http://jeffersoniansobs.org/forums/ Jeffersonian SOBs Forum » Topic: The state of safety en Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:00:38 +0000 http://jeffersoniansobs.org/forums/topic/the-state-of-safety#post-56 Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:28:17 +0000 Anonymous 56@http://jeffersoniansobs.org/forums/ <p>The editors of Motorcycle Safety News have pretty much summed up the chaotic and bizarre sense of safety Americans feel toward their bikes.</p> <p>There are ATGATTers, all the gear, all the time, and folks who are half-helmets and t-shirts and folks who just get on the bike and ride whether they have shorts or slacks.</p> <p><a href="http://motorcyclesafetynews.com/?p=712" rel="nofollow">http://motorcyclesafetynews.com/?p=712</a></p> <p>I started out with leather jacket, slacks, boots, full-face helmet and gloves. In a few years I went to t-shirt (or dress shirt and tie when riding to work. The tie was a special safety feature that would allow me to be hanged should I drop my Harley and get it wrapped around something) and police helmet.</p> <p>Then came the full face. Then came the full face and jacket. Then came the full face, jacket and overpants.</p> <p>The older I've gotten and the more I drive in traffic, the more cell phones and texting took over, the more serious I've become about safety.</p> <p>Sometimes I ride without the overpants, but most times they're on. I nearly never ride without some sort of padded jacket plucked from the padded closet in my padded room.</p> <p>I don't wheelie. I don't lane split. I don't ride faster than I feel safe, although I've been known to push my own limits on occasion.</p> <p>What's safe for me is ridiculous for some people, of course. What's safe for me may also be dangerous for others.</p> <p>It's up to you. You know what risk you're willing to take and you know the consequences. </p> <p>Use your best judgment but remember, there's no guarantee the cagers are using theirs. </p>