Responsibility is the price of freedom.
Let’s pretend philosopher Elbert Hubbard was talking about motorcycle riders when he said this.
The Washington State Patrol reported recently that there has been a spike of fatal motorcycle accidents across the state. Forty motorcyclists have died this year, including six in Snohomish, Island, Whatcom and Skagit counties. The State Patrol also reports a 60 percent increase in the number of motorcycles licensed since 1999, accompanied by a 89 percent increase in motorcycle fatalities.
Motorcyclists are always vulnerable because of the failure of other drivers to see them. But the State Patrol says the recent fatal accidents have happened on dry roads and don’t involve other vehicles. These accidents have mainly involved middle-aged motorists. The major causes are speed, driving while impaired and lane travel violations.
What else? Oh, just that 36 percent of the motorcyclists killed had no motorcycle endorsement. That’s like driving a car without a license. Except driving a motorcycle is much more difficult than driving a car. To obtain a motorcycle endorsement, the state requires that a person have a valid drivers’ license, pass a written knowledge test, which gets them an instruction permit, and then they must pass a skills (riding) test.
The State Patrol flatly states that four recent accidents (two fatal and two injury) “were caused by the motorcyclist and their inability to safely operate the motorcycle.”
That is why it is against the law to operate a motorcycle without the proper license (and the instruction required to obtain it.)
But middle-aged people are buying motorcycles and riding them without getting instruction on how to do so. (People 40 and older have become the largest single group of motorcycle owners in the United States and they tend to prefer bigger, heavier bikes.) Officials theorize that some riders without endorsements are people who rode when they were young and don’t feel they need any further instruction. Whereas smart, still alive riders take refresher, experienced-rider courses from time to time to keep their skills up.
Middle-aged motorcycle riders, of all people, should know it’s insane to ride without proper instruction. And they need to know that when they do get instruction, it should be on the bike they intend to ride. Too many people learn to ride on a smaller motorcycle, then go out and buy a big one when they get licensed. Too many still don’t wear helmets or proper gear. Too many refuse to take responsibility.
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