When I started riding motorcycles I was in a constant state of denial, nothing was my fault. No falls, accidents, close calls, nothing. No matter how many times my father told me I was the problem, I didn't want to believe him. Then one day I was riding my motorcycle and I couldn't perform a maneuver with it. A friend of mines asked me what was going on and I told him something was wrong with the motorcycle. He asked to try my motorcycle so I let him because I was confident it was the motorcycle's fault why I couldn't perform the task. When he took my motorcycle and performed the maneuver with ease it then set in, I was the problem. From that point on I looked at everything I did on the motorcycle differently. Now this isn't to say I didn't make anymore mistakes, I just learned to accept my fault in them and learned from them.
This brings us to the question, why do riders have to make mistakes or get into accidents to become experts at giving advice? Or at least they think they are experts. By now you have seen plenty of pictures or heard tons of stories about someone telling you to be careful because everyone is out to get you, especially people in cars. Nothing could be farther from the truth. But they are always saying this after they made the mistake. Now they are experts on what not to do. Maybe they should have heeded their own advice first.
The other day I was riding and there was this gentleman on a cruiser style bike in front of me. We were traveling the posted speed limit or less in town so speed was not a factor. I watched as a car pulled out of a driveway in front of the cruiser, but the weirdest thing happened. I heard the guy scream. He never applied the brakes, he didn't slow down nor did he make any evasive maneuver. Now he was never in any danger. He didn't hit the car because we weren't going fast enough. The car accelerated quickly, probably after he scared the crap out of the driver with his screaming, and pulled far ahead of him. His bike had loud pipes so that didn't stop the car from pulling out in front of him. But that guys initial response to scream tells me that if it were a close call situation, he would of been in an unnecessary accident and blaming the car for it. The moral of this is don't get into unnecessary accidents just to blame someone.
I checked and even asked some friends who are knowledgeable in motorcycle accidents if there were any stats that supported people who have been riding less than a year are more prone to motorcycle accidents and the answer was no. Beginners make beginner mistakes but the bad accidents occurred with people who had been riding longer than a year. There could be a lot of reasons for it but I believe it comes down to complacency, recklessness and lack of skills. Riders, after a certain point, out ride their skills or become complacent to their surroundings. They start to take greater risks. Now this is even easier to get complacent and be unaware with stereos, Bluetooth and intercom systems. Now we can't stop people from being people but we can help them be better prepared should they get into a situation.
As always, build confidence, gain skills and be safe.
Komentar