It all begins and ends with you
Safety that is. I have said it before, but at this point, I believe that there is only one item of safety equipment in the riders toolbox; the rider their self. Everything else is for survival in an accident.
That basic concept leads into another opinion that I find myself gravitating towards. Bigger, heavier and sturdier cars do not make drivers safer, if anything, they make drivers overconfident and careless. The bigger and heavier vehicles not about making the cars safer on the roads, they are about improving the survivability of the occupants, and nothing more.
Keeping that in mind, we have to start focusing on what truly makes the roads safer. Driver & rider (henceforth singly referred to as driver), not the vehicles themselves. For a long time I have advocated the MSF, but at this point, I am beginning to think that we do not do enough to educate drivers, nor is there any requirement that drivers work to become safe drivers.
As a parent of a new driver and another soon to enter the roadways, what can I do to make them better drivers who care more about their fellow road users? Would it be unreasonable to force them to take the MSF Basic Riders Course even if they have no intention of riding on two wheels? Defensive Driving classes? What other things can be done to educated these drivers?
Time Out of the Saddle
Vacation, much needed. A week long vacation is a very rare thing for me. It has been three years since I took more than a long weekend away from work as a vacation. Yes, I have had a few days here and there, but always associated with a work trip. Last week, I packed up with the family and went to the beach.
Eight days.
While I took my laptop and my iPad, and I did some work, it was not under the pressure of being 'in the office'. I built sand castles with the daughter, rode my bicycle, shopped, ran and did touristy type things. Basically stuff I never really do.
It was perfect. I found a relaxed space that I desperately needed. An emotional and mental reboot if you will. The one downside, was that since we took the whole family, no scooter or motorcycle went with me. It has been nearly a year since I have been out of the saddle for more than one day, much less eight.
This morning getting back in the saddle after a week driving the family SUV was a bit startling. I felt "rusty". It took a few minutes in the saddle to get the feel of the bike underneath me. Even then, I felt the need to slow down, and let things slip back to natural. Perhaps I am more sensitive to the atrophy in my desire to 'be the best rider I can be', but it reminds me of just how quickly skills fade when they are left unused.
Advocacy: the responsibility of the responsible rider
The longer I ride, the more need I see for advocacy. I am not talking about the AMA, they do a fine job of what they do. The AMA is advocating our rights as motorcycle riders, as is their mandate. This is not the advocacy I am talking about. I mean a different campaign altogether. What is needed is not a campaign for rider rights, but a campaign for riders.
This is something that should be an industry group, but at this point, the industry of motorcycles and scooters in the U.S. market seems to be perfectly happy with the cyclic status quo of low volume, mediocre margins and service departments that feel no urgency.
For the last 50 years, motorcycle advocacy has been the image of the Harley Davidson bad boy, the street racing rice rocket, or the 50cc liquor cycle. None of these images are representations of the the broad range of motorcycles, nor are the effective tools for advocating the use of motorcycles ann scooters are transportation. Even the fun and entertaining looks at the other sides of two wheeled culture in movies like Larry Crowne, Yes Man, and even Wild Hogs, the stereotypes are persisted.
Safety In Numbers?
From the time we are children, we are taught there is safety in numbers. In nature, it is certainly true, where being a part of the herd helps protect against predators. With spring coming and gas prices rising, the herd of motorcycles on the road is growing. With this comes a measure of added safety in the higher visibility and awareness of motorcycles. At the same time, it also seems to raise the ire of some drivers.
Think of the typical car driver as the predator, while the motorcycle is the prey. When we are few we hide in the grass. We aren't seen, and we protect ourselves. Aa our numbers grow, we are in view and the awareness becomes a mixed bag. Prey, as it were.
Every year, it seems the same drivers that seem to grudgingly respect those of us out in the cold and rain, start to resent us when the weather turns nice and gas prices soar. I suppose this is natural, they are trapped in the cage. It is about this time of year when I start to see things like the minivan mom enforcer. You know the one, the soccer mom that deliberately squeezes as far to the right at the light to prevent you from slipping past her to turn right at the light.
A Flawed Personality?
This last few weeks has been very interesting in a sometimes less than fun or flattering way. It all started with a 'disagreement' at work, that led to an upset coworker, that led to some rather heated discourse, and ultimately, me walking away asking myself some questions and taking a deep look at myself. This was followed up by my son having some difficulty in school, and truth be told in life. Difficulties that looked uncomfortably familiar.
Now I have always been prone to introspection, and am perfectly willing to make changes when I need to. So it is that I find myself taking a deep look at my life, my choices and I believe I have identified what may well be the core issue in my life. That one thing that drives other issues, that one thing that every single issue revolves a round.
The more I look at myself, the more I see what others might view as a flawed personality trait. It seems that somewhere inside of myself, there is a trigger that makes me gravitate away from the social norms. Perhaps gravitate is to mild a description. Honest self analysis says that when given societal norms to conform to, I will instinctively go against the grain. This is not a conscious effort, nor did I even really see how pervasive in my life this has become until this latest bout of self doubt and introspection.
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