I recently took a motorcycle safety course that included two evenings of classroom instruction and two half-days of practice. In addition to the specific cycle riding how-tos, I also learned some fundamental rules of the road; such as don’t rev the bike while stopped lest the driver behind me be forced to inhale the exhaust. Having never ridden before, I probably wouldn’t have thought of it, but once informed I did my best to provide the rider behind me with as little exhaust inhalation as possible. Too bad the twenty-something totally cool badass man-boy in front of me wasn’t able to grasp the concept.
Another basic rule of the road is to leave a cushion of safety between the vehicle ahead of me and my vehicle so I would have time to stop safely just in case the other driver had to suddenly hit the brakes. In other words, DON’T TAILGATE - IT’S DANGEROUS. I like that rule since I despise tailgaters (and never engage in the act of tailgating when someone I know can see me). The bonus to the don’t-tailgate rule is that when someone is tailgating me, I should slow down in order to increase the cushion of safety in front of me. That way, if the first driver slams on the brakes, I still have time to stop slowly, rather than slam and get crushed between two vehicles. I love this class! Up until that moment, I had thought of myself as some passive-aggressive wacko who slowed down for the sole purpose of pissing off the tailgating asshole behind me. Wrong. All that time I had been engaging in an act of safety and should continue to do so! Elation! I waited and hoped for something about tapping the brakes while being tailgated, but unfortunately it was not one of the recommendations.
A third rule is to stay with the flow of traffic. It’s just not safe to go a lot more slowly or quickly than everyone else. We’re all familiar with this rule and we’ve all seen those who refuse to comply, from the twenty-something totally cool badass man-boy, unable to grasp yet another simple concept, weaving in and out of traffic at 90+, to the 90+ year-old driver who thinks twenty-something miles per hour is way too fast. Of course, the solution to these annoyances on either end of the spectrum is the wide-open six-lane highway. With three lanes on either side, there’s room for us all: the far left for the man-boys, the far right for the blue-hairs, and the middle for someone like me who wants to go faster than the speed limit but not quite 90.
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