Look I’m as much “fuck cars” as the next guy but riding a motorcycle on a highway is unironically suicidal. I personally know a guy who got in a bad crash on one but miraculously survived; he had a year long recovery period but will have various pain and dysfunction in his body for the rest of his life. I also know some people who did pathology rotations (state medical examiner office, autopsy basically) and the big three categories of bodies coming in were drug overdoses, suicides, and motorcycle crashes.
One of the facebook comments links to a seventh person who died a few days before these on June 18th: https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/motorcyclist-killed-sr-530-crash.amp
I hate talking about motorcycles with people because they think I’m strange when I tell them I don’t want to ride one or be a passenger unless everyone has helmets, protective gloves, airbag vests, etc. It seems excessive, and I’m sure some of it may be snake oil, but some people really do think they’re epic stunt actors who just need a pair of shades and black jacket to be safe.
Everyone also thinks I’m overreacting when I tell them to wear a seatbelt in the back of the car. If you don’t value your life, fine, but I rather not have you break my spine and kill or paralyze me because you think physics make an exception for you just because you sit in the back. Fucking HATE passengers. Fucking HATE drivers of any vehicle. I want to drive a large one seat vehicle so people can’t bother me. A tank, i guess.
The motorcycle riders who refuse to wear any gear at all are ridiculous. I once caught a flat quite a ways from home on a tubed tire, didn’t have levers (or the willingness to fight that battle in 95F heat in a ditch) so I used AAA and got a ride in a flatbed home. The driver was a life long rider, she rode a hayabusa. With no gear, not even a helmet. She hadn’t even ever tried a helmet. I tried to explain to her how pleasant having earplugs and a shield over/around your head is at 80MPH and it was like she didn’t get it.