The morality of riding a bike married with kids

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Given I know two widows raising children single I think it's an irresponsible choice not for the rider but looking at the family. The kids no matter what folks do have a sadness in them and miss their parent despite massive help from family.

Both riders the crashes were not their fault involving a dump truck and a driver not paying attention. I don't get angry at the at fault drivers because both accidents were done at low speed and survivable in any car.

Irresponsible but free choice. Life insurance does little for void left kids. You decided to have kids and breed so the responsible choice is suck it up at least till you raise decent young adults.
 
Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Riding with the unbelievably annoying blinking headlight and dayglo jacket in mental condition RED with evasive plan A and plan B constantly being updated in your mind as you roll down the road convinced every other driver is out to kill you somehow doesn't seem much fun or satisfying.

Unless you get home and say YES! CHEATED DEATH ONCE AGAIN, I FEEL SO ALIVE!!





When you've been riding as long as I have, all of the stuff that sounds like chaos to you is just second nature to me. There's no other feeling of freedom or form of release that even comes close to riding a bike...
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Riding with the unbelievably annoying blinking headlight and dayglo jacket in mental condition RED with evasive plan A and plan B constantly being updated in your mind as you roll down the road convinced every other driver is out to kill you somehow doesn't seem much fun or satisfying.

Unless you get home and say YES! CHEATED DEATH ONCE AGAIN, I FEEL SO ALIVE!!





When you've been riding as long as I have, all of the stuff that sounds like chaos to you is just second nature to me. There's no other feeling of freedom or form of release that even comes close to riding a bike...


Actually-apart from the modulator and high-vis gear- you should be doing ALL of those things when you are behind the wheel. Most people are operators, as "driver" is far too generous a term.
 
Saw an SUV almost side swipe a motorcycle yesterday. SUV was in the wrong lane and needed to get to an exit ramp, waited too long and then changed lanes right in front of the bike barely missing it. Hard to know but it looked like the SUV didn't see the bike and was very lucky to not hit it.

Bikes are too easy to miss in blind spots.
 
Darwin's theory has a habit of "taking care" of the cowboy bike riders. The rest of us ride with care and expect dumb drivers to do their dumbest. Personally, I stay off the interstates.
 
The riding bug tried to bite me, but after a friend losing her brother and sister-in-law when they were out riding and were just in the wrong place at the wrong time (long story short, a delivery truck crossed the center line to avoid someone who abruptly stopped in front of them), I'm sticking with cars.

Better a live chicken than a dead duck. YMMV.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
How about the morality of having a high risk job? Does bringing in the bacon, instead of doing something for fun, puts one on the higher moral ground when there are plenty of safe, office type jobs, that bring in very good income?

How many people willingly go for a high risk job when they could easily get a safe job offering the same compensation? Most of the time, it's not a choice. People go for the high risk job because they don't have the skills for the safe one, or those safe jobs aren't readily available.

Also, getting into a high risk job should be a family decision. All family members should understand the potential risks and be OK with it before that job is taken. Alternative would typically be a lower paying job with less risk.

I have a feeling, such "family decisions" do not happen when it comes to riding. The guy says "I'm going to ride" even if the wife is not happy about it.

Finally, you can't really compare a job to riding. One is done to put bread on the table. The other is done for fun, unless you work as a riding instructor. Another words, a risky job provides certain level of benefit to the family. What benefit does motorcycle riding provide to the family?
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Finally, you can't really compare a job to riding. One is done to put bread on the table. The other is done for fun, unless you work as a riding instructor. Another words, a risky job provides certain level of benefit to the family. What benefit does motorcycle riding provide to the family?


But you haven't answered my original question. How is it morally different? Most that ride are not deadbeats and do provide for their families. So if one has a job that puts their life at about the same risk as riding a motorcycle, what's morally different here. Both are able to provide for their families equally when they're alive and both have equal chances of dying.
For every low paying, high risk job there is one that is much safer. And there is always the argument that no money can replace a person, so taking a pay cut and getting a safer job should be the top priority.
For high paying, high risk jobs, I highly doubt that it is a matter of having no choice. These people love what they do, just like there are people that love riding.

Again, where is the moral high ground? People make their choices based on all sorts of different perspectives and are FREE to choose what the want. Calling one morally higher than the other is very self centered.
You would question the morality of choosing a professions of miners, police officers, fire fighters, construction workers etc. so why question motorcycle riders?
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Finally, you can't really compare a job to riding. One is done to put bread on the table. The other is done for fun, unless you work as a riding instructor. Another words, a risky job provides certain level of benefit to the family. What benefit does motorcycle riding provide to the family?


But you haven't answered my original question. How is it morally different? Most that ride are not deadbeats and do provide for their families. So if one has a job that puts their life at about the same risk as riding a motorcycle, what's morally different here. Both are able to provide for their families equally when they're alive and both have equal chances of dying.
For every low paying, high risk job there is one that is much safer. And there is always the argument that no money can replace a person, so taking a pay cut and getting a safer job should be the top priority.
For high paying, high risk jobs, I highly doubt that it is a matter of having no choice. These people love what they do, just like there are people that love riding.

Again, where is the moral high ground? People make their choices based on all sorts of different perspectives and are FREE to choose what the want. Calling one morally higher than the other is very self centered.
You would question the morality of choosing a professions of miners, police officers, fire fighters, construction workers etc. so why question motorcycle riders?


You can blah blah blah all day long, but the bottom line is that a guy like you does need to curtail his activities because he has so many kids. Breeding comes with great responsibility.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Al
I don't know anyone that hasn't laid their bike down (on the road)

I rode for 5 years, and I never laid it down. But it was likely just a matter of time. I figured I'd quit while I was still ahead.


Smart decision, especially since you have kids.
 
If you interviewed 100 car drivers or 100 motorcycle riders asking if they were above, at or below average in driving skill you would get 80% to 90% stating that they were above average and the remaining 10% to 20% saying they were average drivers.

Obviously, there are a lot of people running around that are at best average and to a large extent below average that have no idea of this fact.

You pays your money and takes your chances.
 
About 15 years ago, I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course for insurance purposes thinking that I'd buy a bike as alternative transport and some weekend fun. I didn't need to have a family or kids to come to the conclusion that unless you give drivers 4-5 seconds to see you, which is often impossible, then you're a statistic waiting to happen.

If you're married with kids, then I wouldn't have to look very deeply inside to ask myself if I wanted to do this...and if I had a dangerous job I wouldn't rationalize it with some moral equivalency about another dangerous past time, I'd be looking for a less dangerous job first and nix the bike.
 
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
If you live to wrap yourself in a bubble...are you really LIVING?

Getting splattered on the pavement - now that's living!
 
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