Bakemono36
New Member
- Aug 24, 2008
- 455
- 0
First, this is not what you think. It's not about your driving. The soccer ball in your mini-van window has long-since replaced the dangling "Baby on Board" sign in the Civic. Your children are growing and developing, even if Mom's vehicular skills aren't. But let others complain about your unpredictability in traffic. I'm over that. <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O
></O>In fact I appreciate that you put those little signs in the window or on the bumper, those early-warning signals of a driver not paying attention, of someone with more important things to think about than driving in general and the presence of my motorcycle in particular. Precisely because you are so inattentive, getting around you is rarely a problem. And once you're in my mirrors, you are much less a threat to me.<O> </O>Maybe it's a sign of maturity or perhaps you just wore me down. But whatever the reason, my road-going patience level has increased over time; my inner Don Quixote no longer tilts at the windmill of bad driving. I accept the fact that bimbos use the rear-view as a make-up mirror, yuppies check the Journal stock prices at freeway speed, and blue hairs with the blinker on forever plug up the passing line. I now accept that it's too late to change the ingrained habits of existing drivers. But it's not too late for your son.<O> </O>
And so I'd like to offer this simple proposition: I think you should buy your kid a dirt bike. I'll wait a moment now for the explosion to pass, the emotion, the expletives. I can almost hear it: "My kid will apprentice for Marilyn Manson before he'll ride a damned motorcycle!"<O> </O>
Look, I understand how you feel. I really do. My mother felt the same way. But let's try to get past the emotion and deal with a very unpleasant reality: The greatest danger confronting your son in his late teens will be death by automobile accident. Much as you may fear the motorcycle, with all the connotations of danger our society attaches to it, the truth is that more young men are killed by their cars than by any other cause.<O> </O>
So I ask you for a moment to think beyond the soccer years. I know this is a great time for you, offering the luxury of control over your offspring. At this age, Junior has no choice but to do what you tell him. My challenge to you is to understand that this will change in years to come, and to prepare him for the day when he goes out into the big bad world of motorized travel, alone with his driving skills. <O></O>
Fast-forward to his first year out of high school. He's cruising in the car you bought him for graduation. Suddenly, by dint of mechanical failure, someone else's error, his own shortcomings or the simple fact that "stuff happens," he's in over his head. He will lose control in the next couple of seconds unless he's capable of threshold braking, steering inputs at the traction limit, and instantaneous high-stress decision-making. Those terms are Greek to you, but in that moment of highway crisis, they are the only things that can save your kid's life.<O> </O>
And will Junior be prepared to effectively deal with this potentially life-threatening moment? Not likely. The fatality stats are what they are because there is precious little opportunity for the average kid to learn the skills he needs to stay alive in traffic. <O></O>
The people our society chooses to put in charge of such matters seem to believe that unskilled and slow drivers are safer than well-trained and aggressive drivers, statistical evidence notwithstanding. Driver education? Try Sears! Teach him yourself? The less said about that the better. The sad fact is that your son will have little or no chance to learn about vehicle dynamics before he begins to drive. <O></O>
<O> </O>Unless, of course, you buy him that dirt bike.<O> </O>
Riding motorcycles in the dirt is spectacularly effective training. It tests traction and balance skills that will otherwise never develop. Far from the danger of oncoming cars, the beginning dirt rider is free to make his mistakes, fall down, and learn from the experience. The skills developed on two wheels quickly and easily translate to the much simpler challenge of operating a vehicle with four wheels. Racing history is full of evidence that motorcycle riders grow up to be excellent car drivers.<O> </O>
And beyond those important skills, your child will also learn from his dirt bike an attitude that I consider invaluable for anyone venturing into traffic. "Crashing sucks," motorcycle riders say, because they understand important truths about consequences. Too much throttle here, too much brake there, too much speed for conditions, not looking far enough out front; these operator infractions all trigger the predictable consequence of falling down and feeling pain. In the Pavlovian corners of our brains, we learn not to do those things.<O> </O>
<O> </O>In other words, dirt riders learn to AVOID accidents, a skill that is largely untrained and thus grossly underdeveloped in the American automotive realm. Perhaps catering to the soccer mom mentality, American traffic safety is all about belts and bags, seats and restraints, impact resistance and crash survivability. Our system accepts without complaint the inevitability of accidents and tries to force auto makers to build more bulletproof cocoons, in preparation for the moment when the poor dummy runs into something.<O> </O>
Motorcyclists see the world differently. We reject the notion that crashing is inevitable. We shed the cocoon and rely on accident avoidance to get us safely through the day. The truth is so obvious and simple that I fail to understand why you and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can't see it; if there is no accident, there will be no death and injury.<O> </O>
One more thing; aside from the skill set he will develop, there are tangential benefits to pointing your kid down the dirt bike path. Given the opportunity to test his personal performance envelope off the road, he'll likely feel less need to prove anything on it. Saturday night street drag races are less appealing to a kid who's focused on Sunday morning riding. And the confidence that comes from mastering an activity that others view as dangerous is a great antidote for those deadly companion plagues--testosterone and peer pressure.<O> </O>
<O> </O>And so I encourage you to at least think about this motorcycle thing in a different light. Get past all the "organ donor" jokes and stories about somebody whose uncle was killed on a bike. Think about the big picture. Anticipate that day when you can no longer wrap your child in layers of maternal security. It's a big, bad, dangerous world out there, particularly for beginning drivers. The statistics tell us it is so. Give your kid a fighting chance. Give him the opportunity to learn on two wheels the skills that can keep him alive on four.
-Dave Despain
P.S., no, Im not Dave Despain but I agree 100% with what he said in the above e-mail.
></O>In fact I appreciate that you put those little signs in the window or on the bumper, those early-warning signals of a driver not paying attention, of someone with more important things to think about than driving in general and the presence of my motorcycle in particular. Precisely because you are so inattentive, getting around you is rarely a problem. And once you're in my mirrors, you are much less a threat to me.<O> </O>Maybe it's a sign of maturity or perhaps you just wore me down. But whatever the reason, my road-going patience level has increased over time; my inner Don Quixote no longer tilts at the windmill of bad driving. I accept the fact that bimbos use the rear-view as a make-up mirror, yuppies check the Journal stock prices at freeway speed, and blue hairs with the blinker on forever plug up the passing line. I now accept that it's too late to change the ingrained habits of existing drivers. But it's not too late for your son.<O> </O>And so I'd like to offer this simple proposition: I think you should buy your kid a dirt bike. I'll wait a moment now for the explosion to pass, the emotion, the expletives. I can almost hear it: "My kid will apprentice for Marilyn Manson before he'll ride a damned motorcycle!"<O
> </O>Look, I understand how you feel. I really do. My mother felt the same way. But let's try to get past the emotion and deal with a very unpleasant reality: The greatest danger confronting your son in his late teens will be death by automobile accident. Much as you may fear the motorcycle, with all the connotations of danger our society attaches to it, the truth is that more young men are killed by their cars than by any other cause.<O
> </O>So I ask you for a moment to think beyond the soccer years. I know this is a great time for you, offering the luxury of control over your offspring. At this age, Junior has no choice but to do what you tell him. My challenge to you is to understand that this will change in years to come, and to prepare him for the day when he goes out into the big bad world of motorized travel, alone with his driving skills. <O
></O>Fast-forward to his first year out of high school. He's cruising in the car you bought him for graduation. Suddenly, by dint of mechanical failure, someone else's error, his own shortcomings or the simple fact that "stuff happens," he's in over his head. He will lose control in the next couple of seconds unless he's capable of threshold braking, steering inputs at the traction limit, and instantaneous high-stress decision-making. Those terms are Greek to you, but in that moment of highway crisis, they are the only things that can save your kid's life.<O
> </O>And will Junior be prepared to effectively deal with this potentially life-threatening moment? Not likely. The fatality stats are what they are because there is precious little opportunity for the average kid to learn the skills he needs to stay alive in traffic. <O
></O>The people our society chooses to put in charge of such matters seem to believe that unskilled and slow drivers are safer than well-trained and aggressive drivers, statistical evidence notwithstanding. Driver education? Try Sears! Teach him yourself? The less said about that the better. The sad fact is that your son will have little or no chance to learn about vehicle dynamics before he begins to drive. <O
></O><O
> </O>Unless, of course, you buy him that dirt bike.<O> </O>Riding motorcycles in the dirt is spectacularly effective training. It tests traction and balance skills that will otherwise never develop. Far from the danger of oncoming cars, the beginning dirt rider is free to make his mistakes, fall down, and learn from the experience. The skills developed on two wheels quickly and easily translate to the much simpler challenge of operating a vehicle with four wheels. Racing history is full of evidence that motorcycle riders grow up to be excellent car drivers.<O
> </O>And beyond those important skills, your child will also learn from his dirt bike an attitude that I consider invaluable for anyone venturing into traffic. "Crashing sucks," motorcycle riders say, because they understand important truths about consequences. Too much throttle here, too much brake there, too much speed for conditions, not looking far enough out front; these operator infractions all trigger the predictable consequence of falling down and feeling pain. In the Pavlovian corners of our brains, we learn not to do those things.<O
> </O><O
> </O>In other words, dirt riders learn to AVOID accidents, a skill that is largely untrained and thus grossly underdeveloped in the American automotive realm. Perhaps catering to the soccer mom mentality, American traffic safety is all about belts and bags, seats and restraints, impact resistance and crash survivability. Our system accepts without complaint the inevitability of accidents and tries to force auto makers to build more bulletproof cocoons, in preparation for the moment when the poor dummy runs into something.<O> </O>Motorcyclists see the world differently. We reject the notion that crashing is inevitable. We shed the cocoon and rely on accident avoidance to get us safely through the day. The truth is so obvious and simple that I fail to understand why you and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can't see it; if there is no accident, there will be no death and injury.<O
> </O>One more thing; aside from the skill set he will develop, there are tangential benefits to pointing your kid down the dirt bike path. Given the opportunity to test his personal performance envelope off the road, he'll likely feel less need to prove anything on it. Saturday night street drag races are less appealing to a kid who's focused on Sunday morning riding. And the confidence that comes from mastering an activity that others view as dangerous is a great antidote for those deadly companion plagues--testosterone and peer pressure.<O
> </O><O
> </O>And so I encourage you to at least think about this motorcycle thing in a different light. Get past all the "organ donor" jokes and stories about somebody whose uncle was killed on a bike. Think about the big picture. Anticipate that day when you can no longer wrap your child in layers of maternal security. It's a big, bad, dangerous world out there, particularly for beginning drivers. The statistics tell us it is so. Give your kid a fighting chance. Give him the opportunity to learn on two wheels the skills that can keep him alive on four.-Dave Despain
P.S., no, Im not Dave Despain but I agree 100% with what he said in the above e-mail.
United States
