Distractions On The Bike Are Just As Bad As In The Car
On the road to California.
Colorado has a newly instituted law prohibiting hands-on use of a cellphone while driving and from all accounts it is doing some good. Distracted driving is of great importance to motorcyclists because we know far too well how easy it is not to see us even when you’re not distracted.
Well guess what. That’s just as true on a motorcycle as in a car. Case in point:
On this recent (aborted for me due to sickness) RMMRC California trip we immediately got separated from one guy. Alan, who was leading, pulled off at Idaho Springs to try to find out where he was. He called and found he was in Evergreen so we just agreed to meet up at lunch in Eagle.
In order to make this call, Alan pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant and we all followed him. I tend to be fairly conscientious and so as not to take up a lot of parking spaces in this small parking lot I pulled into the same slot as Alan, a bit behind him.
Alan got on the phone and made his call and got the matter settled. At this point he was in communication with the other guys because we all had Cardo communicators but we had been unsuccessful earlier in trying to get me paired into the group. So I was not connected.
Well, Alan was so involved in making his call and then talking to the other guys that he apparently had not noticed that I was behind him. So we’re ready to roll again and I started to roll back but Alan came rolling back faster than me and though I scrambled to get out of his way he backed right into me. Down I went.
Now, there was no damage and I was not hurt but my point is, he was busy on his phone–his communicator in this case–and not paying attention to his driving. What if instead of me on my bike, there had been some person walking to the restaurant behind him? That person could easily have been hurt. Or heck, I could have been hurt. I wasn’t, but I could have been. Clearly he wasn’t looking very carefully where he was going.
So yeah, hang up and drive. Or maybe just look where you’re going. It applies on a motorcycle as well as in a car.
Biker Quote for Today
As long as you are on planet Earth, you’re not lost.
