Motorcycles. I love, and drive, motorcycles. It’s fun to feel the gust of wind against your face (that’s before the helmet requirement was strictly implemented, and before my wife banned me from driving one). The temptation to speed up and zigzag through traffic is always there. With a vehicle that twists and turns fast, reacting quickly to the driver’s tug, even a heavy traffic is a breeze.
There lies the problem — and danger — something which becomes clearer when you’re at the other side of the fence; driving a car, that is.
Practicing defensive driving, I usually take a quick glance at both side mirrors and the rearview mirror, just to check if there are no vehicles — specially motorcycles — in close proximity. Still, a motorcycle is almost invisible when staying at the back of “tall” cars like SUVs (in the illustration below, a dump truck). This “invisibility” gets worse when the motorcycle swerves to your lane from the back of another car running parallel in a multi-lane road. I’ve noticed so many motorcycle drivers swerve with impunity, as if the two-wheeled vehicle they’re driving is heavier and safer that a car. It should not come as a surprise that according to an MMDA study, majority of road accidents involve motorcycles.
Here’s what it looks like when shit happens, regardless of whose fault it is (God rest his soul).
This is graphic, even with the blood and guts blurred out, but perhaps this is a better way of sending the message to be more careful.
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