Distracted Driving

This morning, just up the street from my office, a sport bike rider was splattered on the road, front forks and wheel were squashed back past the frame. I checked our local newpaper's website at lunch, and it appears the driver of the car he T-boned was coming out of the donut shop, and claims "she never saw the motorcycle." The rider is listed as "critical but stable." Maybe she was eating, I don't know. It's hard enough to be seen on my bike without all the crap in the car... In Europe they have no cup holders in their cars. The idea of eating and drinking while driving is just weird to them. I know here in South Florida we believe in loud pipes. Say what you want, but I know without a doubt that I don't get "lane changed" on by cagers as much now as when I was running a stock exhaust on my HD. Even my sportbike buddies agree with me on that score.

No easy answer but I will say that cars have become entertainment centers on wheels. Drivers in this country blissfully spend their time talking and watching news while driving and acting as if their actions do not matter since they're so busy talking on the cell. I am constantly concerned when I'm driving my truck with inattentive drivers nearly running into me. When on the bike, I have assumed they don't see me at all and that they will pull in front of me at any second. It has happened before and will happen again but I've been prepared. Law enforcement seems oblivious other to an reactionary role just blaming the bike for being on the road at all. Motorbikes are second class citizens on America's highway and streets and since riders don't have sufficient political or economic clout to change that bias, it will fall onto the rider to have the ability and skill to negotiate the complete lack of public concern for the motorcyclist. Hopefully, we can get the AMA to put more pressure on the training of cagers to be aware of motorcyclists as well as the gradual reduction of these attention reducing activities that are taken for granted in today's driving environment. Take care and be safe.

In the glorious state of Utah, one of our state reps was sponsoring a bill to allow police to ticket people for "distracted driving". He says he drafted this bill after witnessing a woman driver swerving on the road while eating a salad she was holding in her lap.



Last I heard, it was killed in committee because another representative, who is a police officer, said it's unreasonable to ticket someone who is turning around in their seat while driving to buckle in their child who may have undone their buckle.



Because, of course, it's apparently unreasonable to pull over and do this and, for god's sake, we have to THINK OF THE CHILDREN!



I assume, also, that this means that Utah's finest do not have the capacity to differentiate between buckling child in and salad eating.

We all have witnessed examples of "extreme multi-tasking". A few months ago I wondered why an enormous SUV wandered over into my lane several times.



It took several incredulous looks for me to realize the driver was:



1. Talking on her cell phone.

2. Was struggling with keeping a bowl wedged between her paunch and the steering wheel.

3. Was eating cereal with a spoon- with milk, of course- from said bowl.



We were traveling at well north of 65mph at the time.



Not that I blame her, of course. I blame the cereal industry. She was just trying to finish her breakfast before the stuff went soggy. Don't you hate it when you cause a 15 car pileup AND your Cap'n F'in Crunch is soggy?