DISQUS

Dianne · 2 years ago

I was disappointed in the two related front page Times articles because it implied that every motorcyclist on the road is either an inexperienced driver or a reckless one. First, it was nice for a change to see a woman biker featured in the top picture. It's good that she actually was in a class and looked like she was having fun. I found it strange and a bit misleading, though, that she was just learning how to shift and she already owned an entire Harley outfit.
Scan down to the village idiot complete with plaster casts in the hospital bed. If you're not a motorcycle fan, you'll conclude that absoloutely no one out there knows what they're doing.
It would've been interesting, logical and positive if the Times had included a third related piece involving veteran bikers and their thoughts and ideas on getting new bikers trained and endorsed.

Tom Monroe · 2 years ago

The rider in the picture was my student in the class. She had never been on a motorcycle before, and the picture was taken during Excercise 4, when students learn how to "shift and stop" (combine upshifting, downshifting and stopping).

I'm not sure why she owned "an entire harley outfit", but I've often seen students come to class with good gear. I've had students in class in full racing leathers with pucks. It doesn't mean they're neccessarily doing anything unsafe.

jimbo in Toronto · 2 years ago

This is a perfect example of the media's distortion on a topic to add an sensational angle to an otherwise boring article.

Proper headline, "Motorcycle crash a result of zero training"