Our Government Loves an Excuse

Almost every day lately I get to hear on the Los Angeles traffic report another crash involving a motorcyclist. How in the heck can we, as responsible motorcyclists defend our rights when there are so many morons that will just buy a bike and take the highway as if they know everything about riding. The accidents that I have investigated seem to be young sportbike riders with just too much speed between their legs. I have gone to Yahoo Answers and have actually seen kids posting things like "... I am 16 and I want to get a motorcycle, is a GSXR a good bike to get as a beginning bike?..." I always reply to those as NO and tell them to take the motorcycle safety course FIRST. My son started on a Ninja 250 and that was enough for him for three years.




I understand that in Europe a young adult between 16 and 21 can not purchase anything over 35 hp until they are 18 -- that is called a "full-license." Europeans on forums have scoffed at young adults who ride 600cc and above bikes. I feel that responsible motorcyclists like most of us are going to need to police ourselves before congress acts on their own. Here in California, the idiotic Senator Barbara Boxer is trying to ban motorcycling in all State Parks because a relative of hers was hiking on a MARKED MOTORCYCLE TRAIL and was hit.

Your input appreciated ---- Thank You  

You've hit on one of the major problems with motorcycles. A percentage of people who ride them assume they have the right to do what they want. eg. super loud exhaust, screamin a sportbike thru turns far faster than they can react to the obstacles in front of them, no safety gear, list goes on. A friend of mine was hit by a biker on a relatively straight stretch of road, and his leg is shattered (out of work for the next year. After the impact, the bike skidded for almost 300 ft before being stopped by a drainage ditch. By the time the neighbors got there, the rider was trying to start his bike to get out of there. The speed limit on that road is 30, and based on skid distance, I'd guess the bike was well over 60mph AFTER the impact. After the police arrived, the rider claimed my friend tried to grab him off his bike as he rode by. Mind you, my friend had no injuries to his upper body, so, he must have tried to trip the bike... yeah that's it.
He was riding fast and stupid enough that he couldn't avoid an obstacle  that was moving at 3mph across the road with at least 1/4 mi visibility.

When people look at banning motorcycles, that's the kind of rider they remember. Not the hundreds that go on that road, obey the speed limits, and don't hit the residents.

So, yeah, we've got an image problem.  

I've been following the CA legislation but didn't know Boxer's back story about the whole thing. Obviously the wrong time a politician's personal story is influencing public policy.  

Normally, I wouldn't respond to this kind of post but I have to agree with spirit of this thread and not necessarisly with the legislation.

There are simply too many people who believe their riding skills are somehow 'a priori' superb.  Consider this, in 1957 the Harley Sportster 883 did the quarter mile in about 14.5 seconds, and at the time THAT was a superbike.  No salesman in the world, at that time, would have told a novice rider to go ahead and jump on--yet flash forward to today and now the Sportster 883 is considered a beginner's motorcycle...and today its quater mile time is about 14.5 seconds (..the Sportster's unrepentent lack of change in 50 years is a point I personally find a strong part of its historical allure). I strongly disagree with this newfound riding philosophy and I blame the manufacturers, the dealers, and most of all, the motorcycle media...We as individuals have not been 'born' with better motorcycle skills than our grandfathers who rode and yet, the motorcycle media tells a beginner of today to go ahead a jump on an 883.

So motorcycling still requires skills development and it seems to me, that despite all the motorcycle 'classes' and 'safety' courses, that perhaps as motorcyclists we are encouraging the very recklessness we seek to curtail because the fact to many people remains; sales matter more than safety, and image matters more than truth...and those of us who love this motorcycle thing need to be sitting our butts down and riding--and writing our congressman and making sure that motorcycling can be passed on to the next generation as it should be.