What Motorcyclists Want You to Know – Part Two

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

In my previous installment of what riders need drivers to understand, I talked about the practical points of motorcycling. Those things, involving safety and etiquette, keep riders and drivers alike healthy, happy, and in one piece on the road. If you missed that one or need a refresher read, you can find it here.

As Motorcyclist Awareness Month comes to a close though, I’ve been wanting to address the elephant in the room. Namely, the perceptions and judgements riders face that set the stage for misunderstanding, and sometimes, hostility.

Let’s face it, stereotyping is a bad practice. We’ve all done it and been subject to it no matter what group we are lumped into. Pick any group, there’s a stereotype.

Motorcyclists are no different. This tendency toward oversimplification and lack of understanding is a far-reaching issue of humanity. Since that can’t possibly be adequately addressed, much less solved, on my little blog today, I’m just going to focus on motorcyclists.

Representation

There are a couple of stereotypical images that may come to mind when a non-rider thinks of motorcyclists or “bikers.” Guess what?

1. That’s just the tip of the iceberg of the kind of people who ride.
2. No matter what you think of their appearance, they are still people with the right to ride. And in my experience, they’re usually very nice.
3. There are many styles of riding that the stereotypes overlook.
4. Riders come from all walks of life. And women are a quickly growing segment of the riding population. For some perspective, check out what women riders look like around the world.
5. The vast majority of us are nice people and responsible riders.

A bad name

Which brings me to Squids. These are the riders that give the rest of us a bad name. They’re the reckless ones careening down the road, quite often in t-shirts and sandles. And they are a very small minority of riders.

With that in mind, here are a couple of thoughts from fellow riders:

There is a whole other side to motorcycling and motorcyclists come from all walks of life – mechanics, dentists, lawyers, teachers, etc., and the really neat thing in the motorcycling community is that no one cares what you do for a living.

The likes of Sons of Anarchy do not represent the motorcycling community. They are the exception, not the rule.

We all don’t wear Tupperware helmets wearing flip flops doing wheelies acting the fool.

As a former rider, I’d like to say it’s important for drivers to not take out their frustration with the jackasses who ride on the rest of us that are just enjoying the road.

Road use

There are advantages for drivers when riders are on bikes instead of in cars. At Horizons Unlimited in Virginia this year, I got to chat with a good many riders about this subject.

One well-traveled rider who has ridden extensively around the world mentioned the strange phenomenon of American drivers — that we’re extremely territorial. In the U.S., anything that resembles line-cutting or is (wrongly) interpreted at getting “unfairly” ahead of traffic meets with vigilante justice from drivers.

Whereas in Europe, motorcyclists are expected to move to the front of slow or stopped traffic and drivers actively make way for them. Once traffic starts moving again, motorcycles have the ability to move out more quickly than autos. And guess what? It reduces traffic congestion and gets everyone where they want to be much more quickly. When all road users work together, the climate on the road is better for everyone.

So I hope you’ll take a step back the next time you’re disgruntled with a rider. Is that person really being a jerk? Or are you just in a bad mood? Or could you have misinterpreted their actions? It’s called actor/observer bias and it’s worth having a healthy self-check on that when you’re behind the wheel.

Often times, a rider needs to take evasive action from another driver. To you that might appear as aggressive when there is a very good chance the rider is putting space between them and an inattentive driver. And no matter what your conclusion, remember it isn’t your place as a civilian driver to enforce laws or your perception of them.

Stories

As riders, we are subject to a constant barrage of horror stories. Please stop. We’ve heard it. We know. Hearing about your brother’s friend’s cousin who got creamed by a car running a stop sign isn’t going to keep us off the bike. Your intentions might be altruistic or sympathetic but they are misguided and short-sighted.

Instead of insisting motorcycling is dangerous, how about you just help us stay safe on the road? Remember most car vs. motorcycle crashes are caused by drivers.

The big picture

Preformed judgements and skeptical attitudes towards us, or anyone for that matter, do no good and often do a great deal of harm. For motorcyclists, that mindset means we are in danger from drivers who don’t value us as people. It’s one more way we’re invisible. That doesn’t end well for us.

Yes, there are bad actors in our basket. Just like any other group. But that minority should not set the tone for how the rest of us are treated.

Look twice

Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll take all of the messages from Motorcyclist Awareness Month to heart year-round. We are riders but we’re also moms, dads, sons, daughters, friends — you get the idea. We’re human. And vulnerable. Look Twice.

Ready for more? Read Part One, Part Three, and Part Four of this series. Or read up on my thoughts about being an ambassador for the motorcycling community.

Adventure on, friends.