[longride]

Popularity of motorcycling will be its undoing. It boils down to this. Few people have the physical and mental skill to ride a motorcycle well, and fewer still work on their skills on a consistant basis. With the popularity of motorcycling rising rapidly, there is always a large mass of idiots that should be nowhere near a motorcycle, much less riding one. As the off themselves in ever increasing numbers, the long time rider gets stuck with the consequences. This is why we have stupid laws to load up everyone with all the protective gear they can handle and hope for the best. Certainly training, tougher testing and education will help, but most people aren't going to be very good anyway, so we already know what is going wrong, and it's the inability of John Q. to really get a grasp of riding a motorcycle. There is no comprehensive safety solution short of banning motorcycles entirely, or making the requirements to ride a motorcycle so tough, that the masses stay away in droves. Not good for the sport or the manufacturers, but it's great for safety. Hopefully, motorcycling will go back to obscurity, and we can be free of all the hand wringing by our public officials.

 

[longride]

Man, I have a story when I was at the DMV getting my address changed that would scare the hell out of you. This old Polish guy walks in with his daughter and he has to be 90 and she explained that he just came over and is looking to get his license. Can't speak a word of English, he's mostly deaf, and has glasses that have Coke bottle lenses. Well the daughter is translating and screaming at him because he can't hear, and he doesn't really understand what the hell is going on. I'm saying to my wife "Watch, they are going to give this guy a license!" I kept watching this scene and I can't see how they just didn't tell this guy his driving days are over. Anyway, he has to fill out this form first, and he has no f$cking idea what they want him to do, so they tell him to go home and get the form filled out by someone and get some identification and come back tomorrow. I'm sure the guy is driving around somewhere today. Scares the shyt out of me.