12: Bikers above the law?
-Have you ever seen a drunken biker who was able to ride his bike?
-Have you ever seen a motorbike that was technically unsafe to drive?
-Have you ever seen a biker driving his bike while on the phone?
-Have you ever seen a biker on the road doing anything else than driving his motorbike?
-As a car driver, have you ever experienced a traffic jam, parking problems or any other traffic delays that were caused by motorbikes, accidents notwithstanding?
There is a good to fair chance that the answer to all the above questions is "no". There is a saying among riders: "there are good bikers, there are dead bikers and a tiny group of unlucky ones". The point is that this group of road users will almost sort itself out. If a biker does not take his or her driving very seriously indeed he/she will end up very dead very soon.
Problem: This means that traffic laws need to take this as a starting point and support instead of imposing another threat to this group. Motorbikes are part of the traffic solution; not of the problem.
-Bikers need speed as a way of anticipating out of trouble.
-Bikers sometimes overtake at places where no other vehicle can or will.
-Bikers will park where no other vehicle can.
-Bikers will behave "irrationally" on the road due to their effort to avoid manholes, white lines and access covers.
-Bikers will always drive a bike that is technical sound.
-Bikers will never stay at the end of traffic jam.
-If a biker is looking down, checking his speed, he will miss the car stopping in front of him.
-If a biker is focusing on the policeman at the entrance of a village, she will miss the pothole right in front of her.
Solution: Bikers need to be focusing on driving their bikes and on nothing else. Traffic laws need to be abided, but but the physical laws are much more stringent. It seems therefore appropriate that traffic laws for bikers would be based upon this. Ignoring this fact will force the bikers to focus on the wrong things which will cause them to crash and die.
