4000+ miles under my belt in my first season riding and I'm not sure when I'll pack it in for the year.I hope all of you are well and have been riding as much as possible.
Rode in today, froze my "O Ring" off (it was probably mid-fifties, but I might need to put my liner in) - and I went for a quick search on a late lunch break on news.google.com
Firstime Rider Killed 30 seconds after Ride
Summary:
20 year old buys bike (called crotch rocket in this article)
He does not have license
He has a lifetime of experience on small bikes/off-road bikes
He gets on bike shows off to friends 30 seconds in to ride with friends, guns bike and dies in collision with large commercial truck.
The article is from his mother's point of view. It is not what I would call an incredibly well written article and it does have some incorrect data in it. It does pull at me since I have two sons and I wouldn't want this to happen to either of them.
For example the article talks about these high-powered bikes as not having speed governors. I know for a fact if it was a new bike that was a super sport - it certainly would have a speed limiter. It could however have been an older super sport bike without such a regulator in place.
The article does is highlight an issue that has come up here several times. The issue of legality of selling motorcycles in an unethical manner which results in the death of a new motorcycle owner.
When this comes up - I usually take a stance that it should be illegal for dealers to sell bikes (of any sort) to people without licenses and that training should be required. Others point out that it should be the person's responsibility to make sure they have all the things necessary to legally ride what they are purchasing.
A law would certainly do the trick, but getting sensible laws passed on this topic is difficult. Why, after all, are the legislatures going to spend time saving the lives of a small portion of the population when there are other issues that would gather votes if they pursue them.
It is a losing proposition.
Plus, of course, do we really want more laws to be out there? I mean really, this kind of limitation of freedom certainly has the potential for the legislature to go nuts and say 'these bikes are dangerous, let's just make them all illegal'.
And I don't think any of us want that.
I do think that there is a solution.
I also think that not everyone is ready to buy certain products without at first establishing a certain skill level.
First, I think this woman should sue the dealership for wrongful death. Quite clearly the folks at the dealership should know that they have products that are capable of being very dangerous. Clearly, they did not check if he had the appropriate license for the product that he was purchasing. {As a side note - I haven't purchased a car in twenty years without presenting my driver's license - I don't see how motorcycle dealers can get away without checking for license}
I think that motorcyclists can take responsibility in this matter.
We can:
1) Establish a very limited organization - for blacklisting dealerships. Members like people here at Total Motorcycle - probably a subset that is interested in making motorcycling as safe as possible.
2) When deaths happen that are clearly associated with the dealer selling a bike to a unlicensed rider, high-powered bike to a person with low skill level - it should be published on a website. AND WE SHOULD NEVER BUY FROM THAT DEALER.
Certainly the relatively small number of members on total motorcycle itself wouldn't be enough to dent the sales of any dealership (since we are geographically distributed). However, such a list would possibly be utilized by many other people - not necessarily just members of the organization.
What do any of you think?
RhadamYgg
