let me preface this by saying i have NOTHING against motorcycles. i've enjoyed riding one a time or two in my years. nor do i have any problem with motorcyclists who obey the rules of the road.
having said that, here is my rant. it seems i constantly see signs and bumper stickers and all sorts of reminders to 4-wheeled motorists about watching out for bikers. and it seems that there is a general attitude that when motorcycle accidents happen, it's usually a 4-wheeled motorist's fault.
why isn't there more of a campaign out there to stress the importance of safe biking? why aren't they told to be more careful around cars and trucks? why isn't there more pressure applied to them about personal responsibility?
here are some of the things that i see all the time that really just tick me off no end. these are not just random, occasional, rare instances. i see them happen DAILY. and it's not just where i'm currently living... i've seen these things on every road i've ever travelled in any part of the country. frequently.
things like... swerving suddenly and unexpectedly between a vehicle and the one in front in order to get to the lane on the other side. most of the time there's barely enough room for a car to do something like that, but a motorcycle is smaller and the driver thinks he's invincible. this not only puts his own life in danger from the obvious, but it puts countless others in danger because the driver that's being cut in front of can panic, swerve, put on breaks, and cause accidents with other vehicles even if the biker manages to avoid it all.
or how about when they pass on the shoulder of the road? that's highly illegal, the shoulder is to be used for emergency purposes only, and yet motorcycles (and even some 4 wheelers) use the shoulders just to get arround traffic.
or the worst offense of all, and yet the most common, is when bikers decide to create a third lane between two others... this happens most often when it's heavy traffic, and the biker is too impatient to go slower.... and so decides to zip right past all the cars that are creeping along (even though that creeping may be at 30 mph or more) by riding BETWEEN two lanes of cars. how insane is that?
and most pathetic, i've even seen these things done by motorcycle cops! (although not so often... and they, perhaps, might have a legitimate reason, like being on a call.)
ok, rant over. am i the only one who gets annoyed by this?