One of the most fascinating aspects of riding in my experience has been the people that will just walk up and start asking questions about the scooter and riding. The frequency of imparted, but unasked for wisdom about how dangerous they are is also funny.
This morning is a good example. I stopped to pick up some breakfast (BB's Diner on McFarland, great NYC style diner with excellent bagels). This gentleman walks out to ask the usual questions; how fast? how many mpg? how much?. He then tells me he doesn't ride anymore because it's too dangerous because people do dumb things around bikes. So I pull a little more out of him. He had a bike, he took the BRC, but doesn't think it helped much because his accident was 'unavoidable, the guy stopped short and I had nowhere to go'.
I just smiled all the while thinking, he's right. He has no business on a bike if he's unwilling to attribute the fault where it belongs and unwilling to listen to instruction. He was a nice enough fellow, but wow. I cannot comprehend any situation where someone stopping short would ever be at fault in a rear end accident...