Yesterday was a motorcycle run, what we bikers call a Poker Run, although several states have tried defining them as "gambling" and illegal. This isn't about that. It was a run for the "LOOK TWICE, SAVE A LIFE" campaign. On the way home, as I came up on the neighborhood Walmart, a little silver car never even paused coming out of the parking lot, flying at about 20-25 miles an hour--this is pretty fast in a parking lot and to be not even pausing onto a major 4 lane road. Of course, he saw the cars behind me. The guy didn't see me. His hurry was for nothing. We were stopped by the red light 75 feet away. I was along side, because he had flown across into the left lane on top of it. I beeped my horn, looked at him and mouthed "Thanks, Thanks a lot for looking first." Okay, I didn't mouth it only but he had his windows up. What pissed me off wasn't that. For me, I had enough time to react; a few feet more--maybe, maybe not. What actually pissed me off even more is he had a kid in the car with him. Sitting in a center booster in the man's backseat. The "Look Twice, Save a Life" campaign focuses on motorcycles, but since he was blatantly not paying attention and going too fast to stop coming out of that parking lot, he and more importantly, the boy--assuming his child, could've been injured had I been in my truck or car instead. A motorcyclist has a minor advantage that if we can see it soon enough our vehicles can stop faster--but that isn't an advantage when we have a vehicle behind us. Because they can't!!! So this guy, in a split second, decided it might be okay for him, his son or anyone else to be injured or even killed. He decided it might be okay for his son to witness someone die because of his poor decision.
Yes, I've heard the arguments about helmets. Yet study after study shows that the frontal portion of the biker is where the most damage occurs. Most helmets do not cover the front portion of the face--and that protection is not near as much. But why frontal damage? Because we are hit from behind or someone pulls in front of us and we are thrown....FORWARD. If we had been closer, I may or may not have been able to react fast enough, but the vehicle behind me, an large SUV, she wouldn't have been able to. So this guy made a decision that not only affected him, his son, me and now this lady behind me and whoever was in her vehicle. I was fortunate she was not riding right behind me and allowed herself plenty of reaction space between our vehicles. But had she been where I was when he did this, she may have hit him. He didn't care that he didn't stop to see me. But he didn't think that between her and me might not be enough room either. He couldn't be sure. He came out of nowhere in the parking lot and flew into the road. He had no time to gauge how fast she was going even if he didn't see me. He definitely saw that there were about 5 cars and SUVs around me, but hey maybe not. He came out of nowhere. I was watching for him....That was the only difference and it might not have helped if he were only a couple of seconds later coming out of that parking lot.
I know, so I'm responsible, but you're sick of those motorcycles that are going too fast and zipping between traffic lines. All bikers know that some of the younger people riding some bikes, and even some of the older, are not as responsible as we would like. But they typically are not the norm. Of 66.7M bikers on the roads in the United States, we know that less than 20% are sport bike riders--that group that most people equate with doing the stupid tricks on the freeways, flying way too fast, cutting between lines of traffic. The average age of these riders is 28 years old. They are young and sometimes impetuous, and yes, sometimes their speed plays a big factor not because someone didn't pull out in front of them but because they had not allowed themselves a reaction time. But they are someone's child, someone's friend, someone's heart. They mean something to someone and you wouldn't want someone to disregard someone that you care about. The other point is that most of us are responsible for the most part. We all make mistakes, but the mistake that we make shouldn't be something as simple as not taking a couple of seconds to take a second look.
In spite of that show by Peggy Buddy and her husband, the truth is 99% of bikers are just like you. They have jobs. They pay taxes. They bitch about the same politicians. They have to pay bills. They have families. Many of them are just going through a mid-life crisis and will ride for 2 or 3 years and then sell their bike for a boat or a vacation site. Some of us are life long bikers. I grew up with motorcycles. My uncle dragged NRHA in the 60s and 70s. My father worked as a structural engineer on my uncle's bike. They were both mechanical engineers. My uncle worked in the US auto industry. My dad was a structural engineer that worked all over the country. I rode the tank when I was a toddler--to my Grams' dismay. Some bikers are teachers, construction workers, quality assurance techs, hair dressers, CEOs. We are just like you, only our hobby is an iron horse.
LOOK TWICE, SAVE A LIFE is not just about motorcycles. When you come up to a stop, you cannot assume anything. You need to look twice. Not just for motorcycles, for anyone. I have a bright orange truck, and I've had plenty of people pull out in front of my truck. That truck sticks out like a sore thumb, yet time and time again, I've had people put their lives, their passengers' lives, my life and my passengers' lives in danger, because they can't take a couple of extra seconds to look twice. It's not just motorcyclists' lives that you might save. It might be yours or someone you love.
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