Motorcycles: why all the hate?

Are motorcyclists really all that reckless?

• research

  
• 18/07/16 - People always judge and hate everything and anyone they don't understand

  
• 18/07/16 -  ...as a 'biker' I was sitting in the garden last evening & you'd have thought there was a 'MotoGP' on the A127!!! The noise was unbelievable and when these(older usually)bikers get 'pulled' they start winging...loud pipes, small plates & dressed like a frog.... don't argue, just pay up..your giving the rest of us a bad name... so, reckless...yes!

  
• 18/07/16 -  "not wearing the right protective clothing, which obviously carries a risk for not only the public but the rider themselves.". I'm a firm believer in wearing the right gear ATGATT....but what is the danger to the public in my not wearing, for example, gloves? No wonder there's no love lost between plod and "bikers" if plod continues to make daft statements like this!
  
            18/07/16 - What if a f##k off big bee hits your hand and breaks your finger and you lose control and crash into a house? Could happen without those gauntlets on
  
                       18/07/16 - In order to break your finger, or even make it sting a little, the bee would have to be about the size of a transit van.
  
                                20/07/16 - OK I will concede not likely. But there could be a hidden ninja in a bush near town hall waiting to throw ninja stars at the hands of bikers with no gloves on. You would see the star coming and try to swerve out of the way and crash into the number 15 on its way to the bingo hall. *for the avoidance of doubt this is a daft response to a daft statement*. I can confirm however that a bee in the visor at motorway speeds and faster feels like being hit by a big stone
  
  
• 18/07/16 - I just filled in a survey about possible changes to the driving test and one of my main points was the lack of info passed on to learners regarding bikes during lessons and testing. I also mentioned the unfairness and danger involved in the staggered stages of bike testing compared to the "drive what you want, when you want" logic with car tests. Why do they not do the same age/power restrictions with cars?

  
• 18/07/16 - The guys that arrived for the TT or other bike events on the Island on the whole are absolutely brilliant ok yes you get the odd nutter any aggro is more often than not locals tanked up and under age a right in the backside and I'm not a biker

  
• 18/07/16 - But how many of the 50 charged were criminals who had stolen the machines in the first place. The Aberdeen piss and drivel and evening excuse always seem to depict these criminals as "bikers"

  
• 19/07/16 - More finger pointing and wagging by the British media. Fear the difference! Look at "Folk Devil's and moral panic" By Stanley Cohen. It's about the creation of the mod 'v' rocker myth by newspapers in the 1960's.

  
• 19/07/16 - Well three guys on Motorbikes passed me in New Ross on Sunday, and anything like the speed of them. Madness

  
• 19/07/16 - As a motorcyclist you are more aware of your vulnerability and more attentive to developing situations, sadly some drivers put too much faith in the safety of airbags cages impact bars etc and feel invulnerable therefore will exercise less concern over impact consequences

  
• 19/07/16 - But how many car drivers were charged with similar, and not publicised ?

  
• 19/07/16 - us bikers eh, we are terrible.. over occupying pubs in holiday resorts, terrorising other folk while we get drunk, throw chairs about, fight anybody who wants one, abuse anybody who sounds slightly foreign even cause authorities to get the riot gear out.... yer bikers... we're terrible...

  
• 19/07/16 - So how many people were charged with anti social behaviour drink related over the same period then............... yes i bet it was a hell of a lot more............ just pick on the motorcyclists. the easy target....... disgusting.......

  
• 19/07/16 - So Scotland have a "Bash the Biker Campaign" just about there level , go after the easy targets.Also if they wish to enforce "protective gear" then it must be enshrined in law.

  
• 19/07/16 - The headline from Aberdeen was mostly about neds on stolen bikes & unlicensed scrappers running around some of the estates in Aberdeen

  
• 19/07/16 - Just get on and ride the bike it's no big deal.

  
• 20/07/16 - There is a well known psychological effect called the 'fundamental attribution error' which is where we attribute other's actions to their character whilst attributing our own actions to our circumstances. The brain is also wired to recall off-normal events and to forget normal ones so that's why people believe there are so many misbehaving bikers. It's not that there are that many, just that the vast majority of good ones have slipped from their consciousness

  
• 20/07/16 - As a biker I regularly eat kittens and unicorns

  
• 03/08/16 - There are good and bad in all disciplines. As a motorcycle instructor, advanced rider and the owner of a training school, I spend much of my life on road, on a bike, with pupils. Those that are new to being on the road in/on any vehicle are a delight. The car driver who converts to riding a motorcycle are a picture to behold. When on the road, they see the up yours attitude of the majority of car drivers. I'm bigger than you therefore I win attitude. Before going on road we spend a period talking about the dangers faced by motorcyclists and how best to minimise the risks. Unfortunately, much of the risk is presented by car drivers. The car drivers we train usually take this personally and believe that all car drivers are good at what they do. At the end of the road ride the usual comment is what w*****s and I can see myself doing that. I won't tell you 'I told you so' ! Usually, a motorcyclist is a far better car driver. He uses observations and is aware of what's happening around them. Motorcycling is dangerous, unlike sky diving, you don't have a reserve parachute. So yes, there are bad bikers but I would suggest that they are in the minority and have no defence.
  
• 04/08/16 - Make it mandatory that before you can have a car licence you have to have a full bike licence for a minimum of a year. I’ve always found that bikers or ex-bikers make far better car / lorry drivers and should remove some of the stigma regarding motorcyclist in general.

  
• 04/08/16 - Our own motorcycle press help fuel the problem. Their constant glorification of high speed, getting your knee down on roundabouts etc, and in my view, the worst thing, pulling wheelies on the public road, is stupid.All of these dangerous activities are constantly highlighted in the largest circulation motorcycle publication. I will readily admit to being a very mature motorcyclist and I have been riding for more than sixty years, and I am still riding! I hope to continue riding for a few more years yet, but I get very annoyed when people (who are not motorcyclists) say to me why do you do something so dangerous at your age. I always say it is not dangerous, but you are vulnerable, so you must ride with that in mind.

  
• 04/08/16 - In reply to all the bad press, I have this to say. Most people don't think of it like I do, but there are Motorcyclists, then there are Bikers ! Let me explain. I am 55 yrs old, and never took a car test. (Why would I ?) I have been on Motorcycles, in all weathers (except deep snow and ice)since 1978. I have owned all kinds of machines over the years, Triumph, Guzzi, Kawasaki, Honda,Yamaha, Suzuki, Ducati, to name a few. All these machines, in their turn, have faithfully taken me to and from my place of work on a daily basis, since 1978. I am on a quite limited budget, so the act of joyriding is out. My little fazer comes home on friday night, is washed, oiled, and put to bed, until either the following monday, or an emergency call out - whichever comes first. I cannot afford for her to be off the road.So it's a case of Use with care, go with the traffic, and survive ( Me and Bike). Yes - the four wheeled (And indeed some 18 wheeled)punters leave me in frustrated despair with their blind, and blatantly gormless antics. Now I do open her up sometimes, don't get me wrong. but in the right place, and at the right time. I don't agree with idiots,with far less experience than I have, screaming past me down the outside of a line of stationary vehicles, where to be fair, there is barely room to scratch your elbows,only to end up 3 cars further ahead of me. My friend was killed doing just that, as one of the cars was indicating right, but his indicators were not visible to my friend. bang. and the biker was gone. Straight away you can see the split. I consider myself to be as considerate a road user as I should be, and people like me who need the bike for sole transport, are then called Boring and sad by the fast boys. Well I have news for you. I have survived unscathed on 2 wheels,for 38 years.That's longer than some of the bikers have been on the planet. So.. Message to the uneducated. get some road skill under your belts, before you twist that grip right back. Message to the "Believe they are educated- fast boys" - really ? so why aren't you in the TT then ? message to the rest of you. You might be able to overtake Guy Martin on a fast bend, but however educated you believe you are, appreciate that the 4 wheeled cattle never will be, nor do they care to be educated, in the fine art  of safe road use. it's usually their fault,and not you. but then again - it's your ass - not theirs ! Message to the uneducatable  - sell up, join the cattle, stop giving the rest of us a bad press ! Amen

  
• 04/08/16 - I was involved in a RTC in November 2015, 18 year old driver in his brand new Seat Ibiza had looked both ways at a junction and still pulled out with a distance in 10 feet! Conditions were very wet, I was doing 25mph in a 30 zone and I had no chance at all. He admitted that he didn't look properly, even though I was riding a bright white bike and a luminous lid. He even had the nerve to say "I'm so sorry, I'm a biker too!" Young and old drivers are far too complacent on the roads these days. Just Don't let the tards that wheelie through residential streets tarnish the safe bikers reputation.

  
• 11/08/16 - Yes I am afraid a lot of this bad publicity is deserved. Riding at the speed limit + 10% down to the New Forest from Hertfordshire at the weekend.  Overtaken by large numbers of bikes doing 90mph, many undertaking and speeding between lanes 2 and 3 of the motorway.  It is their life to lose but there are a lot of riders out there who have absolutely no idea about road safety….  I had a big smash ten years ago and I now think “safety first”.   I still have heaps of fun but I’m not trying to kill myself at every opportunity nor do I pretend I am a GP rider…