A funny thing happened to me this past weekend that I thought I'd share with my motorcycle community.

I was teaching an MSF Basic Rider's Course this past weekend. One of the ranges I work on is set up at a local community college. And, it's located right next to a park.

We cordon off the lots we use with cones (which quite a few people drive between and come onto our range for some strange reason) and caution flags attached to rope.

Half way into the day on Sunday, a family gathers at the end of our range. Two young kids are on those mini motorcycles. The father, sees me, but still directs the kids to ride through our cones that are blocking off the road. I guess he was telling them to ride within our range, as it was probably the most safe place to ride. I yell over to him that the parking lot was closed! He waves and nods, as if he understood. So, I went back to coaching.

A short bit later, this kid comes tearing through the side of our parking lot! I blow on my whistle to get his attention, but either he can't hear me because that mini bike sounded like a high power weedeater, or he was ignoring me! I again, yell over to the father that our parking lot was closed. This time, he just ignores me!

And that's when I noticed... the helmet I saw the kid wearing just a few minutes ago, was in his hand!! WTF?! Did he take it off his kid??

So anyways, I just wanted to share that bit about the helmet. But to close out my story, my co-instructor went over to the father to tell him the range was closed. The kid then proceeded to ride on the street. With traffic. No helmet.

Keith

 

And just because of the heated debate on another thread **cough(seatbelts)cough** I will admit there are probably times when someone may decide not to wear a helmet (I live in a no helmet law state) which is well within their rights, but I personally always wear mine!

 

Bold and embrasend. I've noticed a bunch of parents that get there kids cycles, but don't have a clue about operating them. Mostly the wead eater micro-bikes. One of my friends and I were out hopping burms at a local spot a couple years ago on our dirt bikes. Some parent let there kid ride out onto the main section of track from what we gathered. A couple of riders got badly hurt trying to avoid landing on the kid. The dad got real pissed (at the guys who almost crushed his kid) , kid was crying, and a couple of guys were busted up pretty good. Kid had no riding gear or helmet. I just couldn't believe that an parent would let there kid on a section of dirt with guys fast moving, high flying bikes on the same section of dirt. Darwin award candidate?

 

Parents are definitely candidates for Darwin awards. One thing I learned is that even if you're not moving, standing still, and fall over sideways, you're head hits the ground at 20mph. No helmet = no future.

 

I'm too concerened with traffic to get a motorcycle and helmet. A scooter is even more vunerable. And you wonder if these parents would sue if anything happened to their kids!

 

When I used to drive for a limousine company, we had a 30 ft car going down a fairly narrow city street through some low income government housing. Cars were parallel parked along both sides. Driver was doing 5-10 mph. Well below the 25 mph limit; well below a safe speed with relatively close vehicles. All of a sudden, a little girl (8? or 10?) runs out from behind some parked cars, and smack straight into the rear quarter panel!! 26-28 feet of the car has ALREADY passed by, at a slow enough speed, and she STILL didn't see the 30 foot white limousine?! The driver stopped when he heard the impact and helped the girl. She seemed okay, just shooken up.
A few days later, we get a call from the girl's parents. They're suing our company for hitting their kid... That didn't last...
Another observation: while in that low income government housing area, there were quite a few nice cars there! BMWs. Mercedes. Here I am, busting my butt to pay my rent and car payment, and all I had to do is claim poverty, get the government to support me, then spend all my money on a luxury car. What was I thinking?!

 

I feel your pain. Unfortunately, that's not the way we were brought up. I know some people whose biz is all about how to cheat the govt out of payoffs, housing, etc all by using obscure loop holes in the law, single motherhood, letting kids run into cars for lawsuits, etc. They get away with it, which is very sad. Most are not even US citizens, go figure....
As for the bmw's and benz's, its probably all drug money so don't feel bad, eventually they get caught and we get to buy the confiscated vehicles for pennies on the dollar....and then house them in nice cement buildings with high fences and barbed wire all of which again comes out of our pockets...sheesh...

 

I've always thought buying a seized luxury car would be cool. I don't remember when it is, but somewhere just south of Tucson, AZ, the Border Patrol sells off the stuff they've seized. If I ever come into a nice lump sum of cash, I'll have to find out how to get invited to that.

 

yikes

 

I'm no math wiz, but if say a six foot tall person is standing and suddenly falls over... how does his head, after even overcoming inertia, at a rate of 32 feet per second, hit the ground at 20 mph? How fast would one's head have to travel to achieve a 20 mph impact? Or, at which distance from the ground would he have to be?