For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 03, 2020

What you see here is the beginning of a running joke where Elly goes ballistic over the idea of any of her children ever owning/riding a motorcycle. Get ready folks for a comedy classic.

You have to be sixteen to buy a motorcycle in Canada.

Is Mike that clueless about motorcycles?

A friend of mine called them “donor cycles”.

For awhile, Pensacola area had about one a week of drivers pulling out in front of motorcycles. Motorcycle drivers & if any passengers did not fare well when T boning a car.

Better find a job, quick.

Wait! How did my mom get into this comic strip?

It takes very responsible people to safely operate a motorcycle. There’s no way a teenager should have one.

Aren’t there too many snowy days in Canada where driving a motorcycle wouldn’t even be an option?

I ride a motorbike, and if some teen said, “how are they dangerous?” Then that, to me, indicates that they are definitely not going to be safe on one. It’s not so much the bike, it’s other road users (and condition of the road, weather etc), and the attitude of the rider that makes motorbiking comparatively dangerous.Attitude is key is any endeavour.

Most accidents happen in or around the house.

Our younger daughter loves motorcycles. To be honest, years ago, for 2 years a motorcycle was our only mode of transportation (pre-kids). We told her that, if she buys it and is properly trained, we have no problem with it.

A lot of us wanted motorcycles because we thought they were cheaper than cars, and fun. I was too old at 15 to think that way, but many are not.

I wanted to get a motorbike. My wife said no way as they’re too dangerous – we should get a minivan. So we compromised and got a minivan… _

How are they dangerous, only a 15-year-old would ask such a question.

Nice strategy. Ask for a two wheeled death machine, settle for a second hand Mustang.

In my opinion, a motorcyclist is mostly in danger from other car and truck drivers who refuse to see them. It may be winter, but my mad-for-bikes DS is out on the lake today, ice-riding.

In our state, one could “practice” drive at 15 with an adult in the car. But one couldn’t get a real license until the age of 16. That was a “junior” license, and you couldn’t drive after midnight. When you got to 18, you could get a “senior” license that allowed you to do that. I went to a rural high school, and there were more than a few kids who drove to school. But there was nary a motorcycle to be seen.

At 16 1951 first 2 wheel vehicle was a Western Auto Doodle Bug. Used it to deliver Allentown PA Call Chronicle newspapers. Then had a Cushman ‘shoe box’ scooter. During college in 1957 at RISD, bought a 1952 Royal Enfield 500 single. Had to sell it because no insurance was available. Honda 350 was very popular in the early 70s. Commuted from Overland Park KS to work at Hallmark Cards Inc. in KC MO during summer months. When a woman in a Blue Chevy Corvair turned left in front of me I managed to brake quickly, but I saw Corvair rear bumper miss left foot peg by a few inches. End of motorcycles. I stayed in the Volvos I’d been driving since 1960. Guardian Angel smiled!

When I was about to turn 16, my parents bought me a motorcycle (Honda 175cc) – What were they thinking?? For me it was the greatest thing ever! And for them it solved the problem of driving me to my places. It all turned out fine – I guess I was responsible. But I also think of what COULD have happened.

I last rode back in the ’60s. I lost control on gravel and nearly all of me went over the handlebars. One part got hung up and I walked “soprano” for about 2 weeks. I later went to work for an ambulance company, then Detroit EMS. After years of seeing the horrific wrecks cyclists got into, that convinced me. No motorcycle for me, ever.

Oh!! I just had a flashback to 1959 and this same discussion with my own mother! It was an argument that carried on for over two years until 1961, when ( almost over her dead body ) I got my first motorcycle.

Be careful of what you wish for….just sayin’

Got my first motorcycle at 18, been riding for over 60 years, never had an accident.

The biggest danger on a motorcycle is the drivers around you who just don’t look for anything smaller than a car. Three stories:

My dad rode a motorcycle to work between Anaheim and Long Beach, CA for many years, right up until the day that a woman didn’t see him. She rolled through a stop sign and pulled out into the road directly in front of him within about 2 feet. Obviously he hit her, and was permanently disabled.

My husband rode his 750cc Honda everywhere. He commuted from Riverside to Irvine, CA every day and rode to Long Beach on business a couple of times a month, right up to the day a man didn’t see him. Hubby was in the HOV lane doing about 45 when the rest of the lanes were stop and go. Mr. J pulled into the HOV lane 6 feet in front of my husband causing him to hit the car with his bike. He too is permanently disabled.

My pastor and his wife ride together quite a bit. She tells about the motorist who was in the lane next to them on the freeway that started a lane change without looking, right into them. Mrs. B reached out and kicked the door of the car, hard. It startled the driver enough to make him look and he pulled back into his own lane. No one was hurt, but it could have been a bad one.

I will have to see about Canada, but here are the numbers of children who died by cause in the States in 2019 (Source: CDC)

Firearm accidents: 41

Bicycle accidents: 105

Drownings: 232

Automobiles (to include motorcycles): 2,048

Ask Duane Allman and Berry Oakley about how safe it is to ride motorcycles.

I was once asked “Aren’t motorcycled dangerous? Isn’t the death rate so much higher for you people?” I said that it’s the same for everyone, one per person.

this brings me to the time Elizabeth gets her motorcycle license… Elle said the same thing then

Also, where is Michael going to find a helmet that would fit his weird head shape?

You have no protection no shell.

US statistics have motorcycles with 5 times the death and injury rate (per mile) of automobiles (which are 3 times the rate per mile of bicycles). Death and injury for motorcyclists is about the same as active duty in Iraq during the Bush years.

But, we all have to die sometime.

My parents had much the same feelings. When I was young, I plotted ways I could have a motorcycle and they’d not know. But once I started driving a car and saw all the idiots on the road, I knew I was better off with the car frame around me.

When I was 18 in 1951 I bought a 1949 Indian Chief and rode it accident free all over the Los Angeles Area and large parts of California. Joined the Air Force in 1956 and was stationed in England. Bought a 750 cc Triumph bike there and rode it while courting my future Wife about a 100 mile round trip. After we were married I rode it from our off base house to the base daily until one icy morning I went down three times. Didn’t get injured but did get wise so sold it and bought an English Ford Anglia and drove that for the remainder of my time in England. Never got on a bike again since that day and still with my beautiful English Bride of 62+ years.

over her dead body, later his dead body