Jason is not always right

Please give me one good reason why Utah and many other states do not have mandatory motorcycle helmet laws!  I have heard all of stupid reasons.  They usually have something to do with “freedom” and “individual rights.”  But those reasons are only introduced by idiots, friends of idiots and hippies.

It makes me so angry to hear about people wrecking their bikes and not wearing helmets.  If one person dies a summer, that should be enough to jump to action and do something to rectify the situation.  But it happens every single day, and that is just in Utah!  Riding a motorcycle is dangerous enough, please wear a helmet.

I did not want to write about this, but I have to.  All the time, when I tell people I ride, they love to tell me how just how dangerous motorcycles are.  that is like telling a fat person that being fat increases their chance of having a heart attack.  Or telling a Marine that guns can kill.  Do you really think that you are “enlightening” them?  I know motorcycles are dangerous.  Don’t ever date someone, becasue heaven forbid, you may actually fall in love.  (I have heard that is how it can happen.)  If the rate of failure riding motorcycles were as high as say, staying married, (over 50% crash and burn rate) then maybe I would stop.  But riding motorcycles makes me happy and I will not stop.  I just wish the girl behind me yesterday at the RED LIGHT had chosen to stop.  Despite a little whiplash, a broken foot-peg and loose rear brake, I am fine.  A little psychological damage perhaps, but my ego is big enough to mend that fence!

Dear car drivers,

Please stop talking on your cell-phones and hitting people on motorcycles.  Heck, go ahead and talk on your cell phones, but STOP hitting people on motorcycles.  (I hear in Oregon it is now illegal to talk on your cell while driving?  Good for you!)

Sincerely,

Jason Barber

p.s. wear a helmet

Last year, August of 2007 My dad flew out to Chicago, bough a brand new BMW 1200 RT

He then rode it through Utah, where my mom, Ru and I joined him (with our car) and made the rest of the trip back to Coos Bay. That is when I fell in love with touring, and BMW motorcycles. The latter may have to wait until I have a little, or a lot more money. There is so much freedom out on a bike on the open road. the last few weeks I have been thinking about the ultimate vacation, the ultimate trip. I realize that this may not be the ultimate for some people, or even most people, but the trip of my dreams involves me and Ru, a motorcycles and the entire United States, or at least selected pieces.

See Jason’s dream trip MAP

This would involve an intense amount of riding, and so would most likely take a long, long time, but I would absolutely love it! (At least I think I would.) This would involve different people, scenery food and culture. And that would make me happy.

Please, please, please, please wear a helmet. I see these articles way too often and am NEVER surprised to see the two following things: 1) to see that the person suffered head trauma 2) they were not wearing a helmet.

1 dead, 3 injured in separate motorcycle accidents

June 15th, 2008 @ 9:22am

(KSL Newsradio) Several motorcycle accidents yesterday left three people injured and one man dead.

The first happened near Pineview Reservoir. A man and woman riding a motorcycle crashed when a truck pulled in front of them. Neither was wearing a helmet. According to the Standard Examiner, both were taken to hospital, where the woman was treated for head injuries. The man suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

Around 6 p.m. yesterday a man riding on 1300 East near 5500 South crashed into a car turning left. He was thrown about 60 feet. He too did not have a helmet and suffered head trauma, a broken arm and leg.

The man who was killed slammed into the back of a parked Utah Highway Patrol car near the I-80/I-215 interchange. The Salt Lake Tribune identifies the victim as 48-year-old Robert John McLaughlin.

Ironically, the trooper had pulled over to help another motorcyclist who had a minor crash. The trooper was not injured.

Chicago was nice, NeoCon was exciting, the Solace rocks, but I was too tired. I played an early round of golf on my birthday, which I was hardly awake enough to enjoy, and really don’t remember the rest. (Except a great red Robin hamburger!)

Saturday was much better! Ru and I rode the bike up to SLC and had Tucanos Brazilian BBQ for lunch and then saw the Hulk (I give it a 6.5, not bad, but not great.) We spent an hour or so walking around the Gateway (A big outdoor mall in which Tucanos and the theater are inside,) looking at the chalk art (some kind of festival) and listened to the live music for a while. Around 4:30 p.m. we took the canyon up to park City (beautiful route!) and then finished the day with dinner at Zermatt in Midway and a cruise down the canyon. One of the more relaxing days I have had in a long, long time.