It's a great headline . "Car hits 7 motorcyclists".
Why do we/us/bikers/motorcyclists...get so up-in-arms when we see this kind of news . No one freaks out when a car crosses the center line an' takes out a mom and her mini-van full of kids .Then...it's just called a "Car Accident". Motorcyclists seem to take it so personally when cars hit us . You could get hit when yer in yer car or when yer on yer bike . But when we're on two wheels its suppossed to mean SO MUCH MORE . WHY ? Why is that.
Nobody told us to go out and ride that day , or any day for that matter. CAGES....
I love that term . Everybody is down on the cages . How many board members here drive a CAGE . I'm gonna take a guess...99.9 % . Sure , the cage drivers are paying significantly less attention to the road than the average biker.
Why? because they can . A biker rides , thats all he doin(for the most part)...the cage opperators...they're adjusting the cd player,talkin' on the cell phone,reading,eating,drinking,smoking,playing with themselves,etc etc etc . Because as a society,we condone most of those activities.
SORRY,I wandered for a bit....point there...nobody freaks out when a cage hits the school bus . But when a cage hits the guys/gals on motorcycles its supposed to mean more ? Why is that ? We are all out there , theorhetically SHARING the road . The problem, we are not able to physically deal with the bumps an' grinds that commonly go along with SHARING THE ROAD . There's a bumper sticker out there , quite prevalant amougnst the "Harley Crowd"...it reads , "Kill a Biker,Go To Jail" . Why is that , the guy/gal on the motorcycle is, of his own vallition, out sharing the road . Why should the cage operator be judged more harshly just because the mistake he/she made involved someone who chose to share the roadway INADEQUATELY protected.
Lets face it people . We head out there...into CAGE-LAND wearing leather, sometimes...(those idiots that dont we can talk about later) and we hope to survive the encounter . Are you starting to see the picture yet . Let me put it to you this way....there are a lot of professional motor cycle riders out there(the boys on the circuit) , that , when asked , what kind of bike do you ride on the street , the answer is more often than not : " I dont ride on the street because its too dangerous" . These guys will ride a circuit hitting speeds 150-200 mph , but they wont chance riding their own neighbourhood cul-de-sac . There's a reason they don't chance it .
Car vs bike = bike loses
Bus,dumptruck,4x4,semi,truck,mini-van,car(compact,mid-sized,luxury) , SUV ,motorhome....yadda yadda yadda .
BIKE LOSES .
Bottom line....we constantly tell each other to "Ride Safe"
even my own site name...RubberSideDown...is wishfull thinking at best . There is really no way to ride safe out there . Look up an down yer street , whats in the other driveways . Cars,trucks,vans . They're surounded by layers of steel . Us, layers of leather , and some of us are too stupid to even bother with that.
EVERYBODY IS IN A HURRY . Daycare,work,shopping,appointments. if yer lucky , they'll see you.
That is if they're not......FAST asleep . (Get it)
The use of seatbelts is mandatory in my part of the world.
Thats so that when we strike a motorcyclist we're not thrown into the windshield.Sorry...bad joke . It's odd isn't it . Legislation tells us that you will be fined if you dont wear a seatbelt , and yet a 16 year old kid can go buy a vehicle capable of 186 MPH.
GROUP OF SEVEN......famous artworks....
GROUP OF SEVEN motorcyclists....famous...for about a day.
Someone mentioned earlier that : there's a difference between an accident and negligence...I agree...there is a difference ,that difference...how much you spend on the lawyer.
Is there really such a thing as an accident...or can it always be attributted to something . This case forinstance. The kid fell asleep . Isnt that outright stupidity .
The kid thinks to himself : "Gee, I'm real fuggin' tired,but what the heck, I'll drive anyway , after all...I'll be fairly safe seatbelted in my cage".
"My car needed new tires,should have got some"
"I should never have been talking on the cell phone"
"I wasn't paying attention"
"I didnt see them"
"I fell asleep"
"I was ACCIDENTLY speeding"
They're all lame excuses . Society wants to call them ...ACCIDENTS.
My wife and I constantly say to each other...
WHEN IS STUPIDITY GOING TO BECOME A CRIME .
have a good 1.....RSD.
I believe in undeniable/universally understood 'right' and 'wrong' so if I kill someone ACCIDENTALLY while driving my car, I should suffer the proper laws punishment for my mistake. It's my free choice to NOT drive, thus removing that potential accident from existing. People in cars are getting way to lazy. you don't see fighter pilots adjusting CD's and sight seeing while flying their dangerous vehicles.
