Motorcycle awareness month has always rubbed me a bit the wrong way, not that I think motorcyclist are little important, or even that I am entitled to drive as I please around whomever I feel. I live in an area that at certain times of the year has a great abundance of motorcyclists of all shapes, sizes, colors (anything from leather to tie-dye), and levels of aptitude. The privilege of operating a motor vehicle, I was raised to understand, was directly related to a good deal of responsibility. While I was learning the art of maneuvering a large metal and glass object around city streets, dogs, children, and of course other machine-operators I was told that this potentially lethal tool caused far too many deaths each year to not take quite seriously.
I have no desire to take away the educational good that Motorcycle Awareness Month is trying to achieve, as there are far too many fatal crashes involving motorcyclists. I feel that as part of that awareness campaign motorcyclists themselves should also consider the risks they take while driving our streets and roads, far too many choose to use their wind in the hair freedom to make poor driving choices that they would never consider in their daily driver vehicles. I feel as tax payers the car, truck and motorcycle have equal claims to our highways, streets and interstates, and they all have the same responsibility to drive reasonably to preserve their lives as well as those around them.
You may be asking yourself where on earth this is all coming from. Yesterday as I was driving to my sister’s house to gaze upon her newest landscaping I saw rumbling towards me a motorcyclist intent on texting his buddy, or even checking his Facebook page. As if the wind in your hair, bugs in your teeth and rocks hitting your shins isn’t fun enough already, he decided to up the risk ante just that much more. Now I know that this same risk is taken by suv, school bus, van, Porsche, Corvette, freight truck, and BMW drivers all the time, I feel the same way about their distracted driving as I do the motorcyclist! Get educated people! Just because you are impressed by your new found cell-phone-auto-superpower, facts are facts, driving while pressing buttons on your phone and admiring its screen is dangerous, not only for yourself but the numerous other living things around you, whether you are a motorcyclist or a car!
Perhaps we need a multitude of new awareness months like, Teenage Driver Awareness Month, Older-Driver Awareness Month, Childhood Car Thieves Awareness Month, Escaping Convict Awareness Month, Late for Work Awareness Month, and the ever elusive Late-for-Soccer Practice Awareness Month. Yes I am getting carried away… Driving while Under the Influence of PMS Awareness Month, Moped Awareness Month, Electric Wheel Chair Awareness Month. Ok I got that out of my system now. Eating While Driving Awareness Month…
Thanks for Stopping By
~Shy Willow
~Shy Willow
*originally published on A Mom’s Handbook. com
~Sensually Yours~
Shy Willow