Last I looked the UK fatal accident rate was published at about 1 per 70,000 hrs for certified FW, and a pretty uniform 1 per 50,000 hours for light helicopters, gliders and microlights.
The only real anomalies were airliners (where fatals are so rare they can be regarded as not happening on G-reg aircraft) and gyroplanes at about 1 per 6,000 hrs.
I think that's correct up to about 1999 - but I don't think there's been all that much movement since in any direction except possibly an improvement in Gyro safety.
Personally I think the ballistic parachute thing is a red-herring unless you routinely fly over utterly unlandable terrain. Microlights land on a sixpence (and most light aircraft are reasonable) - the only time you're likely to really feel the need for a get-out-of-jail-card is a stall-spin on finals or a completely messed up landing - the two most common fatality causes on either light aircraft or microlights. And lets face it, no parachute is going to help much in either case.
G
Microlights, gliders, light aircraft, a couple of helicopters, occasional twin, and several fast jets in my logbook - will fly or FTE anything so long as I'm qualified or being instructed, it's cheap, free or better still I'm being paid. Except possibly gyroplanes, and one particular microlight type which frightens me whenever I look at it - the Kolb Twinstar, for various reasons from build quality and historically uncrashworthy structure to the mandatory need for ballast when flying solo. Last week flew 12 hours in several types including a PA28 and a taildragging microlight