by Bert Meinders

Created on: July 25, 2011

Motorcycles are dangerous. Anything capable of rapid movement is dangerous. Cars are more dangerous than motorcycles, because they are bigger and heavier and, especially, because their drivers are susceptible to complacency, particularly if they have been soothed by the reassurance of airbags and side-intrusion beams and stability control. Drivers tend consciously or unconsciously to disregard the presence of anything unlikely to injure them in a collision.

Motorcycles are perceived as very dangerous because the consequences of bad judgement or wrong choice tend to injure, inconvenience or even, God forbid, kill the rider. It is worth remembering this while riding. It will not reduce your enjoyment of the ride; indeed, a frisson of danger can enhance the experience. It is also worth remembering that other popular activities are dangerous, but that this fact does not deter people from doing them. I don't think any fright on two wheels was quite as sharp as the experience of being woken at five in the morning by the arrival below the bedroom of a car sounding like that belonging to the (separated) husband of the woman sleeping beside me. It wasn't his, but that's another story.

In my experience, the greatest danger in motorcycling is inexperience. Bikes have always had a power/weight ratio significantly higher than that of most cars, and acceleration is arguably more intoxicating than speed. I remember vividly my first ride on a Honda CB350. It was a Friday night, and in 1971 this was considered a quick bike, certainly in the context of the 100cc and 125cc bikes to which most of us were accustomed. I recall storming along Ferguson Street at about 70mph before reason prevailed and  I slowed down to a more rational speed. Shaw was right - Youth is wasted on the young.

Another danger of inexperience is getting flustered in traffic. I once let traffic rattle me so that I went over the shoulder and down a bank and into a fence. Fortunately, this time I was wearing a helmet. I broke my wrist, while the bike, a Jawa, was undamaged.

There's not a lot you can do about inexperience, except survive long enough to get over it.

In this country, for the past three years, we have been required to have lights on in daytime. I don't have a problem with this (although I might have with my first bike, a Triumph Tiger Cub with a mere 60 watts from the alternator). Aware that motorists are much more likely to notice a light coming on than a light

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