Oklahoma Biker - The Riders Ragazine November - December 2018 | Page 22

a rider could possess, was to have common sense and the ability to drive defensively. Well as I’m pretty sure most people know by now, common sense isn’t all that common anymore and as for driving defensively, I don’t feel that is even close to being enough anymore! Over what I considered to be, or called “the 10 days of the 4th of July” this year, I lost 9 people in my life due to injuries sustained during motorcycle wrecks. It was a brutal weekend in my life. Along with 9 dead, there were 7 injured. Here’s a rough breakdown of the ones I lost: 2 were due to alcohol impaired drivers, 1 was due to the riders inability to properly negotiate a curve caused by an improper rate of speed entering the corner and 6 (yes, SIX) were killed by people in cars, operated while being distracted by a damn phone. I don’t know if they were texting or talking (the It has reached the time of year again reports didn’t make that clear). You that some call the end of the riding know, it was bad enough out there when season. Time to get that bike winterized we just had to look out for bad drivers (I’m not really sure what that curtails) but if you look around today, it seems and hook up the battery tender and zip like everyone everywhere is either up the climate controlled bike capsule talking or texting. You are honestly in (Yes, they sell it on Amazon for $300 the cross hairs of every single vehicle (www.amazon.com/CarCapsule- on the road. It’s like no one gives a shit Indoor-Inflatable-Motorcycle-Storage/ or that the law doesn’t apply to them. dp/B004646F5U)). We will see you Let’s not fool ourselves here. Most, if seasonal folks next year at the spring not all of us reading this are guilty of rallies, but by all means, keep up doing this. Do you think that text or call your attire presence buy wearing the latest trendy Harley Davidson fashions is really that important? Probably not. If it is, pull over. I used to be guilty of everywhere you go, to make sure this too, I now have hands free tech everyone within eye shot knows you in my truck and I use it. It only takes a are the proud owner of a finely crafted second for things to go bad. Don’t drive American made piece of history. distracted, you could be next. Enough on that. When I started riding many, many TANK years ago, one of the greatest things TANK’S RANT oklahoma biker the riders ragazine 22