Young and Dangerous

By: Jeanette Tran

Not only does being a rider myself make me more aware of other motorcyclist while I am in my car, but it also seems to spread to my friends and family as well. It is nice to know that they are becoming more aware of motorcyclist and looking out for them while making lane changes and just while driving in general. So I am not usually surprised when I get an email or a text from them saying they saw a motorcycle on the roads and thought of me. However, when my sister sent me a picture she took with her phone of a rider and passenger, I was amazed.

It was a picture of a guy on an R1 Yamaha with a little girl no older than 7 or 8 on the back of his bike. The little girl was wearing only a helmet, t-shirt, a skirt, and sneakers heading onto the freeway. As much as I love riding, and would encourage my own future children to start riding at a young age (dirt bikes), I would never allow them on the back of a motorcycle like how this little girl was in the picture. Maybe around the block wearing full gear and protection, but not onto the freeway wearing nothing protective except for a helmet.

Unfortunately, this is actually was not the first time I have seen or heard of something like this. The other time was during really heavy traffic right after a concert downtown. There was a little boy riding on back as a passenger, wearing nothing but a helmet. I can understand the rider's perspective in the sense that the event was crowded and he wanted to avoid traffic by riding his bike, so throw a helmet on the kid and just get going. But to me, there are so many risk factors involved with doing that!

Even if you are a rider and you have ten thousand years of experience, you still have no control over the other drivers on the road. The other story I heard was one of those stories passed along from a friend of a friend, but it still leaves a lasting impact on me. The rider had decided to pick up their neighbor's kid from school one day and the bike ran into some issues on the freeway so they pulled over to the shoulder. When they were ready to merge back onto the freeway, a driver had apparently target fixated on them and rear ended the resulting in both of their deaths. This goes to show that despite the years of experience you may have, motorcycling on the streets is so risky, so why would anyone put their children at risk?

As summer rolls around it is almost a known fact that we will continue to see the riders who would prefer to ride without their leather jackets or and proper gear, but that is at the rider's own discretion. Of course, I have no control over whether or not these people think it is a smart idea to put their children on the back of a bike for whatever reason, but at least give the kid some gear! Not only ATGATT, but smarter choices should be practiced while riding motorcycles. I probably sound like a ranting mom, but if it can save the lives and prevent unnecessary road rash and fatalities, then I don't mind it one bit.

Published: Jul 21, 2009

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