This morning I noticed the following links on the web. I assume that a Google would bring lots more, but I have not tried.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130714-hole-new-design-for-scooters
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130630-super-shrinking-the-city-car
Scooters are very common in most of the world and often seen carrying 2 adults and several kids. Real work horses, but not always safe. Try a Google of
scooter overloaded
Without quotes.
You will find some outrageous photos. Kids, don’t try this at home. These are NOT ‘professional drivers on a closed course.’ They are Darwin Award contestants. They are volunteers. They are doing their part to help reduce the population problem and to support the healthcare industry. Unfortunately, however, sometimes the volunteers remove some non-volunteers from the gene pool against their will.
And, as I’ve said before, in Spain, we were told that if you had too many moving violations, you had a special drivers license. You were not allowed to drive a car. You could only drive a motorcycle. It gets a little confusing because tiny cars with less than a certain displacement, were classed as motorcycles, but they would still hurt if they hit you.
The British referred to people that had this affliction of speed demon-ism, as ‘boy racers.’ I assume this is because it is usually a male disease, although there are a few females that have caught it. At least they look like females. But, today can you ever tell for sure?
I believe that explains why a large percentage of the drivers of motorcycles and motor scooters that we saw through Europe, made Evil Knievel, seem like ‘a little old lady from Pasadena.’ Perhaps the worst so far was in Naples. If you are a Casting Director, and you need some ‘lunatics.’ Sorry, I mean ‘absolutely outrageous motorcycle stunt drivers’ for a new James Bond film, just go to Naples. They seem to run in packs there. And somehow it is absolutely imperative that each individual be at the front of the pack at all times.
I guess the old thing about sled dogs, “Unless you’re the lead dog, all you ever get to see is the…” Well, nevermind.
So, especially when traveling in Europe, and even Turkey, and you see someone on a motorbike, or scooter, there is a higher than normal possibility, that they feel that traffic laws, traffic signs, logic, and life expectancy, do not apply to them.
Of course, this unintentionally discredits the millions of intelligent people, that choose to ride scooters and motorbikes. But, when you see 10,000 people go by intelligently, even wisely, and sanely driving their motorscooter or motorcycle, and then one day you see a guy going down a main street in San Diego, while standing fully upright on the seat of his Harley, with his arms out horizontally in the air, steering it like a surfboard, tell me which one you’re going to remember? I don’t know how long he’d been doing it when he first came into our view, but he did it for several blocks before passing out of our view. It certainly appeared that it was not his first time at it. He seemed very nonchalant. But, hey, it’s Southern California. The land of fruits and nuts.
Californians are not all crazy by any means. There are many sane people in Southern California. But, I suspect that they may be wondering, “What am I doing here? We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”
Dave
Alegria1976's Blog 