The Importance of Motorcycle Safety Equipment
My Own True Story
How often have you seen someone on a bike in shorts and t-shirt? Maybe you are someone who thinks "it's a nice day, shorts and t-shirt for me" If you are I urge you to seriously consider the consequences of riding your motorcycle without wearing proper protection.
In my early days of motorcycling I thought I was ok wearing my helmet, a leather jacket and good old jeans and trainers. This was the attire for many a year and without any problems. As I got older I decided to invest in some leathers and boots as I was riding more and started to think about safety. The thought of leaving my skin on the tarmac chilled me to the bone, oh what a wise old chap I was becoming. It was somewhat of an inconvenience in hot weather having to don your leathers and start sweating before you even moved towards your bike but I was conscientious and off I went leaving my jacket zip undone halfway to get the breeze flowing through to cool off.
So, going back to my original statement and why motorcycle safety equipment is so important, here is my story.
Back in 2002 I had a week at the Isle of Man TT, it was a great week, good weather, excellent racing and as always the "TT" is a motorcycling experience like no other for us bikers. Needless to say it was a safe week I had arrived home safely and the good weather continued. It was the following week that I went back to work, it was only a ten-minute ride or about 9 miles to work on country roads. It was on one day that I let the weather rule my brain and went off to work wearing jeans and the top half of my leathers. On finishing work I travelled towards home, nothing different just a nice sunny evening, when I noticed a car coming towards me indicating to turn. I approached him keeping my eye on the driver when all the textbook thoughts went out of the window. Yes he turned across me, I had no choice but to brake hard realising I was going to hit him, instinct kicked in to swerve and luckily I dropped the bike and hit the deck as the bike carried on into his car. I got up not feeling too bad, my knee was sore but nothing serious I thought, my bike was a mess but the driver and his car were Ok, as always "sorry mate I didn't see you" oh well I thought that's ok then. All the usual things took place with insurance details etc. I picked my bike up, it was rideable just about so off I headed home.
It was then that I realised it was a bit more serious than I thought, my jeans had a hole in the knee but this was masking the equivalent hole in my knee. I jumped in the shower to clean the blood from my leg and noticed my kneecap was in full view. Consequently on visiting the hospital where I thought a few stitches would put me right, I was told I was being taken down to surgery to have my leg cleaned out, when I came round and saw the doctor my protest of wanting to go home was met with a choice. A few days in hospital for them to keep an eye on infection before stitching me back up, or go home and get an infection with the chance of loosing my leg.
As you may have guessed by now the answer was a week in hospital, two visits to surgery followed by three weeks off work. Now when I get on my bike no matter how short a journey I always, always wear my leathers. If I had been wearing them that day my leg would have been fine.
If you ride a motorcycle please look after your skin, it is no match for tarmac, so take my advice, wear leathers or at least safety trousers and jacket designed for riding a motorcycle. I was lucky in a way but it taught me a very valuable lesson, I hope you have taken this on board.