…but you can’t make her think.
I almost got clobbered by some stupid bitch in traffic on the way to work today. I’m riding along, keeping my eye on everyone, since no one can be trusted to see my bright orange motorcycle, my high beam, or my bright blue jacket. So, I’m riding with my front wheel just in front of her door, so she can see me in her peripheral vision (if she were paying attention), and all at once I see the nose of her car steer into my lane, and her turn signal go on at the same time. I swerve to the far side of my lane, check the traffic in front of me and on the other side, and I turn my head to look at the offending driver quickly, to make sure she’s stopped trying to kill me. What do I see? I see a turkey-necked middle-age woman, barely paying attention even after she’s nearly hit a motorcyclist. She’s wearing white headphones, and she’s using her right hand to hold the cord of the headphones up in front of her mouth.
iPhone.
What the fuck? What the…I don’t…huh?
The fucking iPhone comes with these headphones that have a microphone on the cord. It acts just like a wired hands-free headset you’d use with any other phone. The mic hangs just below your jaw, and it works just effing fine without touching it. This is the same type of woman who needs to hold her phone in her hand while she talks on her bluetooth headset, which could essentially be 30 feet away from the phone and still work. What is wrong with you, lady? You clearly don’t understand what’s safe, and what’s more, you’re actually taking measures to circumvent safety features so you can be more of a menace to the people around you.
I was riding along with sound-isolating headphones in my ears, under my helmet. Essentially, earplugs with audio coming through them. I could hear barely anything except the quiet podcast that was playing…from the iPhone in my pocket. And I was having no trouble at all paying attention to everything and everyone around me. I have to be hyper-vigilant because other people border on criminally negligent. Some days, I hate people.
Um…ride carefully, dear.
People with iPhones cannot be trusted.
P.S. I hate people on all days.
Of the motorcyclists that I’ve seen come into the ER all were hit by motorists who weren’t paying attention. One was just like yours, he was going the speed limit paying attention and somebody just decided that they were going to change lanes and hit him. He got off with some broken ribs, a leg, and collapsed lung. The other guy had someone pull out of a side street right in front of him when he had the right of way and he t-boned them. He flew through the air and slid a ways across the asphalt only stopping after he slammed into something. He had broken leg and back. Both were wearing helmets and good leathers so no head trauma and very little road rash.
My advice, go get yourself a Prius until people become smarter.
Yeah, my dad taught me very early in life (like when I was 8, maybe even younger) that riding a motorcycle is a very dangerous thing, and he made it clear to me that it had nothing to do with how careful you are about your own actions. It’s always about the other people. Ride as if they are all out to kill you, ride as if you KNOW you cannot be seen at all.
Always have an exit strategy, and always watch all sides. Expect the unexpected. I’m really glad he started teaching me early, ’cause if I’d had to absorb this as an adult, I would never be able to relax and enjoy the ride while always being so vigilant. Everyone I explain it to, always asks me “and this is fun for you?” Well, yeah. It is.
Last night, while riding home from Oakland, I saw a late-90′s Malibu coming up in my mirrors, seriously weaving back and forth across 5 lanes of thick traffic on the Bay Bridge, swaying from the force of his sharp turns. Dude could have easily killed someone in another car, let alone a motorcycle. That’s the stuff I worry about most. There’s nothing that can be done, you just hope they’ll self-destruct somewhere far away from you.