Do you like motorcycles? If so, you should also like insurance. And get lots of it.

Motorcycle

Years ago, before I started working at Anderson Law, I read the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and I greatly enjoyed it. In fact, I have daydreamed ever since about riding cross country, or up to the Arctic Circle, on a motorcycle. But, I haven’t pulled the trigger. Even after looking at the awesomeness of Winston Yeh’s Rough Crafts.

In the past, it was because I listened to my wife who essentially said, how should I put this… “NO, NO, NO!” But over the past several years, as I have listened to my clients who have told me it’s not a matter of if you will crash, but when you will crash, I have realized that motorcycling is a dangerous sport. Seeing pictures of external fixators will convince you if you’re not convinced yet.

Consider these google-able facts: if you ride a motorcycle, you are 26 times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision than if you drive a car; “accidents” are usually caused by car drivers who don’t see motorcyclists; even if you don’t die in a motorcycle crash, you are much more likely to be seriously injured.  

I do have other personal experience with the leading cause of crashes (not being seen), because I occasionally ride my bicycle on the streets of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland. But I try to avoid any road with more than one passing car every five minutes, any nighttime riding, and any road with more than two lanes of traffic. To add insult to injury, some drivers purposely run into, or crowd, bicyclists because they are so offended that a person would dare ride a bike on a public street. Or maybe they feel shamed by someone that is exercising in public. So, I spend most of my time riding outside of city limits. Early on, when I didn’t follow these rules, I was almost crushed in the middle of an intersection because a car driver didn’t see me and my bright orange shirt and turned right in front of me. Luckily, I slammed on my brakes and avoided serious injury. But not all of us are so lucky.

I still may buy a motorcycle one day, when the kids are out of the house or if I ever hit my mid-life crisis. But if I do, I will be sure to have a lot of insurance and an attorney on retainer to make sure I’m covered.


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