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[OM] Re: Totaly off topic

Subject: [OM] Re: Totaly off topic
From: Manuel Viet <oly@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:19:52 +0200
Le mardi 10 Octobre 2006 18:01, Ian Nichols a écrit :
> On 10/10/06, keith_w <keith_w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Or, oddly enough, exercise the brain you have, by leaning how to safely
> > operate the equipment you have, by not taking chances, by avoiding quick
> > but ill-advised thrills.
> > By far, the worst kind of accidents are caused by the people involved in
> > the accident.
> >
> > It's not the motorcycle's problem, Charlie.
>
> Erm, in Charlie's defence, I'd  point out that he never said it was,
> merely that he chose not to ride on motorcycles having weighed up for
> himself the fun agains the possible consequences of an incident.  He
> may well have included an estimate of his own ability to control a
> bike and keep track of all the hazards, and quite likely included some
> assessment of the risk due to the negligence & stupidity of other road
> users.  If he did that, then he was using his brain in a very rational
> way and I have no problem with the decision he made.

As a car driver with more than 200.000 km without accident under my belt, I'd 
just like to point out that if "negligence & stupidity" is certainly a huge 
part of the equation, motorbikers, even careful ones, are a whole another 
part ; it's not a question of behaviour but of physical limits of 
perception : the combination of speed and size makes motorbikes nearly 
invisible to a driver. Many times, I have been "surprised" to find that a 
bike managed to sneak into the blind cone of my rearview mirrors in a time 
frame shorter than my eye cycle span between front view / central mirror / 
side mirror. And how many time have I seen a bike just materializing out of 
thin air at a crossing (by that, I mean while I would have noticed a car from 
some yards away, the bike just happened to "be there" in no time) ? I'm not 
pointing fingers, but bikers seem generaly unaware that most of us do our 
best, but sometimes it just isn't enough. And speed of course worsen that 
problem.

-- 
Manuel Viet
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