OMG. I bet it is covered in high visibility strips as well. The girls wont like them because if they fall off and the air bag jacket puffs up, it will make them look fat!!, cant have that can we.
It gets worse guys...check this out...
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/riders-at-risk-without-the-leathers/2008/09/12/1220857835023.html
Yeah AUSTRALIA it's a free country, just as long as we do what we are told, RIGHT ?? I think the point here is that the government will do anything except spend money where it is needed eg: ROAD IMPROVEMENTS and DRIVER/RIDER training/education. At 47 years old, I would like to think I can make my own decissions about my own safety, and if I get it wrong and kill myself doing what I love then so be it. If tin top drivers were more educated about Motorcycle awarness and new bike riders had better training, then accidents would drop considerably. I have had many a friend come off motorcycles and although I am not about to say speed was never a contributer, I can honestly say that it was road conditions in every case that I can think of (as I sit here typing) that caused them to fall. eg: A mate fell off on Mt Nebo in front of me, he was not speeding but read the corner wrong and it tightened up on him too much and because of inexperience NO RIDER TRAINING and NO ROAD SIGNS warning him of the corner, he went down. Interestingly, I have not been up there for about 5years (until 2 weeks ago with the Forum gang) and the same corner still has no signage. When my mate did drop the bike we were approached by a local who told us that the last bike to go over the top was about 3 hours before we got there, and sure enough you could see bits of a red Ducati caught up in the Lantana. He told us it was a common occurance on that corner but there are still NO SIGNS in place 5 YEARS LATER. An inflatable jacket might have softened the blow, but a sign would have stopped the accident from happening. I was riding with my wife near Baroon dam (QLD) and was doing maybe 100km in a 80km zone comming out of a long sweeper that was tightening up a bit and on the exit the road was covered in pot holes and loose gravel, we slid onto the other side of the road completely out of my control (i could do nothing except not panic) and if a car was comming from the other direction we probably would have been killed. I learned not to speed into corners unless I can see the road surface clearly. Again RIDER TRAINING and ROAD CONDITIONS. Nearly all news paper reports I have read involving bike accidents are always attributed to speed BUT NOTHING ELSE. I have had at least half a dozen close calls (the ones where you think OH SHIT I need to learn from that) and I can only think of ONE that is completely attributable to speed and stupidity. Forcing people to wear safety jackets and fining them everytime they speed is not going to save lives, only the authorities listening to what experienced bikers are trying to tell them is. And of course, spending a bit of that hard earned revenue in the right places. It might be just me, but I don't think the FEDERALIES are fining us because they want us to be safe ?? BUT THEY CERTAINLY WANT US TO BELIEVE THEY ARE !!!! OK I'm off the soap box now.
Exactly.
I'm just saying that they (not me!!!! but the powers that be) are blaming SPEED for almost every road accident you hear about, and then they try to justify fining our asses off for it. If they are serious about looking after us (which they are not) then restrict the speed of new vehicles to 80km an hour or get outa my face.
Imagine following a mate and watching him blow up when he drops a lit smoke down his shirt.
