Motorcycles need respect and good training

It was tough Monday afternoon watching yet another young motorcyclist being buried while his mom, dad and the love of his life looked on, still in shock. Already, some hard questions are being asked: How can a kid who just got his licence legally ride a 1,000cc machine? Why are bikes legally sold to rookie riders that can easily do twice the speed limit, and more? These are the wrong questions, focusing on the wrong thing: the bike. A motorcycle by itself never hurt anyone. A bike is as safe, or unsafe, as its user.

Luc Bourdon was a very good kid by all accounts, who made one wrong decision at a very bad moment in time. Let he who has never done the same cast the first stone. Too often though, on a motorcycle, that one lapse of judgment might turn out to be your last, especially on super-powerful machines that are growing increasingly popular, as are motorcycles in general, even if sales in New Brunswick dipped slightly last year. The Motorcycle and Moped Industrial Council says almost half the bikes sold in Canada last year were 951cc or bigger. Those are some powerful machines. Every year, another 2,200 new motorcycles on average are sold in New Brunswick. Some suspect that with the skyrocketing price of fuel these days that number can only grow, though soaring motorcycleinsurance premiums will eat up a lot of those savings.

Hardcore motorcyclists say there are two kinds of bikers: those who have crashed, and those who will crash. I know many bikers, none of whom ride irresponsibly, all of whom have taken rider-safety courses and yet all but two of whom have found themselves being collected by paramedics at one point or another. The other two who have yet to take advantage of New Brunswick's free ambulance service have indeed dumped theirbikes before, but walked away with little more than scratches and a good story to tell around the campfire. If some good is to come from the loss of Luc Bourdon, perhaps it will be that each rider reviews his or her riding habits, and maybe it's time to have a second look at our requirements for licensing new riders as well. That being said, it's worth noting that the training of motorcyclists has never been better and the stats reflect that, with the majority of motorcyclists taking training above and beyond what is required by law.

Deaths have been almost halved from their peak in the 1970s and injuries are down 48 per cent. There is also the argument that having the power of 1,000ccs under your butt when you need it can save your bacon in some situations as well. Experienced riders say it can be a valid argument. But can we do more than what we are already doing to make sure riders come home safe? Luc also took a highly regarded motorcycle course, after all. The bottom line is that one can't lose sight of the fact that blaming big-bore bikes by themselves as the cause of tragedies such as the one we saw this past week would be as silly as blaming forks for obesity.

news source : http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/