So, yes, riding a bike is more dangerous than not.
So is getting out of bed in morning. Every morning. Driving a car is even more dangerous, by a factor of more than 38:1 (yes, I can cite sources for those numbers). But I bet you do it without thinking about it. amIright?
And you know what? He was right about injuring yourself running on a treadmill. No, it doesnāt happen all at once in a catastrophic accident. It happens slowly over time as you gradually pound your joints into mush. At least cycling is low impact and doesnāt stress your spine and joints.
One of the good things about riding a recumbent is that if you drop the bike you take the impact with your feet, your butt or your thighs primarily. Not your head, not your neck, not your shoulders, not your ribs. Leaving skin on the pavement is painful, but it beats a fractured skull and/or broken neck any day.
He said heād veered off the road and had an unexpected encounter with a mature ponderosa pine tree. Details as to how the tree fared were not revealed.
@ctviggen @fitbod @GME @islandlight I totally agree that local road conditions can inhibit bike riding. The answer for some is dedicated bike paths and street lanes. But those donāt usually happen until demand warrants them. So, yes, riding on streets with the cars and trucks is reality for many, maybe most of us.
I happen to live in a ābike friendlyā city where there are numerous dedicated bike paths and even dedicated and physically separated street lanes. This makes it easier for me to ride. Although I must say that I ride too fast for most dedicated bike paths and even many dedicated street lanes. So I generally ride on the streets with the auto/truck traffic. Where the local speed limit is about 30 kph I can keep up quite easily. Where itās 50 kph I have to work a lot harder since many other vehicles exceed the speed limits by wide margins. Even so, I donāt feel at high risk riding on those particular streets.
On narrow rural roads with little or not shoulders, I would likely feel less confident. So I can empathize with that.
None the less, I still think that cycling is better than not as one ages. At the very least you could find a local school 1/4 mile (or 400 meter) oval and cycle on that. I have a couple of these within short rides of my home.
Trees! Good thing he veered because otherwise he would have experienced the āhead onā equivalent of āover the barsā.
I have the same situation - narrow rural roads with lots of hills and no dedicated bike lanes so I didnāt even bring my bike when we moved from Houston.
It would be for recreation only - not practical for shopping as the nearest decent grocery store is a Walmart that is a 42 km round-trip with no bike lanes and folks drive over 100 km/hr on the highway to get there. Sometimes people use the narrow shoulder to pass on the right if someone is turning left (no turn lanes) and arenāt looking for a bicyclist since they are rare as henās teeth 'round these parts. There are no shoulders on the bridges, so not safe to bicycle to Walmart.
I was at awe of all the bicycles I saw in Amsterdam! And a bit envious. 
I sweat so much that I rusted my steel Greg LeMond frameā¦while riding outside. Yikes!!
I totally agree with you there. I started riding bikes instead of jogging because I always got injured jogging. I rarely got injured biking, except if I ramped up my mileage too quickly.
I was riding my bike, but only a short distance to some hills, which I ride up and down. The main street is less traveled, but Iām still amazed at how many times I get passed at 7am Saturday morning.
being a horse rider I rode my horse on the roads all the time to get to other trails and NOW with the increased āfarms selling out and neighborhoodsā coming in I had to stop ALL horses on the road for sure 
and now it is āstop bikingā too cause as much as you WANT people driving to give space, alot of them donātā¦my last bike rides a few years ago I darn near got hit with the side mirror on a big farm truck and I was likeā¦DAMN! I canāt win in this situation ever LOL so I am mostly take bikes with me on my car rack to other areas that I know I will surviveā¦riding our roads is a brave issue for many of us! Not one doubt about that truly!
I can certainly attest to that!
Interestingly, I went over the handlebars of my bike and must have twisted, because my head was merely grazed, but I broke both my arms (complex fractures of the proximal and distal left humerus and of the right distal radius). My left arm, being my good arm, was the worst-damaged, as is usual in such accidents, apparently. I was extremely fortunate, because I had somehow forgotten to wear my crash helmet that day. The abrasion on my forehead was not serious, and it quickly healed.
I have no idea why the accident happened, just that one second I was fine, and the next, I was flying over the front of the bicycle. Fortunately, I donāt remember the actual impact. At least I landed on the shoulder of the highway, instead of in the traffic lane. There were so many things that could have been worse, that I eventually came to the conclusion that God had indeed been watching over me, even though I wish he had not allowed the accident to happen in the first place.
Iām sure you will all be happy to know that no bicycles were harmed during that experience, lol! 
Wow! Sounds like you managed to get your arms up during the fall to protect your head and they took the force of it. Very happy for you. Unlike this guy who seems to have taken it on his face:
Iām still riding an upright, diamond frame bike, but a couple of years ago we added a recumbent exercise bike for times when we had to ride indoors. Now my wife rides the indoor bike and I ride the roads three mornings a week. I also have an indoor trainer to mount on the rear wheel and ride my outdoors bike in the air conditioning.
Iām lucky enough to live in fairly friendly city for it, with some separate bike paths, but the routes I ride donāt have either except for a paved walkway for about 1 mile out of the 13 or so I ride. I find the morning traffic is quite well behaved but in a typical hour long ride, I may get passed by a car a dozen times.
OUCH!
I crashed my bike when I was a teenager - crossing a bayou bridge and the slope down to the road was gravel. A kid pulled out right in from of me on a tricycle from the driveway at the bottom of the slope and I hit the brakes on my 10-speed so hard I went over the handlebars. Scraped my face all down one side on the gravel.
I didnāt care if I broke anything - MY FACE!!! 
As an insecure teenage girl I was afraid I would be scarred for life. I put vitamin E oil on it (this was in the 70ās when grocery stores didnāt even sell vitamins but my mom was an Adele Davis fan) and it was just a minor abrasion so it healed up w/o scarring. Thankfully I didnāt break any bones but was sure sore when I got out of bed the next day.
Donāt folks pay to receive skin abrasions these days? Itās branded as a āpeelingā? 
It helps if youāve gone mountain biking. You learn to put your rear end back, often behind the seat/saddle, and feather the front brakes.
Of course, nothing prevents accidents or prevents reactions that are faster than what youāve trained for.
I donāt know about you, Joey, but I donāt find it āap-peelingā! 
(Iāll just show myself out, all right?)
