|
Neil Pifer Rider Educator Chapter ( Y ) Houghton Lake Mi. |
|
Stupid Theories DON’T REMEMBER where or when this event took place but several years ago I was at some kind of motorcycle safety conference where I heard a speech by someone representing the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). For those of you unfamiliar with this outfit, it is a large PR and governmental lobbying agency funded by the major insurance companies. To say that the IIHS has an anti-motorcycling bias would be a major understatement. If they had their way, motorcycles would be eliminated from the traffic mix entirely, so that their member companies could quit having to payout claims when their four-wheeled customers run us down. Anyway, in this particular speech, the IIHS representative made the point that rider education programs were not only |
|
useless but that they had research indicating that it might actually be harmful, and a contributing factor to rising accident rates. Their contention was that if a rider was trained to operate his bike better, and to avoid road and traffic hazards, the training also somehow imbued them with a false sense of self-confidence, thereby subconsciously encouraging them to take more and greater risks when riding than they might otherwise have, if they hadn’t had the training. I suppose, with some insane stretch of convoluted logic, some people might actually be able to see some kind of truth to that, but to me it just sounded like one of the stupidest things I’d ever heard, and I told the IIHS rep just that to his face. In fact, I suggested that if he really believed the crap he was spouting, perhaps for his flight back home from the conference he should try to find an airline pilot who had absolutely no flight safety training. This, by his own reasoning, would ensure that the pilot would not expose him or the other passengers to any unnecessary risks. I’m sorry to say he did not respond to my reasoning, but just scowled and turned away. Recently, I saw this same stupid theory, in a slightly modified form, cro up on one of those internet bulletin boards about motorcycling. This time, some guy was expounding that wearing a motorcycle helmet somehow inbued the rider with what he called the “Superman Syndrome”. Like the IHHS rep’s take on safety training, this theory says that if you wear a helmet, it gibes you a false sense of confidence and feeling of inbulnerability, which in turn results in increased risk-taking and, of course, greater accident rates. No personally, I am not in favor of mandatory helmet laws, but I also believe in wearing a helmet when I ride. To me, it is a matter of personal choice, and a freedom that I enjoy as an American citizen. |