"Oh no, not again."
May. 17th, 2006 01:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgselect *
from MEMORY
where MEMORY includes "motorcycle"
and ent_date > '11/14/1960';
You don't say motorcycle around my mother. She turns a shade paler, and gives you That Look. Mom worked emergency rooms and intensive care as a bedside nurse, and then as a nursing supervisor, for more years than she'd like to admit. I think it was in the fifty of years or more when she finally retired.
Jim's mother, who did emergency room with the military as a registered nurse before retiring with PTSD, is only a little better. She gives you a semi-Look, but you'll hear soon after "you're not planning to get one of those things, are you?" It'll be somewhere in the conversation. Watch for it.
Hell, Cookie McFuckup nearly did himself in on a motorcycle, back in the day - and you'll hear that he'd be dead right now if that paramedic squad hadn't been right there, coming back from another call when he did the deed on the offramp of the freeway.
You hear it, and it passes through you like air. He's still here. It didn't kill him, so really - it's not that big a deal.
But the nurses who are mothers in my family won't discuss motorcyles without grieving.
Keep in mind, my experience with motorcycles is entirely a positive one - hell, I used to run around with the MMA back in the day. Some of my happiest memories are being on the back of a bike, riding around Hemet & Idyllwild on summer nights.
However.
You can't get away from the statistics, which are very very clear. It never fails to amaze me the kinds of auto accidents people survive. You ride a motorcycle long enough, however, it will kill you.
You can't be careful enough or smart enough or brave enough or anything enough. Something gets in your way for any reason - or doesn't see you - and hits you - and you don't have a chance. You're dead. Safety equipment only goes so far.
But motorcycles are helluva fun. There's nothing like it - so how does my head cope with the danger?
One, I don't think motorcycles are really suited for highway driving where there are more than three lanes, and the traffic is such that you have to "line dance" to keep your air-cooled engine from exploding. (That's most of California.) There are backroads, and open highway - where the risks are still there, but the additional traffic is not. Go ride in Hawaii on the freeways - with your friends. But I don't recommend making the motorcycle your primary mode of transportation if you live in a really congested big city. Or if your commute is over 15 miles (and that's pushing it). Take public transportation and save the bike for the weekends. You'll live. (It also goes that you should never make a motorcycle your primary and only source of transportation with no backup. You'll be sick one day. Or tired. You goof, you die. You gonna risk that?)
There are bikes you ride, and bikes you wish you could ride. Really. I think someone put it very well when she said that 120 was plenty fast for a car - anything faster, and you had no business driving it outside a racetrack. Me, I'd put the top end for motorcycles at about 65. Yeeeeah, and see above. You want to tangle with the SUVs on the 405, you go for it. I see very few motorcycles in the diamond lanes on the freeways down here. You have to cross all the lanes to get to it - and cross all the lanes to get out to exit. I don't care if that thing'll do 90 in a blink - it only takes a tap on their part, and you're road pizza.
I think it boils down to being realistic about it. It's a calculated risk, like everything else you do getting out of bed in the morning. It's just that riding a motorcycle will kill you if you do it long enough. And long enough is different for everyone.
Erring on the side of caution, that's me. Your mileage (*cough*) may vary.
Me, I'd rather be able to enjoy it. I'm picky about the where, when and with who. And the so not getting cocky about it. It's a dead serious business, riding. Forget it, and die. Literally.
I've been reading about![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
motogrrl all day today. So many of her friends are on my FL - and she's another one of those people I'll only get to know through them, because we never met.
And it isn't just that they lost her. It's been a while since I've seen heart's blood flowing like this - if you ever wonder if you'd be missed if you just disspeared, go open my friends list natively and check it. I am so very sorry for all of you, and I've been thinking about you all day.
She didn't do anything wrong. I know it. It was just bad luck, and motorcycle accidents are not forgiving. And that's all it was - an accident. *sighs*
With gas prices inflating at the rate they're going, I know more people will be going to motorcycles for transportation - with the predictable outcome. I can only say that I keep hearing Esterhaus in my head....
"Let's be careful out there."
And may her memory bring peace.
from MEMORY
where MEMORY includes "motorcycle"
and ent_date > '11/14/1960';
You don't say motorcycle around my mother. She turns a shade paler, and gives you That Look. Mom worked emergency rooms and intensive care as a bedside nurse, and then as a nursing supervisor, for more years than she'd like to admit. I think it was in the fifty of years or more when she finally retired.
Jim's mother, who did emergency room with the military as a registered nurse before retiring with PTSD, is only a little better. She gives you a semi-Look, but you'll hear soon after "you're not planning to get one of those things, are you?" It'll be somewhere in the conversation. Watch for it.
Hell, Cookie McFuckup nearly did himself in on a motorcycle, back in the day - and you'll hear that he'd be dead right now if that paramedic squad hadn't been right there, coming back from another call when he did the deed on the offramp of the freeway.
You hear it, and it passes through you like air. He's still here. It didn't kill him, so really - it's not that big a deal.
But the nurses who are mothers in my family won't discuss motorcyles without grieving.
Keep in mind, my experience with motorcycles is entirely a positive one - hell, I used to run around with the MMA back in the day. Some of my happiest memories are being on the back of a bike, riding around Hemet & Idyllwild on summer nights.
However.
You can't get away from the statistics, which are very very clear. It never fails to amaze me the kinds of auto accidents people survive. You ride a motorcycle long enough, however, it will kill you.
You can't be careful enough or smart enough or brave enough or anything enough. Something gets in your way for any reason - or doesn't see you - and hits you - and you don't have a chance. You're dead. Safety equipment only goes so far.
But motorcycles are helluva fun. There's nothing like it - so how does my head cope with the danger?
One, I don't think motorcycles are really suited for highway driving where there are more than three lanes, and the traffic is such that you have to "line dance" to keep your air-cooled engine from exploding. (That's most of California.) There are backroads, and open highway - where the risks are still there, but the additional traffic is not. Go ride in Hawaii on the freeways - with your friends. But I don't recommend making the motorcycle your primary mode of transportation if you live in a really congested big city. Or if your commute is over 15 miles (and that's pushing it). Take public transportation and save the bike for the weekends. You'll live. (It also goes that you should never make a motorcycle your primary and only source of transportation with no backup. You'll be sick one day. Or tired. You goof, you die. You gonna risk that?)
There are bikes you ride, and bikes you wish you could ride. Really. I think someone put it very well when she said that 120 was plenty fast for a car - anything faster, and you had no business driving it outside a racetrack. Me, I'd put the top end for motorcycles at about 65. Yeeeeah, and see above. You want to tangle with the SUVs on the 405, you go for it. I see very few motorcycles in the diamond lanes on the freeways down here. You have to cross all the lanes to get to it - and cross all the lanes to get out to exit. I don't care if that thing'll do 90 in a blink - it only takes a tap on their part, and you're road pizza.
I think it boils down to being realistic about it. It's a calculated risk, like everything else you do getting out of bed in the morning. It's just that riding a motorcycle will kill you if you do it long enough. And long enough is different for everyone.
Erring on the side of caution, that's me. Your mileage (*cough*) may vary.
Me, I'd rather be able to enjoy it. I'm picky about the where, when and with who. And the so not getting cocky about it. It's a dead serious business, riding. Forget it, and die. Literally.
I've been reading about
motogrrl all day today. So many of her friends are on my FL - and she's another one of those people I'll only get to know through them, because we never met.And it isn't just that they lost her. It's been a while since I've seen heart's blood flowing like this - if you ever wonder if you'd be missed if you just disspeared, go open my friends list natively and check it. I am so very sorry for all of you, and I've been thinking about you all day.
She didn't do anything wrong. I know it. It was just bad luck, and motorcycle accidents are not forgiving. And that's all it was - an accident. *sighs*
With gas prices inflating at the rate they're going, I know more people will be going to motorcycles for transportation - with the predictable outcome. I can only say that I keep hearing Esterhaus in my head....
"Let's be careful out there."
And may her memory bring peace.
