Guys
In light of the upcoming marijuana laws,
the increased use of cell phones and the resulting traffic crashes,
**** drivers all around,
is anyone having second thoughts regarding motorcycling in general ?
Short answer:
No
Long Answer:
Your post alludes to a mistake I've made in the past. At one point in my motorcycling life time, I mistakenly started hating every single driver on the road. What made matters worse was how obsessed I was (and still am) with improving my own abilities as a rider. The faster and more technical I became on track (and for the record, I started on highway ramps), the more angry I became.
Not only do we have drunk, high, and distracted drivers but we also, generally, have very incapable drivers
AND RIDERS. This resulted in me breaking multiple mirrors when people came into my lane, and I was very ready to beat the ever living **** out of any driver if they ever made the mistake of ramming into me and I was somehow in one piece. I even wanted nothing to do with group rides.
After using the above attitude for around 3~ years, I pretty much hated riding (is anyone surprised? lol.) What got me back into enjoying it was changing my mindset greatly.
There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself.
You know why we tend to blame others? Because it's easier to. But the only thing we have absolute control over is ourselves. So realistically, I had two choices:
1. Quit riding
2. Continue riding
I didn't want to quit, but I also didn't want to continue riding while blaming everyone for being horribad drivers (and they rightfully are compared to anyone that regularly takes advanced lessons.) So really, there was only one choice: I now take full responsibility for all of my actions.
Drunk driver? If he hits me, it's my fault for not noticing an intoxicated driver.
Some dickwad merging into my lane? Was I going too fast? Was I in the wrong spot? Well, I always ride with an escape route so worst case scenario I use the torque to get out.
Some jackass has a problem with me lane splitting? Well, it's illegal, people think it's rude, and I don't give a **** anymore; I gotta deal w/ the consequences if I go this route.
Bad (regular) drivers? Well, I've broken bones and dumped over $5000 into courses, trackdays and private lessons....so I damn well better be good enough to avoid getting into collisions from subpar drivers.
Give control back to yourself, or this is not a sport that will be enjoyable.