Danger! Born Again

[Lias]

Welcome to the madhouse

[_Gina_]

Come on in, make urself at 'ome. Everyone else does.

[bugsonteeth]

Welcome to this motley crew here, just visiting occasionally from the US, and wanted to point out to you as another old guy who is in a similiar situation as you.
Ten, fifteen years ago, there were no cell phones and loud stereos, no factory DVD players, no ebay to bid on as you are checking your computer screen on your dashboard. So now we have this phenomena of "Zombie" drivers out there, people that are for varying lengths of time are completely absent while they are operating a motor vehicle in traffic.
There were also no stereos capable of busting windows in cars then, and that's also something new, they cannot hear you and since you wouldn't want to hope that they are looking extra carefully for it, you might as well suppose that to them, you don't exist until it's too late to notice.
Don't know if you have the same disease as us here with these SUV and light truck invasion, but stuides have shown that even though the trend is clearly towards less accidents, the number of accidents involving a SUV/light truck and a motorcycle, resulting in fatality, has skyrocketed and just gone through the roof. The reason for this is the riding height of the bumper, which crushes leg and pelvis while violently slamming the bike to the ground, resulting in further trauma to the head, and then the already damaged and hurt bike and rider get damaged and hurt some more as the SUV runs right on top of them, just like they do with rocks in the commercials.
So that's the things that have changed, and since you're up to speed now, have fun and whaddyaknow, some things you just don't forget and it is EXACTLY like riding a bike!

[Storm]

Welcome to the site mate, and dont worry about lowering the tone

[Dadpole]

Thanks Bugsonteeth. Is that supposed to put me off riding? Not a chance - the only difference these days is people will run me down through sheer ignorance. Back in the old days it was because people knew me and wanted to run me down.

Nice friendly community though. Guess the old slogan is true

You meet the nicest people on a (insert brand here)

[bugsonteeth]

:-)
NOOO Dadpole, didn't mean to discourage you in the least, just a couple of pointers to keep you safe and ENJOY your ride.
Sorry if I came across as wagging my finger, just had a few close calls with distracted drivers and tall bumpers, something that I wasn't ready for after not riding for a few years is all.

[Dadpole]

Not a problem Bugsonteeth. I knew what you meant and thanks for that. It can be a bit of a surprise about the hazards these days. We do have the same problems with SUV drivers etc. At least I live in a rural area, so the traffic is lighter, but I don't trust any of the bastards.