MotoLady has been posting updates about yet another road rage incident in which a car and a motorcycle tangled, and the motorcyclist was violently and purposefully killed. In this case, there’s video; and in this case, the driver of the car that killed this motorcyclist has been formally charged and is awaiting trial. Sadly, similar incidents where motorcyclists are hurt or even killed are far more common than they should be—and criminal charges don’t always happen.
Here’s my thing: Everyone can be a complete dick out on the road, no matter what you ride or drive. But the inescapable fact is, any car or truck can be a deadly weapon. Dude, you’re piloting something that weighs a ton (or more) around—often at significant speed. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that shit can cause serious damage to people who aren’t also in vehicles with serious modern safety equipment.
I’m not just talking bikes: Years ago, I was in an older car that got T-boned by another older car that failed to yield at a “Cross Traffic Does Not Stop” sign. The other driver wasn’t malicious, but simply failed to pay attention. That driver had an older Blazer, but if she’d hit us with a more modern version of that same car, we might not have walked away unharmed because the differences in design (bumper height, for instance) and safety are that significant.
Are you really so concerned with some insignificant traffic slight (either real or imagined) that you actually want to kill that person? Seriously? Honk. Flip them off. Yell something rude out the window (or in your helmet). While it’s maybe not ideal if there are tiny children around, the world isn’t an ideal place. Parents of said tiny children can explain away harsh language a lot more easily than they’ll be able to explain away the murder their kids just witnessed. You’ll vent your frustrations, you’ll move on with your day, and no one will even come close to DYING.
Life is so much bigger than some stupid thing that happened during your daily commute. We’re all so focused on shifting blame, we like to forget that’s true. Fuck that. Is your pride really worth more than someone else’s life? If it is, you are an asshole of monumentally huge proportions.
