This is a matter that should be common sense, however, after having driving in this town for almost 8 years I have come to the conclusion that most of the operators of motor vehicles in Fayetteville are completely out of their minds.

Share the road, motorcycles, scooters, and even bicycles ARE VEHICLES. I will freely admit that I am overly biased on this issue, but with good reason. Drivers refusing to respect the space of two wheeled vehicles, and to pay attention to their surroundings lead to the crashing of my own motorcycle. Look around, pay attention, put down the fast food, and hang up the cell phone. A “fender bender” between two SUVs at 25 miles per hour is nothing more than a headache to deal with the insurance claims and the police reports. That same crash involving a motorcycle will more than likely result in death.

Ask anyone who has ridden a motorcycle or even a scooter; it’s almost magical how we seem to become completely invisible to cars. Here is a small example in physics that most people seem to forget. I have a motorcycle that weighs 304 pounds dry, if you fly past me at 65 MPH in your SUV or truck the wind is more that sufficient to blow me off the road or into another car if you don’t allow enough room between the vehicles when passing. Motorcycles CAN NOT slam on the brakes the way a car can, we have to down shift, apply front and rear brakes at the correct time and pressure, and any errors in that process will, most times, result in crashing.

Long story short, if you cut off a motorcycle because you are in that big of a hurry, there is a good chance that the person you just swerved in front of is about to be flying through your back windshield, if not it’s only because the rider was paying more attention than you and it’s not the first time it has happen to them.