Life's over very effing fast when you're riding a motorbike, no airbags, no safety of a car or truck cage around you, and some shithead doesn't see you when changing lanes.
So, if you ride a bike - have a life insurance policy, have your blood type on your helmet, and your next of kin/in case of emergency number next to that. Every time you are riding, might be your last because drivers are careless, and bikers break and squish like watermelons. Sorry, but that's the sorry truth.
I hope the biker I saw laying on the freeway like a twisted pretzel lived. I do. I simply doubt it from what I saw.
Every rider ought to be required to be a registered organ donor and blood donor to get a license, and again to get insurance, and even to buy a new bike from a dealership. That might help out the hospitals that have to handle the results of crashes.
60 years ago, when I was a teenager, a motorcycle seemed like a good idea. my parents (wisely) thought otherwise. Today? With today's traffic and driver inattention? I would never dream of riding one no matter my age. I live in a retirement community. There is a neighbor who rides by two or three times a week on his Harley. My guess is his wife does not allow him to ride on the 'real' streets!
ReplyDeleteTake rider's education, brush up on it at the start of the riding season, wear the best protective gear you can afford, and save racing for trackdays. Don't bother writing your blood type on the helmet; it may look cool, but no medic would trust that, as the helmet might be be borrowed from somebody else. Maybe racers have it, but that's in a much more controlled environment.
ReplyDeletewell, daily riders commuting on a motorcycle in San Diego already are trained, experienced, and we don't have a riding season. We have nice weather, and great weather. Anyone living and riding in San Diego's interstate traffic, is used to the 6th largest city in the USA, and that's a lot of daily experience in the extreme variety of real day to day life, not some classroom and cone parking lot advice. 1
DeleteI don't know why you bring up racing, there wasn't any.
And you advise to not put your blood type on your helmet? What is that? Looking at something smart, and denying it's legitimacy because someone else recognizes it's useful, logical, and time proven?
And no, the notion that anyone would THINK a rider borrowed a helmet? Not really.
Your response is not cool. Yes, people HAVE borrowed helmets, (and people have survived jumping out of planes without parachutes, it's just highly unlikely you'd ever meet one, just like it's highly unlikely a first responder would THINK a biker in a wreck with the blood type on the helmet BORROWED IT) NO, medics are NOT going to ignore it, not everyone "borrows" a helmet that fits, so - it's highly unlikely that first responders would EVER jump to that illogical notion.
What, did you read what I wrote, and get bent because I make the case that riding is almost suicidal? Hell, I forgot to add to that post that every rider ought to be required to be a registered organ donor.
Honestly, I'm not shitting on biking, it must be really nice when the weather is great, and the road is smooth and the bike is running fine. But with a life of experience, I can state factually I don't know a single motorcycle rider that hasn't crashed, been hit, been aimed at by car drivers, or side swiped by accident, even hit at an intersection.
Easy now, I ALWAYS read what you write, and if I do hit the keyboard contradicting you - always a very risky endavour - it's because I think it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI've often lent out helmets to other riders or passengers, and see this being done by riders I hardly know too. The subject of blood types on helmets is being brought up occasionally in the motorcycle mags I read, and when medics are interviewed they always tell that they'd never rely on such info.
I brought up racers only because on a race track it might make sense, as they are unlikely to use other helmets than their own.
I think all motorists - car drivers, truckers, motorcyclists - should at least be encouraged to sign up for an organ donor card, every time their licenses are being renewed. A lot of people probably find donating organs is a good idea, but for one reason or another just don't get around to actually sign up. I've had one such card in my wallet for half a century now.
(While I'm at it, require every motorist to spend a day on a track every 3 or 4 years, brushing up on braking skills and how to deal with slippery roads. And to brush up on the first aid knowledge, they were taught when taking their license first time around....)
agreed, even though I disagree and point out why I think so.
DeleteYes drivers ed should be SO much more thorough and cover things it used to, like how to recover from a hydroplane loss of traction, driving in the fog, driving in gridlock, with lanesplitting bikers, and in cities.
But, the drivers ed in the USA is nearly useless. There is never another driving test the rest of your life as far as I can tell, nor another written test. Just a new photo ever decade or whatever.
Again, helmets are rarely lent out, every rider should have that info on THEIR helmet, and first responders don't have time for nonsense, it's plug in a pint to keep the organ donor alive lo9ng enough to harvest them organs, or, if the biker was lucky, to keep the alive long enough to see if they've gotten wiser, or will try for crash number two.
The drivers license people I've met, plus the red cross people, have been proactive on the organ donor issue. I've been a blood donor, and have made my drivers license show organ donor, and have registered for bone marrow donation, and other stuff. Why not?
If someone's been reading what I write, I must be making a lot of sense a lot of the time.
And thanks for hanging around to see what new things I've posted.
I didn't get any first aid training when I had drivers ed, but the method of training has varied a lot from decades past, and various state requirements.
It would be great if track time was included, but, you know how Americans hate tracks, and love real estate for flipping for profit... every year a couple tracks close and get replaced with apartment buildings. No one can afford to buy enough real estate to make a track anywhere near high density population centers anymore