Just seen a newspaper article stating that once again Florida is getting ready to lead the nation in motorcycle deaths again this year.
of course all usual hand wringing and pearl clutching is going on as people cling to their tired old scripts to preach crap that while it sounds nice, is not always truthful.
Helmets save lives. - Well yes they do, UNTIL you are doing 60 mph and slam into another vehicle or hit a wall or something with a lot of kinetic energy. Truth is, once you get about 15 mph or so, a sudden stop is pretty much going to be fatal no matter what. Even with a helmet on, your brain still moves around inside your skull and the sudden stop, your brain can slap the inside of your skull very hard, causing damage, bleeding, and death.
On the other hand, lets say you hit the pavement and are sliding and rolling and tumbling. You may live without having a helmet on but your face is going to be ground hamburger where it hit the pavement a few times in your rolls. The helmet would have prevented that.
Air Bags save lives and greatly reduce injuries - Yes they do, however they ARE expensive. How much is your life worth? You can watch MotoGP and events and see people having crashes at 140 mph and getting up and walking / limping away. Point being, they WALKED AWAY, and were not air lifted away. The biggest injury was broken collar bones, getting well over 40 a year. After air bags started being used, this dropped to like 2 per year. The proof is there they DO work.
There have been reports and videos of people getting into traffic accidents, doing somersaults over cars and the likes, their airbags go off and they end up getting up and walking away from their landing spot. What is your life worth to you?
Do they work all the time, no, of course they don't, NOTHING is guaranteed to save you from everything, but Id at least like to try to mitigate a wreck.
Man I look so cool in my tanktop and flip flops on my Harley shake and bake. Wearing helmets and stuff, that's not cool looking. Id rather look a little 'uncool' than be totally cool, in fact, room temperature cool, or morgue fridge cool.
Even stuff like gloves help. Road rash will destroy your hands in a second and a half, it'll tear fingers away like nothing, flesh shreds like a meat grinder on pavement, it takes about 3/4 of a second to come thru blue jeans and start grinding flesh as an example. Back to gloves. Another thing, road grit, doing 70 - 75 mph and a rock comes up from the truck in front of you and gets your knuckle or just the grit flying up off the road. That stuff stings!!, the rock now, that'll break a bone. it'll hurt for weeks.
Do you need to wear track rated race gloves at 600 a pair. Well no, of course not, but you get what you pay for, and more protection can mean keeping your hand intact or losing a finger or three. Even though, even a 40 dollar pair of street gloves protects from the rocks and grit. Even just that little bit can do a LOT and makes the ride much more enjoyable.
Ok, I think you get the idea here.
I was thinking of a colleague who died a few weeks ago and how needless that whole accident was. Then I seen the article in the paper stating Florida is getting ready to take the lead again, and got me thinking, WE can avoid some of this with just a little bit of common sense and adulting.
Although the stats are flawed, and they love to embellish to push agenda's in places. ie helmets save lives,, he died without a helmet on, cause of death, no helmet. well NO he hit a bridge doing 80 that helmet would not have helped him. Distorting details, people see this and are NOT impressed, it tends to have the opposite affect, they tend to not want to listen to ANY of it now because of all the bullshit fed prior. But at the end of the day, lies or not, death is death, the family of the lost one does not care what the accuracy of the details are, it won't change the outcome.
Riding a bike has become much more dangerous in the last 10 years. These sorry ass ice 'box' drivers are too busy looking at the MFing phones than to look at the road and see you on your bike. This puts the onus on US, the bike riders to tend to our own safety.
Be careful, be VERY vigilant, do NOT expect ANYONE to do the right thing or follow laws. Always be looking for an out, an exit, an escape.
Consider safety gear, it may not look 'cool' but it very well may keep you out of the 'cooler', check with your insurance company, some of them offer discounts off your policy if you have certain gear. Do you have to put 25 to 35 pounds of gear on every time you ride? Of course not, but it IS up to you. Personally I gear up every time I get on the bike, even a quick 5 minute ride to the store. Honestly, at this point if I get on a bike and I am NOT geared, it makes me very UNcomfortable, i won't do it. I'll choose to live to be an old pussy, rather than die a young dare devil.
Consider going to a MC skills class. They are out there all over the place, many sherriff's offices put them on, many bike and riding clubs put them on. Track days are an awesome way to learn riding skills. NO you don't have to be on a track doing 140 mph around turns, but they Do teach you how to turn properly, how to corner, and most importantly, how to react quickly and EVADE. Many track days, are safety courses days, they just use the track because it's the safest place TO teach you this stuff in a controlled environment w/o a bunch of cars trying to kill you ! Many of them offer steep discounts and may even offer certain events for FREE to newcomers. Go check it out, you won't lose a thing and you might accidentally have some FUN! In my part of town Southern Track Days offers event specials. Go do a google search see what you got in your area.
Road Rage - Just... Don't. It's not worth it, you will NOT win.
500 lb bike .vs. 5000 lb truck. Who will win?
The law of gross tonnage says the truck will win EVERY TIME. What happens when this dipshit pulls a gun on you? or just decides to smush you between him and the car in front of you? Don't be smacking on cars, flipping mirrors and flipping drivers off and doing stupid stunts in the middle of the road. It makes us all look bad and paints a huge target on your back.
In my truck, I can get my .357 out and end you a LOT quicker than you can get your 9mm out on your bike, get it aimed at me, ready to shoot, all while maintaining control of your bike, the clutch, the throttle, the brakes, keeping the bike upright and steering, now having to aim, possibly having to cross your body, that's an input, now you are heading for the curb. This is not a threat, I am just trying to point out that the car driver is starting out with a huge advantage already. God help everyone around if some idiot produces a gun. Please, just let it go, live to see another day.
If it's night time, light up, have lights on, blinkey lights on your vest, or helmet or something, make sure to attract attention to yourself, this way you KNOW they SEE you. Especially if you are riding in construction areas, where there already may be a bunch of distractions. Lighted cones, flashing signs, flares, trucks with flashing signs etc etc, you need to take EXTRA attention to make sure they see you as a BIKE and not a road cone, that is expendable....
In the end, it's up to us to stay safe, and there are small things we can do that can make a huge difference in how we arrive back home or even IF we arrive back home at the end of a ride.
Ride Safe, Stay Safe, Come home to see your loved ones. She'll forgive you for hugging her with gloves on.
Aaron
