Life Shaping Experience Essay

More often than not motorcycle safety should be a major concern for riders and should be learned and practiced prior to the operation of any motorcycle. Motorcycle safety is a very important consideration not only to the operator but also for other individuals when sharing the road and should not be learned through adverse experiences. The Proper use of a D. O. T. , Department of Transportation, approved helmet insures that the possibility of serious head injuries or death can be greatly reduced. Current statistics, from 2008, from The Center For Disease Control @ www. cdc. gov. rg state that â€Å"A Proven Safety Measure. Helmets save motorcycle riders’ lives. Helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 69%. In a motorcycle crash, an unhelmeted rider is 40% more likely to die from a head injury than someone wearing a helmet. In 2008, helmets saved over 1,800 riders’ lives, but about 800 more lives could have been saved if all riders had worn helmets. † While operating a motorcycle one warm early summer evening I was involved in a traffic collision with a local elderly couple driving an earlier model 1970’s Cadillac. Not only was this Cadillac very large it was also very heavy. The gentleman that was driving was not paying very close attention as he continued straight through the very busy intersection from a left only turn lane. As I approached the intersection from the opposite direction I became aware that this monstrous chuck, of fast moving steel, was not turning nor was it slowing down. I decided it was best to smash on my breaks and discontinue my left hand turn attempt. This I believe is what saved my life that night. My bike straightened out and slowed just enough to prevent us both from winding up straight in front of our doom. The caddy and I grazed side by side. My left hand and handlebar smashing the caddy’s front windshield, back window and all other windows on the driver’s side. At that point in time everything that was anything turned into nothing but one big crash. The bike went its way and I went for a flight straight up into the air. Landing back to earth, after what seemed to be forever, on my hands and knees the only thing that came to mind was to find safety. Safety from all of the other traffic that needed to use that very same busy intersection that I was now no longer in need of. The only safety that I could think of was the comfort of getting next to that now dilapidated bike of mine. Why? I have no idea but it seemed like the right thing to do at that spinning point in time. So I crawled and I crawled until, finally, I was next to that that was going to protect me from getting run over. Three, kind, employees that worked at the filling station across the street came over and helped me to the side walk and began to take steps to see if I was physically alright. Beside from a few rocks being stuck in my aching knees and bleeding hands and apart from being really shook up these two, more than kind, individuals determined that I was going to live. This, needless to say, was comforting even coming from medically uncertified sources. It was then that motorcycle safety consideration came into being for me. I asked one of these gentlemen, â€Å"Could you please go back out into the intersection and get my eyeglasses and helmet for me? † The gentleman replied’† Yes I would be more than happy to get your glasses however you were not wearing a helmet. † As far as the condition of the elderly occupants of the Cadillac and their wellbeing, they were uninjured and doing fine all except for being really shook up and not wanting to speak to me at all. They had just almost killed me and did not want to take the effort ,that any caring citizen would take , to see if I was ok. That’s the last that I heard from them. It was now up to their insurance company to take care of business and wow did they ever have to. I made a couple of dollars on that life changing experience. Later that evening after recouping for an hour or so at home and a little self-medicating Lewis, a very close friend of mine at the time, came to my door and asked,† Is there anything that I can do to help? Lewis had gotten word through the proverbial circle of friends that we are all familiar with in the high school years of our lives, and hurried right over. We went cruising around the stomping grounds of El Toro California because it seemed like the thing to do after one of us had cheated death and could still talk to the other. As we cruised we meditated on and came to the conclusion of motorcycle helmets and how they will be a part of both of our lives from now on. We talked about how it was not luck having escaped serious injury or perhaps even death due to this accident. We both agreed that it was simple hysics that attributed to not having collided with any other objects during the actual event. Having agreed, that remaining friends was something that we both wanted and that riding bikes with our girlfriends was also something that we wanted to continue doing, we bought helmets for ourselves and our girlfriends. Once again I cannot stress enough the importance of motorcycle safety. How wearing a helmet at all times while riding is so important for operators protection. Again more often than not motorcycle safety should be a major concern for riders and should be learned and utilized by riders prior to operating a motorcycle.