A hangover from the last issue of Cycle World, where the Chief Editor (Mark Hoyer) suggested to the "world" that riding without protective gear is... OK.
Recent damaging quote from a CW Forum poster...
"A lot of "unavoidable" accidents actually are avoidable with proper training, mental and physical skills, and regular practice to keep those skills sharp. There is almost no such thing as an unavoidable accident, because there is almost always something a rider can do to either avoid it entirely with proper situational awareness (identifying risks, predicting, identifying escape routes and actions to take), visibility to others, speed, or position, or through hard evasive maneuvers. If you didn't use maximum braking, acceleration, swerving or cornering, then you didn't do everything you could. That being said, I believe that risk management should be up to the individual..."
This is exactly the type of uneducated, inexperienced, naive B.S.
that gets our young, and new riders killed. Always remember, YOU can be the most skilled, most experienced rider in the world. There is no accounting, or preparation for poor drivers, bad drivers, or drunk, distracted drivers. At highway style speeds, things happen in a blink of an eye. That said, this is horrid advice, and should never be taken seriously by any riders, regardless of skill level, or experience. No matter what the "skill level", immortality is unfortunately never reached.
This is not to say that one shouldn't work constantly on improving skills - of course you should. The point is, don't listen to "Instant Know-it-alls" and take what you read on these internet Forums (even my stuff!!!) with an extremely small grain of salt. Perform further research yourself, and draw your own conclusions.
Edit... a day later.
Don't read me wrong. If an individual doesn't want to wear a helmet n' gear - no problem, it's always your personal choice of course, unless dcitated by local law. What IS bad though, is choosing not to wear a helmet, then lecturing / preaching B.S., or fabricating "facts" to justify the personal decision.
Anyone who had been riding long enough, or better yet -
often enough (plenty of 5 year old "Harleys" around with almost zero miles on the clock!) to actually "see" and experience the aftermath of a bad accident without gear... wears gear. Period.
When my two sons and I go riding each weekend, we all agree to wear the proper/pragmatic protective gear (or not ride at all sez me), and my "parenting" consists only of always reminding them that it isn't
their skills I worry about, it's the dangerous drivers out there we all see every day. Drunks, cell phone users, unlicensed/illegal drivers, young "first day out" new drivers, and 'tail-gatin' socio-paths in a hurry to name just a few. All the riding "skills" in the universe will not protect you from these types, other than choosing not to ride at all... a better choice than 'no gear' perhaps.
Ride Safe (and well protected)!
Bob.
