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Categories: all aviation bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater Wed, 31 Aug 2005
It appears that I've totally boogered up the chain on the Ninja
I shouldn't be able to pull that chain off the sprocket much, if at all. Pulling it off that far means it's about as worn out as a chain can safely be. Bah. Guess I'm out another $180 to replace it. Totally lame. In other news, my girlfriend related a story to me the other day. She was sitting at a bus stop, waiting for her bus to show up. The street was devoid of traffic, when she heard the buzzing of an approaching scooter. She noticed the scooter and went back to her reading. Suddenly, there was the sound of screeching tires, and the scooter rider, a young woman, fell off right in front of the bus stop. She was wearing a helmet, a cotton tank top, shorts, and flip-flop sandals. Needless to say, my girlfriend was horrified. She said that the scooter rider was going "faster than normal," which probably translates to 40ish MPH. She didn't want to describe the scooterist's condition in any more detail than "covered in blood," but that scooter rider is probably in for a couple of years of recovery. My first reaction was compassion for the scooter rider, followed closely by a sort of quiet rage. I feel sorry for the woman, in the sense that no one should have to endure that kind of pain. However, at the same time, I'm quite upset at the woman for taking such a cavalier attitude toward accelerating herself down the pavement without any regard for her own safety. She plainly had a single-vehicle accident (which is the majority of two-wheeler accidents, from my recollection of the Hurt report), so her riding skill is in question. It was a rainy day, the first in a while, and possibly this woman's first rainy day on the scooter, but that's no excuse. She probably was wearing a helmet because it's legally required, not because she wanted to. Obviously she hadn't given any thought to what might happen if she and the scooter separated -- anyone who thinks about that even a bit must realize how much damage they could suffer. This brings out all my negative feelings towards the motorcyclists and scooterists I've seen riding around with a helmet and no other nods toward safety. They're laying their lives on the line, but they're also laying motorcycling on the line for everyone. Every time someone relates this story, about a woman taking a spill on a scooter, the message that will be generated in the non-riding public's mind is likely to be, "scooters sure are dangerous," not, "that woman wasn't wearing the right gear," or, "she probably wasn't a skilled rider." They're also aggravating my and your insurance rates: we're paying for her mistake, now. She will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical bills, and either insurance will pay for it, or the hospital will swallow it (unless she's independently wealthy, which seems unlikely). Either way, that's money which ultimately comes from us. In addition to all this, we now have another "example" of why motorcycling (by extension; a scooter is a motorcycle, right?) is so dangerous, and shouldn't we think about outlawing it? Another digit added to the accident toll, every one of which increases some lawmaker's assertion that motorcycling is killing or maiming people at an alarming rate. Granted, it's a true statement, but it doesn't have to be. If people would just think for 5 minutes about the practical realities of what they're doing when they get on a two-wheeler, it would make such a difference. Suddenly, putting on that hot riding jacket would seem like a good idea -- sure, you get a bit warm, but if the worst happens and you fall off the bike, you've still got skin on your body. Too hot for riding gloves? Maybe not if you make your living with your hands. Imagine not being able to use your hands for anything for a year while they heal (assuming they even heal into a workable condition): no more typing; no more driving; no more preparing your own food or eating anything larger than bite-size; nothing. It's depressing to me, as a thinking being, to see the amount of not-thinking that happens out there every day. It will certainly impact the not-thinker, but it also ripples out and affects everyone in society. I don't know what to propose to fix the situation. I don't think writing more laws is the answer. The state can't protect us from everything, nor do I think they should try. Education seems like an excellent option, but I don't really know how to educate people on this issue -- include a "riding gear and safety" section in the licensing exam? Maybe a training course could be mandatory in order to get a motorcycle license for the first time. Of course, that doesn't cover all the "no motorcycle license required" 50cc scooters (there's an utterly shitty idea, let's let people with no experience or skill get on a twitchy, underpowered machine that can't even climb a hill at traffic speed). Really, those scooter riders tend to be the worst offenders, and it's exacerbated by the fact that the state doesn't consider a 50cc scooter a "real motorcycle," so why should the riders wear "real protective gear?" So, maybe I do know what to propose, after writing all that. Get rid of the 50cc "no m/c license required" law -- if you want to be on 2 wheels, you have to get a license for it. Require a training course before the license will be issued, which includes information on riding safely, gear (and why to wear it), motorcycle vs. car visibility issues, etc. Not the MSF course -- every course I've seen did the classroom safety stuff as if they were being compelled to, and really would have found eating wood much more enjoyable (but that's another rant for another time). I've often thought that limiting beginners to a small displacement bike would be good (it works well in other countries, from what I've seen), but that would definitely nix any proposal in the Land of the Free (to kill ourselves). I guess, ultimately, I'm just impotently ranting. I know that the changes I can see as being justifiable and necessary will be seen by most people as being totalitarian and unnecessarily limiting. I don't even disagree with that sentiment entirely -- to some extent I agree that people should be allowed to messily skin themselves on a 40 MPH, 20 grit asphalt sanding belt. I just don't want it to be done out of their own ignorance, nor to impact me through unthinkingly restrictive laws and ever higher insurance premiums. Posted at 11:32 permanent link category: /motorcycle Categories: all aviation gadgets misc motorcycle theater Written by Ian Johnston. Software is Blosxom. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net. |
