Just a quick post tonight on the merits of wearing a helmet.
New Hampshire is one of the few states that allow motorcyclists to ride without a helmet. A few members of our little band of hooligans occasionally ride lidless, when the spirit moves them. No one comments or rags them about this. WTF, we're all adults.
I got word today that Box had an accident on Sunday that totalled his ride. He's okay and he credits this to his choice of wearing a helmet that day.
It seems that he was following a panel or box truck on Rt. 101 Sunday afternoon at around 4 PM. It was a sunny day and he was returning from a ride west of here. As the truck slowed to make a turn, Box throttled back and reduced his speed as well.
From the side-street, presumably the one the truck was turning into, some cager decided that this was his perfect opportunity to run the stop sign and enter onto the main road. As he cut across Box's lane, he panicked and stopped. Box leaned it hard to the right but he didn't make it all the way around him. He hit the car broadside, flew over the bars and smacked his head three times on his way across the top of this car, landing on his back.
His comments verbatim: "A helmet might not save your life at 80 mph, but it just might save your life at 30-40 mph". How insightful.
I was thinking of this as I rode home tonight. Up ahead, I saw a car approaching from a side street on my right and wondered what the driver had in mind. As I approached her, I watched as she breezed past the stop sign and looked to her right. Huh? Shouldn't she have looked left towards me, assuming she was just about ready to pull out? What ever happened to Left-right-left? Look twice, lady, and save a life!
I was past her before she had a chance to gaze left. I relaxed a bit and released the grip I had on the brake lever. Another close call.
Please be careful out there, ride defensively, wear a hat. All that. These people are trying to kill you.
A low, slow wave,
Joe Rocket
PS - Do yourself a favor a click on the blog link above.
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