With a sudden and early spring bringing unseasonable warmth, I decided to kick off the official start of the season with a ride motorcycle ride. My motorcycle had been sitting in a shed at The Farm for several years due to me not having the courage to fight with traffic and poor road conditions in the Twin Cities. To ease myself back into the hobby or sport depending on how you classify it I decided to just cruise around the neighborhood before I attempt any task such as the interstate.

As usual, I was 90-100% correct on my assumptions of cars reacting or not to not automobile traffic. Most cars seemed to have the need to get as close to me as possible even when I was doing close to or over the posted speed limit. Most of them probably don’t realize I can stop much faster than their brains can comprehend my brake light. Another issue I have is that when I did venture onto the other practice freeway to add in a few more lanes of adventure, the distances of between myself and the cars behind me halved. With many of the drivers deciding they wanted to pass me, but not really go any faster.

I have made similar complaints for/against bicycles in the past which seems to be a trend for me being on two wheels. Maybe it takes 4-5 months of seeing two wheeled transportation before most people realize that they aren’t encased in a steel box for protection with many needlessly forgoing any!

Am I a chronic complainer about other peoples driving? Or is the populous of urban (possibly rural) Minnesota drivers either uneducated about sharing the road with motorcycles/bicycles/other automobiles? Both maybe? If you ride motorcycle or just drive with them on them do you feel like our society pays enough attention for everyone’s safety?