The
only thing missing
is an engine....
From the small office in the back corner,
near the water cooler
July 18th, 2008
Sometimes
things just work out the way they do.
The day this
editorial is being written, aside from the motorcycle deaths
and endless riders who insist on trying to outrun law
enforcement at triple digit speeds, no notable news stories
have crossed the desks of Clutch and Chrome. Although both
types of stories are tragic in their own particular way, we
have long decided to run neither for a variety of reasons.
But our
attention was drawn to a news story at MSNBC
‘Deadly tension on the roads - cars
vs. bikes’ reporting not only on the increasing
number of drivers turning to bicycles to combat high gas
prices, but also the resulting chaos between the two wheeled
riders and their four – wheeled cousins.
If all of this
has a resounding déjà vu to it, anyone who has ridden a
motorcycle on America’s city streets can empathize with our
peddle-powered brothers and sisters.
But in the months since
motorists began pedaling in droves, it has become clear that
all those cyclists on the streets pose a significant
problem:
All those cyclists on the
streets.
Maybe
this is what the motorcycle-riding community needs to
re-enforce our ongoing concerns that automobile drivers have
a hard time with respect and sharing. Simply put, if most
drivers’ road manners are indicative of their childhoods,
many surely grew up staring into a corner and with
the numerous time-outs they obviously had one would think
they would be a little more patient behind the wheel.
Bikers have long complained
about being treated as second rate road using-citizens by
car drivers with our four-wheeled cousins either not
respecting the much needed safety zone around a motorcycle,
or trying to squeeze into lanes already occupied by riders.
“I believe it’s
definitely going to cause some problems, because people
don’t know how to share the road with cyclists,” said Kirk
Hendricks, director of advocacy for the group Idaho Cycling
Enthusiasts. “[Drivers] need to know that we have as much
right as an automobile even though we’re not as big.”
The article
goes onto read;
There are no nationwide
statistics on bicycle-related injuries and deaths for the
first half of 2008. But authorities across the country say
they are seeing a sharp rise in the number of accidents
involving bicyclists.
“Last year in New Jersey 12
bikers, bicyclists, were killed in motor vehicle crashes,”
said Pam Fischer, director of the state Division of Highway
Traffic Safety. “So far this year — and we’re at the middle
of the summer, July 15 — we have already lost 11
bicyclists.”
In the next
sentence Ms. Fischer points out that most of the time it’s
the cyclist doing something to put themselves at significant
risk. Yes, like trying to share the road with cars and
trucks maybe?
If the gas
crisis continues and the battle between cyclists and
four-wheeled traffic becomes an ongoing concern, it’ll be
interesting to watch the response from the various highway
safety agencies, both nationally and statewide. Instead of
putting the responsibility on the driver of paying attention
to others around them while operating a multi-thousand pound
vehicle on public roads, agencies could insist that cyclists
pay for a safety course. Most of the course will teach them
how to look ahead for road hazards and bad drivers, learning
to keep an exit strategy to counter any bad driving they
might encounter. Instructors will also show cyclists how to
make eye contact with drivers in the hope that the act of
establishing that visual connection will help them be seen.
Because we
think about bicycles the way we do, these hypothetical's may
seem like an exaggeration or over hyping the situation, when
really it’s neither. Anyone who has worked in an office or
on a factory floor will tell you, if everyone has a problem
with one person, it’s not the entire staff that needs
coaching. We seem to have found our road version of the guy
who eats everyone’s lunch, tells the off-color jokes in
mixed company and doesn’t clean up their mess in the
kitchen. That person also happens to drive a car to work.
Clutch and
Chrome completely endorses motorcycle safety training in
both the basic and any level of advance course that can be
found. But the bigger problem doesn’t appear to be getting
new or returning riders into the course, but drivers
perfecting their skills of seeing what’s on the road. Just
as the general public gets upset with truck drivers who
cause accidents from fatigue or bad driving, safety agencies
should look to car drivers in the same blame-laying manner
when they hit a motorcycle or bicycle.
How do we fix
this though?
Improve the
courses new drivers take to help them learn about not only
seeing, but respecting other, smaller road-users. Make it
part of the test and license renewal process. We read off
charts, look at pictures and are tested on what we see.
Flash a picture on the screen with a motorcycle in an
adjoining lane. They don’t see it; a mark goes against the
applicant. Not only will all of this help the driver
appreciate what they may encounter on the road, it will
emphasize the importance of looking for other, smaller
road-users, a responsibility that has in some bizarre-world
fashion been shifted to the bikers and cyclists.
According to
the experts, we riders and bikers have to make a concerted
effort to be seen by drivers who for whatever reason simply
aren’t looking. This isn’t bitterness or disrespecting
high visibility safety campaigns
aimed at bikers around the country. On the contrary, its
wonderful see state budget dollars spent on something to
help save riders lives, and most of the campaigns are done
in a urging fashion rather than talking down or accusing
riders of being the problem of increasing highway
fatalities.
Finally,
increase the fines and penalties to drivers who injure or
kill riders with their vehicle. Whether running a light or
weaving through traffic at high rates of speed, drivers
should be aware and punished for recklessly turning their
vehicle into a weapon.
Our cycling
cousins may just be the respected office-worker that calls
out the problem-child or the new guy that points out the
goof-off to the safety manager on the factory floor. And
although we may think those streamlined spandex and teardrop
shaped helmets look just a little bit funny, the bicyclist
could end up being an avenging angel, situationally bad-ass
as they come.
Through all the
efforts mentioned above, we could reduce motorcycle
fatalities on the roads and Clutch and Chrome won’t have
report them because of principle, but simply because they
just didn’t happen.
Be safe!
The Editor
