Part One
Every year between three and four hundred motorcyclists die on the roads of Britain. Around four thousand die in the USA. About two hundred and fifty die in Australia. What a terrible waste of life! Many more motorcyclists are injured - often seriously.
A friend of mine who had an addiction to motorbikes once spent three months in hospital in Inverness, Scotland after coming off his bike at speed on an awkward bend. He has never ridden a motorbike since that time and he knows he came very close to death. Though he survived, his body has never been the same since.
A friend of mine who had an addiction to motorbikes once spent three months in hospital in Inverness, Scotland after coming off his bike at speed on an awkward bend. He has never ridden a motorbike since that time and he knows he came very close to death. Though he survived, his body has never been the same since.
In 1987 when Ian was not even three years old, we were driving out of the city of Derry in Northern Ireland on a sunny afternoon. Up ahead I saw a lorry (American: truck) stationary and sideways on in the road. As I looked closer when passing by the lorry I saw a motorcycle under the vehicle. I pulled up fifty yards further on and asked Shirley to run back and see what had happened.
At that time Shirley was an Accident and Emergency nurse - used to seeing blood and death. I stayed with Ian in our car. When she eventually came back to us after giving her details to the first police officers on the scene, she told me that the motorcyclist had died in her arms. There was nothing more she could have done to save him.
Ten days ago, a close friend of my sister-in-law's new fellow was killed in The Yorkshire Dales whilst riding his motorbike. He was hit by a camper van that allegedly swerved to the wrong side of the road to avoid some stray sheep. He was fifty seven years old and he has left a family in grief.
That's motorbikes for you. To be continued tomorrow
That's motorbikes for you. To be continued tomorrow
My husband Greg used to ride to work on one when he was younger, as it meant he could cut through gaps in traffic jams and still be at work on time. It came in handy too during the great storm of October 1987 when trees were down all over he streets in London. As a radio news journalist, he just had to get to work on time. But his motorbike days came to an end when on one occasion a van in front of him decided to change lanes without signalling and forced Greg to swerve violently into some railings. Our daughter was young then and he vowed never to ride that bike again. Before our daughter was born we also used to hire one on holidays in Greece and ride round hairpin bends with no helmets. I shudder to think of that now.
ReplyDeleteSo many holidaymakers have motorcycle accidents in Greece and the Greek islands. Some never come home. I didn't know that Greg was a radio journalist. He must have been a clever guy. One of the cleverest decisions he made was to give up riding motorbikes.
DeleteI guess people think the risk is worth it for the thrill of the ride. The problem of course, is that the thrill is short and death or disability is permanent
ReplyDeleteThough all bikers are aware of the danger, they think it will never happen to them - but of course it could and often does!
DeleteThree good friends of mine (a husband and wife make up two of them) are bikers...as opposed to "bikies". They love riding, and have been doing so for years. The married couple have about three or four bikes...and they certainly are beautiful bikes...well-maintained.
ReplyDeleteEvery Christmas and a few times during any given year they partake in "Toy Runs"....handing out toys to the needy children in our communities.
Not all motor cycle accidents are caused by the riders of bikes. Cars and trucks play major roles as well. Also, hundreds are killed by those vehicles, too.
Death by accidents surrounds us...here, there and everywhere. A person can fall over and hit their head and die...no vehicles within cooee.
What always confuses (and perhaps, amuses me) is when bikers will tell you how much they love the freedom etc., experienced of riding. I can't see it...understand thei reasoning. They are all rigged up in their tight, than tight leathers, wearing Darth Vader-like helmets. How can that make someone feel "free"?
Riding during our summers, in particular, must be horrendous. Just getting into and out of the outfits, alone, would be a battle! There's nothing free and easy about it to my way of thought!
It is as if bikers are a different breed - like men who sit for hours by rivers or lakes with fishing rods. Thank you for your reflections Lee - interesting as always.
DeleteYes we have experienced the toll of motorbike riding. I found our eldest son gravely injured after skidding on a dirt road..back broken in three places, ruptured spleen and smashed arm and hand..multiple breaks. I broke the ambulance drivers wrist assisting him to paralift my 6'2" son to the ambulance. He did recover and can walk but of course there are many consequences of such injuries.
ReplyDeleteWe also lost a very dear friend who loved biking..hit by a young driver on a bend..a special man gone!!
We reckon if bikes were invented today they would be deemed too dangerous to release onto the roadways.
I am very sorry to learn of your son's bike accident and the consequences of it. By the sound of it he was fortunate to live on. I agree entirely with your final remark Elle.
DeleteI ride. Although I haven't in quite a while. I am scared because people these days don't pay attention. They are on their phones for a myriad of reasons and quite frankly people just don't see motorcyclists unless they are riding in a pack and even then sometimes they don't. It's just too dangerous to ride.
ReplyDeleteYou are right CSC. Often the fault is with careless car drivers but there are also plenty of mad motorcyclists. It is indeed "just too dangerous to ride".
DeleteHorrible to view and horrible to contemplate. Sadness for the victims and their families. Kudos to people like Shirley. Looking forward (bad choice of words) to Part Two.
ReplyDeleteI have started to realise that a lot of blog visitors don't appreciate long blogposts so I effectively split this one in two.
DeleteSo many people here ignore helmet laws and are adamant about riding without them. I'll never understand that line of reasoning. A human head is like a melon when it connects with pavement at high speed!
ReplyDeleteA middle aged woman I used to work with was riding with her (piece of shit) biker ex husband who disdained the use of helmets. They got into a terrible accident and my friend ended up with a fractured skull, broken ribs, two broken arms, AND she lost an eye. The POS husband was fine, of course. The friend never really recovered, she never walked again and a couple of years later she died, far too young. Biker husband I'd still riding helmet less with his new biker girlfriends.
You really wouldn't get away with riding without a helmet in England. May your former workmate rest in peace. Now batten down the hatches for here comes Hurricane Florence. Stay safe Jennifer!
DeleteMy daughter, Kat, has just bought her new motorbike. She knows how I feel about it (I have seen too many dead and injured victims of motorcycle accidents)but alas, she will do what she wants to do.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful that neither of my children has ever showen the remotest interest in motorbikes. Drive warily Kat! There's a lot of dumb people on the roads.
DeleteI had a friend who loved touring on bikes. She married two bikers. (Not at the same time.) She traveled from Florida to Alaska with her first husband. Several times. After they were divorced and she was diagnosed with a terminal illness, she met another biker and before she died they rode from Florida to the Pacific coast and although I never did like that man in the least (and I'm not sure she did either), I loved him for taking her on that last journey. It made her mighty happy.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely story...I could almost see it as a film script... "The Final Ride"/ "Into The Sun" or something like that. Thanks for calling by again Ms Moon.
DeleteBoth my my boys had motorbikes when they were young and both had accidents on them. I only found out later about this and fortunately they were not badly injured.
ReplyDeleteTom and I were talking the other day about motorbikes with sidecars, you hardly see them now but my Auntie and Uncle had one and neither of them wore helmets, that was how it was then.
The only motorbike I ever rode on was donkeys years ago. My friend was a Telegram boy and had one of those little red bikes ( you may be too young to remember them). He gave me a lift on one, lol
Briony
x
I bet he was driving you to a nearby haystack!
DeleteI couldn't agree more. You wouldn't catch me on one.
ReplyDeleteIn Bangkok there are motorcycle taxis all over the place but I never rode on one while I was working there. I preferred to pay a bit more and ride in a taxi car instead.
DeleteMy brother rides a motorbike, but they don't seem safe to me . . . but then neither do regular bicycles. I find it much harder to see a biker when I'm driving and I think that's typical - there isn't as much to see - but it puts bikers at risk no matter how careful they are. And being thrown off in a collision just doesn't seem like a healthy thing to do to a human body. Physics, etc.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if bikers were required to dress in day-glo pink suits and paint their motorbikes day-glo pink too, they would be much easier to see.
DeleteActually I was thinking the same thing - except in hunters' orange!
DeleteMy youngest son has a bike but does not ride very often. It scares me to death and I wish he would get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteIt must be an awful worry every time he goes out.
DeleteI worked with a fellow some time back who rode his motorcycle to work each day and sneered at people who wore helmets. He was late to work one day and was riding faster than usual when he lost control on a curve, went down and was killed instantly. I rode on the back of a motorcycle once in my life. It was driven by my stepson and it scared the hell out of me.
ReplyDeleteWas it really "hell" that was scared out of you Mr C or something else?
DeleteLOL! No, no spillage.
DeleteAs males. some of us have the feeling that we are invincible and so ride. The ride also raises adrenaline. Where does sanity cut in?
ReplyDeleteUsually it doesn't!
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