Road Rage and You

I teach a high school driver's education class. As a long term rider, I always make students aware that motorcycle riders are other drivers on the roadways too, not just the drivers in 4-wheels. These riders are authorized to be on the roadways with cars, trucks and SUV's, so another skill needed by drivers is to be aware of riders. When an altercation occurs between a driver and a rider, it will most likely be the rider who is injured or killed as a result of the driver's action.

As riders, we need to always maneuver to that safe zone, and totally disregard the actions of drivers so that we, the rider, do not act on an emotional impulse to create a situation that would justify the driver's retaliation against the rider. I am not supporting any action by any driver or rider that would intimidate or create an event that would cause bodily injury to either the driver or the rider.

As riders, we need to take responsibility for how we react to the disregard of drivers, especially if the rider is not riding in a courteous and safe manner. I hate it when those wannabe racers leave a traffic intersection doing a wheelie down to the next intersection. It gives ammunition (pardon the pun!) to drivers validating the impression that motorcycle riders are all maniacs.

I have replaced my itsy-bitsy of a horn with a 130db blaster! The only real sane and acceptable method to get back at a driver who didn't see you in his/her (politically correct) mirror!! Most drivers will accept a blast because now you have warned them that you were in that spot to begin with. Most drivers will accept that, on that occasion, they made a mistake. But when the rider feels that they need to escalate this issue by kicking in a door or breaking off a mirror, now, the rider has created the problem. And, unfortunately, it will be the rider who suffers the most in the end.

Be responsible. Ride smart. Ride safe. Ride long.

Here in ATL's crazy traffic, I make a real effort to chill, let people in, let weirdo's slide, etc.



Years and years ago in Rider, a female columnist (pretty sure not Donna C) wrote a horrifying tale of being road-raged by some nutcase.



Of course all this is not new. Remember 10 yr ago or so, "Woad Wage" (Baba WaWa's pronounciation) was all the rage. Brock Yates wrote several great columns on that issue.



I've posted this experience here before but here goes again: a couple of years ago, I was ambling along pretty gently on Wolf Pen Gap Rd. (GA 180) at the narrow part leading up from Vogel State Park. On my almost unhearable ST11...I quietly - and pretty slowly - passed a bearded 60'ish guy on a bicycle...a very fancy bicycle. He stopped and started screaming at me. I stopped, heard a bit of furious gibberish and decided to ride on and just let it go. My only comment to him was "Gore Voter!". No, it did nothing to defuse the situation and was pretty dumb & juvenile on my part. A quick exit on my part did defuse - at least for me.





I suppose I could bloviate on the "Birch" comment. Gabe, lets just say it didn't have the intended effect for me. I knew (slightly) the Flight 007 Congressman and Birch member and his father...and I'm NOT a Birch admirer.

Bloviating...

Thanks for making me look up that word. Funny that I didn't know what it meant even though I do it a lot.

Rest assured that "Birch-worshipping" was meant to tease those with a conservative bent and not to make light of the death of anybody, Birch member or not. I didn't even know about that.

I do know that Birchers are viewed by most as political extremeists with bizzare and unfounded views and so deserve to be made fun of, no matter how untimely or tragic their deaths. I certainly meant no actual disrespect or insult to anybody who reads MO...well, almost nobody.

Thanks for reading and posting and ride safely,

Gabe

OK!

I'll let your opinions speak for themselves, Van. Because that's what they are; opinions. I respectfully disagree, and I would venture that I'm far from alone.

If you think Ted Kennedy, Jerry Brown, Rose Bird, Martin Luther King, jr., JFK, and yes, lil' 'ol me are even remotely similar to totalitarian fascists, I think you need to pick up a few history books! Your POV is so outside the mainstream of political thought in our culture (although maybe not the vocal folks on these fora) that it doesn't even really bear discussion. That's why there are groups like the John Birch society. They are small but noisy, and they provide an outlet for extreme views.

God bless them and America! But this is a motorcycling website, and although I poke a few jabs at folk's political views, I do try to be an equal oppurtunity poker; there's plenty of innanity on both sides of the debate.

However, since the conservative right is driving at this point in our history, conservatives are going to bear the brunt of the jokes. When it's reversed, it'll be different; do you think I'd refrain from making fun of AlGore and Uncle Teddy and their supporters if they had any power?

Re: Pick me too!

What a radical idea. One man - one vote! Heresy!

Everyone knows that people must be ruled by kings. That's the way it's always been.

Slavery was also part of "mainstream poltical thought" at one time too. About 99% of human history is one with political systems of slavery.

The USA isn't in danger of becoming a totalitarian state like Nazi Germany. It's in danger of becoming an authoritarian nanny state where those who disagree with "mainstream political thought" are thoroughly "re-educated". It's going to be a Brave New World, not a 1984. Take yer Prozac, er I mean Soma and shut up. Don't argue with your self-appointed betters.

Or hasn't anyone else noticed the enthusiasm with which cities, counties, States and the Fed try to pass laws against everything that is "bad"? All done to thunderous applause.