Ixs Motorcycle Clothing

The Danger Of A Motorcycle

Ahhh, that time of year once again, the sun is out the birds are singing, seventy five to eighty degrees daily. Time for Americans to be hitting the roadways. Tops down, shirts off, and everyone having fun. Old people driving around high on old people pills and young people driving around high on every other type of pill. Lets face it summer is the best time of the year to be on the highway. But like the bears that hibernate in the winter to come out and play during the summer, with the longer days and wormer climates also come another type of animal. Streetdemon (Street-speedom-demonist) - more commonly know as the Motorcyclist.

Their numbers over the past few years has swelled, just as the amount of money that they place in there bikes has swelled. And with the rising gas prices I'm certain they will do nothing more than multiply. They are everywhere, chrome and leather covers our streets and roadways, the roars of these street legal rockets vibrates our windows daily and disturbs our sleep nightly, the appeal of a motorcycle is something that can hardly be put into words. But as more and more cycles hit the roads along with them comes more danger.

Now before I begin to tell you my opinion on traffic today let me give you a small bit insight into my experience. I personally have over one million safe miles logged behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle as a driver and instructor, I have driven every state and major city in the lower forty eight, and I have driven in six countries and two continents. I was a commercial driving instructor for a major transportation company and have driven two different go-cart tracks at "Dollywood". I have had children running alone the roadway motioning me to blow my air horn, and have had old ladies motion me with a single finger to get out of their way because they were in a hurry to get to church. I am an operated pickup trucks, automobiles, bicycles, mopeds (don't tell anyone), and yes a motorcycle. So I believe that I do have the ability to speak in an educated manner on this subject.

Now this isn't going to be a rant about how motorist should watch out for cyclists, but rather quite the opposite, you see every time that I see one of those bumper stickers that says "WATCH OUT FOR MOTORCYCLES THEIR EVERYWHERE" I want a sticker that says "WATCH OUT FOR MOTORCYCLES, BECAUSE THEY WONT WATCH OUT FOR YOU". You see I understand what it is like to be astraddle of a bike, the power, the freedom, the exhilaration of speed and dominance. But with my experience I also understand the damage that a bike can do, vehicles destroyed, lives lost, and homes shattered. There aren't very many vehicles on the road that are as dangerous as motorcycles, now I'm certain that this caused you to raise an eyebrow and let the thought run through your mind "how could I be so cruel to motorcycles" but stick with me on this. You see most people have what I like to call a "David vs. goliath" mindset, which is every time that David wins then the little guy has struck a blow for the depressed, but when goliath wins then there has been a great injustice done. The thing when it comes to a highway incident there are no winners or right, only losers and wrong. Its true, how many times have you been going down the road come upon an accident where there has been semi truck and a personal vehicle and hear someone say "those trucks need to be more careful and watch what they are doing" automatically everyone assumes that the bigger vehicle is at fault. I once took a sever tongue lashing from a woman at an accident scene that I came upon and was trying to help the individual trapped in the car because she arrived just seconds later and assumed that since their was a big truck stopped that it had to be involved, and even instructed the state trooper that arrived to investigate that "that truck diver needs to go to jail" what stuck out in my mind most about that event is even after she discovered that I was not involved no apology was offered, only the statement "well, most of the time it is the trucks fault" which in itself is a statistically false statement.

But regardless we are not discussing trucks and cars we are discussing bikes and everyone else. In my opinion motorcycles are the most dangerous vehicles on the road not because no one looks for them, but because of operator ignorance. How many times have you been going down the road minding every traffic law to the letter and have a cycle pass you at a high rate of speed, or been sitting in traffic trying to mange your way through an urban obstacle course and have a cycle come weaving in and out of lanes just to get a few car lengths ahead you and everyone else. How many times have you heard this from a cyclist "people will pull right out in front of you on a bike" and then before they even finish the conversation are bragging about what a high rate of speed in which they just recently acquired on a certain stretch of road. It's not hard to pull out in front of a bullet, when someone is traveling just twenty miles over the speed limit their chances of having an accident are greatly increased.

As a matter of fact cyclists are the only ones who will commit this act that I know of, make a planned stop just to remove a helmet or some other type of protective clothing. Tennessee requires that everyone wears helmets and Kentucky requires that only certain individuals wear helmets. So bikers will make planned stops just on the other side of each border for the sole purpose of dawning or removing a helmet, coinciding with whatever state they have just entered, I have personally witnessed this myself and have committed this act myself. It has to be the allure of danger that draws people into this culture in the first place. And you want to talk about statistics, the "Hells Angels" the most ruthless and dangerous motorcycle gang in the world losses ten times more registered members in crashes than gun battles, knife fights, drug overdoses, imprisonment, or what ever event that can claim the life of one of their troops.

The consequence of having a Motorcycle crash are high, so yes please be mindful of those on bikes, and those on bikes need to be mindful of their surroundings also. Remember we all leave home with the intent of coming back.