Dexter Iowa Community Site

Consider this quote from Abe Lincoln

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

     I’m going to start this week with a warning that this column takes place with me standing on a soapbox, so you’ve been properly warned.

     I came home from the family reunion today and turned on the news to read about three fatal motorcycle accidents this weekend. According to the anchor there were more than one hundred and fifty motorcycle related fatalities in the state of Iowa the past year. One hundred and fifty. Think about that number for a minute. How many people are in your church on Sunday mornings? In your kids class in school? At your workplace? Can you put your mind around that number?

     I will be the first one to admit that I’m not a motorcycle rider. The reason is two fold for me. First, my mother would disown me for doing so, as her uncle was killed in a motorcycle accident near Adel in 1948, and secondly, my mid-life crisis went a different direction. However, with that said I think there are some common thoughts that I can share as a former EMT and as someone who cares about each one of you out there.

     I know as a driver I need to be aware of motorcyclist. Teaching my 14 year-old to drive I’ve mentioned a couple of times to her about taking that extra second to watch for bikes and the differences when in traffic with them. I certainly feel that it is my responsibility to try to be as safe as I can for those around me on the road.

     But what really irritates me is the fact that there is something that happens when one hops on a bike and tools down the road. For many people it’s a “Hells Angel” mentality that seems to make them think they hold no responsibility themselves for providing a safe journey. Think I’m crazy? How many people stand up and cry foul when the state of Iowa requires each and every one of us to wear a seat belt in a car? Not many. We blindly accept it because it is the law, and because it really does help save lives. In fact it was those in the EMS community (along with the insurance industry) who stood up and screamed the loudest to champion for the seat belt law.

     I see them going down my road, at bike nights, on the interstate. Motorcyclists without the proper gear on. We wouldn’t allow people to play football without a helmet and pads would we? Do you make sure your kids ride down the street with their helmets on? Do you wear gloves or long sleeves if you are doing an activity that could leave you scrapped up? Of course we do. But how many riders and their passenger do you see zooming down the road with little more than a t-shirt and a pair of jeans on? More than we should. As a rider, you are taking a chance every time you ride that you won’t have to lay that bike down for some reason and that you would get up and walk away.

     At the very least the state of Iowa and riders themselves should require the use of helmets every single time you venture onto a public road. The body can take a great deal of punishment, but your noggin needs a little more protection. I’ve heard from riders before that bemoan wearing a helmet because it takes away from the “freedom” of the ride. I would invite them to spend some time with someone who also felt that way who now has to wear a metal halo, or spends days in a wheel chair. Perhaps what angers me the most is no one in the EMS community is standing up crying for a helmet law. No, they are the first ones who will roll off duty out of the ambulance shack on their fat boys without a helmet. And to be honest they should know better.

     I don’t pretend to believe that my words will change how anyone may feel about wearing a helmet or the safety of motorcycles on the road, but perhaps before they head out they will stop and think for just a second that we all have the responsibility to watch out for each other and to keep the roads safe. One hundred and fifty is not a number we need to repeat ever again.

See you next week….remember, we’re all in this together.