Recently while driving home from shopping, I saw what appeared to be a dog on the loose. As usual in these instances (and with dog treats always at the ready), I parked the car to see whether I could either find the owner or bring the dog to the RSPCA. The dog in question was a medium sized poodle mix. As I approached on the footpath, it made an impressive display of trying to scare me off: barking and growling non-stop. I stopped and turned sideways to see whether it would calm down. When I took another step it backed off, still growling and barking. It seemed to head into a driveway. While I was considering whether to ring the door bell of that house, asking the owner to control their dog, an old lady across the road yelled out: "Are you scared of that dog?!" Obviously for her, hesitating in the face of a barking and growling poodle cross was somewhat laughable. I wonder what she would have said had the dog in question been a German Shepherd? While in this instance, the old lady probably simply knew this dog to be "harmless", I am forever baffled by the limited knowledge people generally have of dogs and their behaviour. 
This dog was clearly in a stressed state, and displaying territorial aggression. As Pat Miller said, any dog will bite if you push it hard enough, and when it will bite simply depends on the particular dog's bite threshold and how stressed it is at that time. In my experience, dogs on the loose (particularly those who got out accidentally, and hardly ever see the other side of the fence) tend to be in an extremely stressed state. When I see a loose dogs with my own dogs in tow, I try to get away as quickly as possible. I was bitten myself once by a stray GSP cross as I picked up my bichon puppy to protect it, and again by a Border Collie on the loose, when I went to the door to alert the owners that it had escaped.

If you add to that little socialisation by ignorant owners, a dog breed more likely to be aggressive, and a squealing child, and you get the disaster that happened in Melbourne recently, when a 4-year-old was killed by a roaming pit-bull cross. Most media reports seemed to imply that the dog simply waltzed into the living room and proceeded to viciously attack all people present. There was only one report I found that clarified that the child came running into the house with the dog in hot pursuit. It's easy to imagine what happened: the dog escaped what was probably constant confinement in the backyard, hyped up he spots a child, heads towards it, the child understandably starts squealing at the sight of the approaching dog. This revs the dog up even more, he now starts charging at the child, the child starts running, the dog's prey drive kicks in and complete disaster follows. 
They may be able to ban the breed, but as long as people with no idea of how to properly treat a dog keep having dogs, it's just a matter of time before the next incident, with a different breed. 
And whilst a poodle cross might not end up inflicting this kind of damage, they sure can bite. And even they get revved up when faced with a squealing child.
So if there's anything that can be done about reducing the incidents of dog bites, it is by education. Education of dog owners about humane training and treatment of their dog, and education of the general public about dogs' behaviour, and how to interact with them safely. I find that there is a near complete lack of understanding nowadays - paired with increasing intolerance of dogs' natural drives - of how to approach an unfamiliar dog, and how to discourage a dog from approaching. Councils and schools could provide at least some basic information.
Yes, I am "scared" of stray dogs - so I can help them if need be, while keeping myself, my dogs and my kids safe.

How can a recall be dangerous? I never thought so either, until Kiara, my whippet, got bitten today. She was mingling with a crowd of dogs that didn't have friendly body language (neither did their owner). But she is usually very astute in handling these situations, using all the right body language to defuse tension and then to get away at the right time, so I wasn't concerned. At some point I thought it better to call her off. She responded, as she does, instantly and at speed. That's when she got bitten in her flank by one of the dogs. My guess is that I interrupted her at a point where she was still appeasing the other aggressive dog, but because she responds to the recall so well, she would have moved before it was safe to do so. So I've sure learned a lesson - don't interfere when dogs are working out what's what! I'm not sure what this experience has done to her beautiful recall. I'll only know once her wounds are drained and stitched, some $1000 of vet fees later ...