Bears Blog by Roadrider

Get the good gear

2008-03-27T12:01:00.001+11:00

In many countries in Europe it is now obligatory to carry a fluorescent vest and a First Aid kit in (or on) your vehicle at all times. And yes, that includes bikes.
I can think of quite a few bikes that lack even the minimal storage space these things require, so I guess there will be a good market for bum bags or small tank bags for a while. Remember, you are required to carry these things even if you’re just going down to the corner for a packet of something healthy (whoo, I nearly wrote ‘cigarettes’).

Let’s hope the idea doesn’t catch on here, because I can see it snowballing quite rapidly. After all, a fluorescent vest may make you more than usually visible (although if car drivers can’t see entire motorcycles I fail to believe that they’ll see an orange vest) and a First Aid kit may allow you to apply a band-aid in case someone get a paper cut, but what about serious problems?
The obvious thing is to make everyone carry a defibrillator (save a lot of lives with that) and a satellite phone (mobile coverage is patchy, and you might have to call the Flying Doctor in a hurry). But why stop there? How about a fire extinguisher – in fact, a selection of fire extinguishers for different kinds of fire – and a packet of different-coloured flares to alert the authorities? Not to mention a cut lunch (you might get hungry) and an umbrella (you never know when it will rain).
I’m sure you can think of more precautionary equipment.
Best of all, motorcycles won’t be able to carry all this stuff so there will not even be any need to ban them. Win-win all round, really. Just not for us. A bit like ‘front identifiers’.

Summer’s spell

2008-02-04T15:09:00.000+11:00

Rain, glorious rain – I can’t say I enjoy getting wet but I’m not about to complain. It’s great that for once the dams are filling faster than they’re emptying, at least over here on the East Coast.

We’re still having plenty of sunny and therefore hot days. I just love it when I pull up at a servo, bathed in sweat under my safety gear, and find the car driver at the next pump looking at me enviously as he steps from his air conditioned cocoon.
“Must be great to be out on a bike, mate. Terrific weather for it!”

What do I do? Tell him the truth – that I’m boiling and the sweat running into my eyes feels like diluted hydrochloric acid – or play along? Being careful to not let him see the sweat pouring down into my collar, I nod.

“Yes mate. But it’s great motorcycling weather any time!”
Then I duck into the air conditioned servo and pretend to be fascinated by the dreary magazines that servos sell, just to cool down for a little longer.
Am I avoiding lengthy explanations about bikes and weather, or am I simply a congenital liar? You shall be the judge…

I don’t usually run readers’ letters here, but this one from John Rowe just cried out for it.
“Bear,” he writes, “am having a home clearance (yes, the wife is going as well – true!) and have RR magazines Vol 20, 25, 27-33 and 36-45 to give away.

“They can be collected from Frenchs Forest Sydney or posted at cost. If anyone is interested they can contact me on 0414 187 728 otherwise they will be recycled.”

So give John a call if you’re missing those copies, or know someone who is!

Summer’s spell

2008-01-10T12:14:00.000+11:00

Rain, glorious rain – I can’t say I enjoy getting wet but I’m not about to complain. It’s great that for once the dams are filling faster than they’re emptying, at least over here on the East Coast.

We’re still having plenty of sunny and therefore hot days. I just love it when I pull up at a servo, bathed in sweat under my safety gear, and find the car driver at the next pump looking at me enviously as he steps from his air conditioned cocoon.

“Must be great to be out on a bike, mate. Terrific weather for it!”

What do I do? Tell him the truth – that I’m boiling and the sweat running into my eyes feels like diluted hydrochloric acid – or play along? Being careful to not let him see the sweat pouring down into my collar, I nod.

“Yes mate. But it’s great motorcycling weather any time!”

Then I duck into the air conditioned servo and pretend to be fascinated by the dreary magazines that servos sell, just to cool down for a little longer.
Am I avoiding lengthy explanations about bikes and weather, or am I simply a congenital liar? You shall be the judge…

I don’t usually run readers’ letters here, but this one from John Rowe just cried out for it.
“Bear,” he writes, “am having a home clearance (yes, the wife is going as well – true!) and have RR magazines Vol 20, 25, 27-33 and 36-45 to give away.

“They can be collected from Frenchs Forest Sydney or posted at cost. If anyone is interested they can contact me on 0414 187 728 otherwise they will be recycled.”

So give John a call if you’re missing those copies, or know someone who is!

Hats off – or not?

2008-01-03T14:24:00.000+11:00

I received an e-mail from reader Lars Johansson recently telling me that ‘BP in the UK no longer demands that motor cyclists remove their helmets when they enter a petrol station. As you know, there has been a boycott campaign against petrol stations requiring this, and BP seems to have changed its corporate mind on the issue.’

Lars was right about BP, although I wasn’t aware of the boycott (and by the way, why can’t it ever be a ‘girlcott’?). In the usual hamfisted corporate way, BP didn’t make the most of it ( a comment along the lines of ‘we trust our customers’ might have been nice) and just grudgingly said that the policy had been abandoned, but – wait for it – the signs would not be taken down!

In Australia we mostly hear complaints about Shell rather than BP station staff enforcing a rule (and that’s all it is) against helmet wearing. What most people seem to object to is that it’s sometimes applied to riders wearing open face helmets, or open flip-fronts. The reaction of Australian riders has not been all one way. There is also a lot of sympathy for the staff, who may be afraid of being robbed.

I suspect that much of the reaction against the helmet-off rule is just annoyance at the perceived rudeness of the staff. But courtesy cuts both ways.

As far as I’m concerned it’s a matter of common courtesy to take your helmet off when you enter a shop of any kind, but I must admit that I sometimes leave my open face on when it’s raining or I’m in a hurry.

On the ‘road’

2007-12-11T09:37:00.000+11:00

Well, it seems it’s official. New South Wales has the worst roads in Australia. Good thing, too: now we’ve got the complete set. Worst roads, worst ferries, worst trains and most rip-off international airport.

Bingo!

But this is not going to be a diatribe against the NSW government. No. You can get that just about everywhere else these days, including the Woolworth Fresh Food catalogue that gets dropped into your letterbox with annoying frequency. I weakened the other day and bought some skinless sausages from them – they certainly weren’t mean with the fat, but as for being fresh…

Anyway, not a diatribe, no. Not even against our local Australia Post ‘shop’ (no Post Offices any more), which is now a combination Office Works and National Geographic outlet that just happens to sell stamps on the side.

If they make a series of Grumpy Old Men in Australia, I’m a shoo-in, I guess…

What I want you do to about this crappy road business is positive. Yes, I want you all to be the RTA’s little helpers.

If you see a problem with a road, I want you to send the local Council, the RTA, your local Member of Parliament and the Minister for Roads (whoever that is then) an e-mail. No need to write more than one; just send it to all of them.

You could even have a template on your computer. Don’t have a computer? Send postcards.
Let’s all get together and help. And that applies to readers in other States as well. Wouldn’t want to fall behind NSW, would you?

Hello from Milano

2007-11-27T18:10:00.001+11:00

It’s the Bear here, enjoying the hospitality of Fiera Milan and checking out the latest machinery from Europe… and doing it all for you!

I won’t go through the startling statistics of the Milan show again; I’m sure you remember them from previous stories. Let it just be said that this is by far the biggest motorcycle show in the world, both in terms of space and attendance, and it provides a brilliant opportunity to see what the most creative minds in motorcycling are coming up with. Everyone’s here, even if everyone does not consider the show equally valuable.

The Japanese manufacturers still treat Milan as a regional show, managed by their Italian branches. They launched the bulk of their 2008 models at the earlier and smaller show in Paris. The Europeans, on the other hand, save their efforts for this show. BMW (except for the HP2 Sport, launched earlier) and KTM join Aprilia, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, MV Agusta and minnows like CR&S and present their new models at the Milan show every year.

There was an odd sort of problem this year, though. Many of Europe’s motorcycle manufacturers seemed to be having trouble with their numbers…

We’ve become used to rounding up, where a 230 cc bike might be called a 250. But this was different. For many decades, BMW for instance has been quite strict in naming bikes according to their capacity, but this year they decided that the latest F650GS would have 800 cc. Tricky!

Ducati, meanwhile, gave the new Monster the engine from the 695 but calls it the 696, and introduced the new 1098R with a capacity of 1198 cc. Cagiva’s new Mito, on the other hand, features a prominent ‘525’ on the bodywork but is in fact only a 125, although it is a pretty hot two-stroke.

Ah well. Lots more stuff about Milan coming up in Road Rider!

THE BIKER

2007-11-25T18:07:00.000+11:00

I don’t know if you’ve been e-mailed this little melodrama, but you’d be one of very few if you hadn’t. The first time I read it, after that I just deleted it… and then I got it from a friend whom I consider to be an intelligent and thoughtful person, and I thought it was time that I passed on my feelings about it.

It starts:

I saw you, hug your purse closer to you in the grocery store line.
But, you didn't see me, put an extra $10.00 in the collection plate last Sunday.
I saw you, pull your child closer when we passed each other on the sidewalk.
But, you didn't see me, playing Santa at the local mall.
I saw you, change your mind about going into the restaurant.
But, you didn't see me, attending a meeting to raise more money for the hurricane relief.
I saw you, roll up your window and shake your head when I rode by.
But, you didn't see me, riding behind you when you flicked your cigarette butt out the car window.
I saw you, frown at me when I smiled at your children.
But, you didn't see me, when I took time off from work to run toys to the homeless.
I saw you, stare at my long hair.
But, you didn't see me, and my friends cut ten inches off for Locks of Love.
I saw you, roll your eyes at our leather jackets and gloves.
But, you didn't see me, and my brothers donate our old ones to those that had none…

And so on.

Until the protagonist is run off the road by the car driver who ‘didn’t see him’.
This is what’s called 'victim think'. What's worse, it's self-righteous American victim think.
Have you ever seen anyone hug their purse closer in the 'grocery store' (hello?) line when a ‘biker’ was anywhere near them, even on the ‘sidewalk’? Or stare at long hair? (And what's 'Locks for Love'?)

And so on.

Motorcyclists - even 'bikies' or, in American, ‘the biker community’ - are not regarded as some kind of underclass in Australia. If they were, dentists and lawyers wouldn’t spend weekends dressing up like that. Let's not perpetuate the impression that motorcyclists - we – are feared by the wider public, because these things have a way of coming true. We’re Australian – Australian! - citizens, the same as everyone else.

And as for the concluding justification of this e-mail, ‘If you don't re-post this, It sucks to be you. I hope you never loose (sic)someone that rides,’ that’s just despicable. I have lost people who ride, and blaming some dumb car driver who doesn’t like leather jackets somehow doesn’t make me feel one bit better.

It may suck to be me, but at least I don’t go around seeing my fellow Australians ‘hugging their purses’ in the ‘grocery store line’.

Justice? What justice?

2007-11-03T09:38:00.000+11:00

In NSW, a shoplifter who is caught will from now on just get a ticket and a fine of $300. No conviction will be recorded, and there will be no court appearance. Meanwhile in WA, a barmaid who crushed a beer can between her breasts was fined $1000; her boss got the same fine again.
Does this make sense? I suppose it does, in the same way that it makes sense that a driver who kills a motorcyclist because he had ‘a momentary lapse of attention’ (according to his lawyer) gets community service. The family of the dead motorcyclist gets… well, it gets to live without its brother, father, son…

I was warned many years ago that there is a difference between law and justice, but I always thought that was one of those smart comments made by people who, well, just wanted to be smart. I no longer think so.

A few days ago as I write this, a New Zealand motorcyclist was literally – literally! – cut in half by a stretch of wire rope ‘cheese cutter’ fencing. According to some sources, eight motorcyclists have been killed by this detestable stuff in Australia. And yet more and more of it is put up.
As far as I know, nobody has yet been killed by the new ‘Aunty Jack’ (named that because they’ll tear your arm off) end plates on Armco fencing. It’s only a matter of time.
Applying the same scale that fines a barmaid a thousand bucks for showing off the strength of her chest, what should a death on the wire or the Armco cost the bureaucrat who proposed them and the Minister who approved them?

But of course they won’t even be punished by the shoplifter’s scale. They’ll get promoted and re-elected because they’ve done something about road safety.
Justice? Don’t make me laugh.

Gee TR.

2007-10-26T16:00:00.000+10:00

I’ve just been to California to ride Kawasaki’s new – and I do mean new – 1400GTR. You’ll read about the bike in detail in ARR, but I don’t think I’m giving anything away when I say that it’s a very impressive machine. In recent years Kawasaki has very rarely put a foot wrong with new or updated models, and the GTR is no exception.

Promoted as a ‘transcontinental supersports tourer’ the bike really is the closest thing I’ve ridden to a sports bike with panniers. And it even has shaft drive, although it’s hard to tell because t here is no shaft effect that I could pick. During one of the photo sessions we nearly all got arrested by a very angry (and armed) female park ranger for trespassing. Smokey the Bear has never looked more attractive… Fortunately Kawasaki’s American PR chief Jan Plessner is a smooth talker!

The flights were good, especially since Kawasaki had sprung for Business Class seats (a necessity for me these days). United Airlines is getting a bit long in the tooth, though – planes, cabin crew and service...America as always was terrific. If you’re considering a motorcycling holiday you could do considerably worse than seeing a bit of the States. We’ll have another story on that subject soon, too, with detailed advice. Dirty doingsBack here, we (well, I) managed to pick one of the nastiest and coldest weeks to run our big mid-sized dual purpose bike comparo. We set out to compare eight machines (one of which was the Yamaha XT660X, which was more of a camera bike than a genuine contender) with the usual crew including Defence Minister Brendan Nelson.

Although we originally intended to camp I took pity on the shivering crew in sub-zero temperatures and we stayed at the Globe Hotel in Rylstone, NSW, a pleasant experience for all. I recommend the steaks. So how do you think the bikes did – they were the Aprilia Pegaso Trail, BMW F650 Dakar, Honda Transalp, Kawasaki KLR650, KTM 640 Adventure, Triumph Scrambler and Suzuki DL650 V-Strom. And always remember…Motorcycles can’t stand up on their own. They’re two tyred….....

Who's the Menace?.

2007-10-26T15:57:00.000+10:00

Recently, insurance company AAMI produced one of the most laughable press releases I’ve ever seen – and believe me, I’ve seen plenty! Worst of all, the papers just picked it up and printed it without ever applying any common sense to it. Here’s a bit of the Sydney Sun Herald’s report, with my comments in square brackets.As motorcycle and scooter sales soar, more than one third of NSW drivers say scooters are the "new menace" on Sydney roads.

Scooter sales for the six months to April were 20 per cent higher than the same period last year, while motorcycle sales enjoyed an even bigger jump - of 36 per cent - in the same period, insurance company AAMI says. But it says motor scooters, usually with automatic transmission and simpler to ride, are still seen as a worse hazard than their more powerful two-wheeled counterparts on major city roads.

Since when are perfectly legal forms of transport ‘hazards’? And how do they compare with, say, pedestrians?
Quoting figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, AAMI said almost half of the 120,827 scooters and motorcycles registered in NSW last year are located in Sydney."Motorcycle and scooter sales have soared over the past 12 months - possibly because of rising fuel costs, road traffic and congestion and people's frustration with crowded public transport," AAMI NSW corporate affairs manager Selina O'Connor said in a statement.
Possibly, Selina, possibly. And possibly because they’re fun, too.
"However, according to the latest AAMI research, many drivers are annoyed with the increased presence of motor scooters on major city roads, with one-third of NSW drivers calling them the 'new menace'."

So we annoy drivers. Maybe we’ll annoy them enough so they change to a more ecologically friendly form of transport too, like a scooter!

The research also showed 78 per cent of NSW car drivers in the survey said they had seen motorcyclists breaking the law and taking unnecessary risks on the roads.[Mister, mister, ask me about how often I see drivers breaking the law! Mister?]"This isn't to say that car drivers are any safer or less erratic than motorcyclists, but it does suggest they need to be more vigilant and not take dangerous risks like ducking and weaving in and out of traffic," Ms O'Connor said.

Quite agree. Car drivers do need to be more vigilant. Or is that not what you meant, Selina? Problems with grammar?

"The unfortunate and often tragic reality is that the motorcycle or scooter rider will come off second best in an accident involving a car, regardless of who is at fault." In my experience, however, they can also avoid crashes more successfully.

Mr (sic) O'Connor said a 2004 RTA study had shown in the event of a crash, motorcycle riders were 20 times more likely to be killed than drivers. That figure is very, very rubbery. And what’s the equivalent figure for bicyclists and pedestrians, Sun Herald? I’d love to know. Bet it’s considerably higher. But you didn’t bother to check, did you? Easier to just run the press release, wasn’t it? Now, call me a cynic if you like, but I wonder if the timing of this ‘survey’ has anything to do with the fact that the Motorcycle Council of NSW is looking into the excessive cost of bike and scooter green slips? Is AAMI, one of the companies involved, getting in early to paint riders as irresponsible? Naah! Couldn’t be.

Ride this way -- satori’s waiting!

2007-10-26T15:55:00.001+10:00

Victorian readers have been onto us about a story by David Morley in Royal Auto, the magazine of the RACV (and described by a past editor as ‘the least read magazine in Australia’). The article seems to have been interpreted as anti-bike, possibly because Morley spends a lot of time on motorcycling’s cost and lack of comfort.Of course he is not likely to be anti-bike; as one of only three members of the infamous Lemmings Motorcycle Club he is probably the exact opposite.

So why the negative approach?I don’t actually think it is negative. You remember when lysergic acid diethylamine (hope I’ve spelt that right; my memory isn’t what it used to be) first became popular, and users were saying that just chewing a bit of blotting paper could put you in touch with God or provide instant satori?

Needless to say, the people who had been eating boiled rocks and sitting on thin rush matting in freezing mountain caves in their underwear for, oh, forty years to achieve the same thing were not impressed. Scoring at the pub for a few bucks and swallowing some home brewed chemicals seemed a bit too easy compared to their earnest efforts.

Who’s to say who was right? The hermits shook their heads and went back to the mountains and the acidheads all forgot what they were trying to do in the first place, or became merchant bankers as the chemicals did their insidious work on their brains.But the principle is worth remembering, and I think it is what motivated that Royal Auto story. I think Morley, a dedicated motorcyclist who’s done the hard yards, ridden in the falling snow, put up with his riding companions’ bad jokes, fixed unreliable bikes, saved Spannerman from pub fights and performed the ablutions appropriate to motorcycling satori, now sees people just… buying bikes and having a good time!

How dare they gain instant gratification without going through the grim and sordid initiation ceremony that used to be motorcycle ownership? If you need any evidence to back this assertion, note the fact that all the members of the Lemmings ride ancient British crap boxes – the motorcycling equivalent of living in those drafty mountain caves and wearing barbed wire undies.

And of course Morley’s absolutely right. Who are these people who dare to just enjoy their motorcycling?

Make them take public transport and learn to suffer.

The Answer....!

2007-10-26T15:52:00.000+10:00

You’ve gotta love the NSW Police Service. Even after they retire, cops are still able to fix more or less all the problems of the world.What’s that? Shame they couldn’t fix them before they retire? Well funny you should say that…A little while ago the Sydney Morning Herald found out that motorcycles can fall over, a discovery that prompted the usual ‘lock up your sons’ terror story in the Friday car sales insert, appropriately called ‘Drive’. But of course the story also winkled out all the experts with their answers to the motorcycling mayhem that infests our streets both day and night, and even in between. Never mind that per capita and kilometers ridden, motorcycling is safer than ever; this confederacy of boring old pisscutters and ivory tower academics can tell you a thing or two!

One response was at last interesting, because the retired writer used to be head of the NSW Police driver training centre in Goulburn. Chris Bult rides bikes, as well, but gosh, he’s still capable of just slightly derogatory snap judgements.

‘Generally speaking,’ he writes, ‘the average bike rider is a far greater thrill seeker and risk taker than the average car driver.’

Seeing that he’s capable of such terrific psychological insight, I wonder if he can explain why he allowed all the police motorcyclists he trained at Goulburn to ride on the job in totally inadequate safety gear? I mean, here we’ve got this bunch of uniformed ‘thrill seekers’ on the road, but they’re wearing jodhpurs borrowed from the horse police and jackets made from paper thin fashion leather, not proper leather jackets. And no protective inserts, either! This was a scandal for years; didn’t you know, ex-Chief Inspector?

But there’s more. He’s also concerned that ‘the addition of traction control and anti-lock brakes will simply lead to… younger riders believing they can take even greater risks…’ Yeah, right. Why don’t we make them ride without brakes entirely? That’d slow ’em down! And you old codgers in the back there can stop sniggering as well. Chris Bult has something to say to you, too.

‘Any technological advancement would be a distinct safety advantage to the older rider, especially now their reactions, co-ordination and skills are not what they once were.’ It would be interesting to know how he explains that older riders are relatively so much safer than younger ones, seeing they’re so decrepit. And here’s his final answer to the ‘idiotic behaviour’ of motorcyclists – more police enforcement. Not aimed at cars, which cause such a huge part of the problem; at bikes, using unmarked motorcycles.

Maybe the riders will at least get proper safety gear, then.

Give Me Liberty!!

2007-10-26T15:51:00.001+10:00

Someone at the Motorcycle Riders Association of Australia in Melbourne is putting a lot of effort into writing press releases. It’s a shame the time isn’t going into fighting prejudice and injustice instead. Here are a few extracts.

“The TAC Motorcycle Safety Levy (the levy) has now been extended indefinitely. Motorcyclists will, however, only be charged the levy once each year – regardless of how many motorcycles they own…”

That’s great for people who are well-off and can afford more than one bike, but it leaves the basic injustice of a discriminatory tax untouched, and ordinary people as badly off as before.“During the life of the levy VMAC has been given total control as to how the levy funds are spent. Many projects submitted by various authorities for consideration of allocated levy funds have been rejected or amended by a panel of predominately motorcycle friendly VMAC members, while only the most motorcycle appropriate proposals have been approved. Consequently, the existence of the levy funds "exclusively quarantined for motorcycles" has generated a political advantage never before experienced by the motorcycle community…”
Predominantly motorcycle friendly, eh? Spending our money. MRAA is happy to trade away our freedom – the freedom to decide for ourselves how we’ll spend our money, for their power – the power to decide how your money and mine will be spent. Are you happy about that? They would do well to remember the words of William Hazlitt, who very wisely pointed out in 1819 that “The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.”
“The motorcycle community is opposed to the "moral principle" of being singled out for paying the levy, and that inequity is being addressed at various levels. However while the levy is in place, we must maintain control of the spending of those funds, and consequent safety benefits, away from "those not qualified to make good decisions about its future".

That inequity is being addressed, is it? How? By kowtowing to the Minister? To be fair, the Victorian State Government is only ripping each motorcyclist off to the tune of $50 a year with this levy. The Federal Government, with its $17 billion surplus, is ripping off each taxpayer for about $1500 a year. Does that make you feel better? No, didn’t think so. Doesn’t work for me, either.

People, this levy is wrong, and therefore it is wrong to take the money! All that does is legitimize the theft! It’s wrong not just because it costs you and me $55 or whatever the indexed amount is now. It is wrong because it is unjust. It is taking away our freedom and simultaneously branding us as irresponsible. Not unlike keeping back some of your kids’ pocket money so they’ll have enough to buy a birthday present for a sibling.

Benjamin Franklin reportedly said that “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” How did he know, back in 1759, what Victoria’s motorcycle action groups would be up to in 2007?

Sorry....it's the Law!

2007-10-26T15:47:00.000+10:00

Probably no story we’ve run recently in ARR has attracted more comment than "All care but no responsibility", which we produced in answer to a reader who was worried about being sued by people he took for a ride.

This note (abbreviated to fit the blog) from Henry Rocx in Wantirna, Vic is a good example. He read the story, and wasn’t happy.“A few of our potential ride leaders have also read this article and it scared the pants off them. Now some of them have backed off and are no longer interested, citing the above mentioned article as the reason.

“So it seems that the litigious mindset prevalent in the USA is creeping down under and might affect our ability to conduct group rides…“It has always been my understanding that when we go on a group ride, each rider is responsible for his (or her) own safety, and that if you are unhappy with any aspect of a ride, you are at liberty to pull out at any time. Also, it is up to each rider to ride safely and within the law. I always encourage ride leaders to advise ride participants of any aspect of a ride that may be considered difficult or awkward and then each rider can decide for themselves if they still want to go.

“It would be very sad if as a motorcycle club we can't go on club rides because everyone is too scared to go as a group in case someone decides to sue someone else for making a wrong turn or something similarly stupid.”

I quite agree with you, Henry, but you have got something wrong there: it’s not that it “would be” very sad, it “is”. The laws we warned about are in existence; this can happen right now. All we were doing was telling people the truth so they could make decisions with full knowledge of the risks.

But there’s more. Here’s just one of the points that so many of our correspondents (especially the ones who reckoned that we were somehow causing this problem by making them aware of it!) couldn’t seem to get their heads around.

They thought that it was wrong for mates to sue each other, or they thought their mates wouldn’t do such a thing. But it didn’t occur to them that their mates would probably have no say in the matter because it would be up to their insurance company. And I can just imagine what the insurance company would say if you told them not to sue your mates.
“Fine. In that case you won’t want a payout, and you’ll be looking after yourself as a quadriplegic for the rest of your life.”

There’s more, but this is depressing enough for one blog says Peter “The Bear” Thoeming
I was wrong: AAMI, the insurance company with the wonky ‘research’ into road safety, does not cover motorcycles and scooters. Sorry, I must have had them mixed up with someone who cares