Bonneville America Forums Forums Rider Safety Forums Riding Technique A different view ... our victims.

I found this on another forum and thought it was one of those posts that were worth the effort of sharing.

Quote:

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Last night I had the unpleasant task to sit down with my youngest son and have a serious talk about bike safety. His 650 Dakar is the workshop and BMW loaned him a R 1200 R ...

As he drove into the yard I watched him and it dawned on me that he needs to understand the reality of big bikes.

Now most of us must have been down this road and I am sure the general trend of the discussion is around the horrific injuries that follows a crash with these big machines. I also took that line and before I hit the apex I could see in his eyes that e is really not paying too much attention to my whining ... That is when I changed my tack.

"Imagine this ... you yank that throttle at the robot and take off like a scalded cat ... wooop and you are at 180 ... " His eyes were gleaming.

"Suddenly a small car jumps out of a sidestreet and there is nothing you can do ... you hit the car right on the front door and you go sailing over the car, hit the tar with a thud and tumble and slide down the road. It is your lucky day ... nothing stops you and after what feels like an eternity you come to a stop. You get up and carefully test all your extremities and they all seem to work. Wow ... I am lucky you think and you walk back to the scene."

At this point he was paying attention but did not look too concerned.

"As you reach the mangled wreck you are met by a horrific scene ... your bike has sliced into that little car and the two people on the front seats are smashed into a pulp ... it is obvious they are dead but that is not your biggest problem ... on the backseat sits two very small children ... covered in blood and glass and shocked out their minds."

At this point his eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Well my son ... now I want you to think carefully ... you and your bike has killed their parents ... they are now without care and comfort and safety and I want to know from you ... what are you going to say to them ... you did that to them!"

Needless to say he had no answer and I painted that picture in a few more colours and left him dangling. This was no longer funny or lucky.

Hope this helps somebody else ... the problem is that most bikers tend to imagine themselves after the crash ... just for a moment imagine your victims ... yes ... you also generate those.

So next time you get onto your bike and you are tempted to rip it's ear in a street ... ask yourself ... what will you say to the victims.

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Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for sharing that Dave, it's a good one.

Dave

There are pictures of just such an accident online somewhere, of a sportbike sitting across the two front seats of a VW Golf. A picture could hammer that home.

Took this pic at a bike fair in Stockholm a couple of years ago. May be the one you're thinking of?

That's the one!