For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 04, 2020

Elly seems a bit startled that Mike is now taller than she. I know I was when both of my boys seemed to suddenly spurt and towered over me around Mike’s age.

Lynn Johnston’s real life son, on whom Michael is based, is quite tall in real life.

Yes that’s exactly what she meant

I remember how surprised I was to realize my son was taller than me!

There’s usually one parent who is not ready to acknowledge their child is now a young adult.

That is correct, Michael.

Point to Micheal.

I was 14 in 1965, the last year you could get a license (for a motor bike) at that age here in Colorado. I survived several attempts of stupidity.

I used to say the phrase, “When I was little…” One time my husband said, “You still are!” (I’m 5’ nuthin’) so I’ve had to change it to “When I was younger…” Oh, and both of my girls are taller than me; I fit under my 14-year-old daughter’s chin.

Motorcycles kill more people than cars ever have, keep listening to your Mom.

I don’t think age counts. I was riding an old Honda 50 when I was 12. I made it, but later some of my friends, in cars, didn’t.

threatening to buy a motorcycle sounds like a good way to get your parents to help buy you a car.

Cars/trucks pulling out in front of motorcycles - or traveling in the oncoming lane - are the cause of most motorcycle accidents. A neighbor (15 at the time and a budding athlete) survived being T-boned (thrown from the cycle and slid over the pavement), but lost one leg.

Almost from birth, my husband kept reminding the boys that they weren’t allowed to even be on a motorcycle and wouldn’t be playing football. He’s a dentist and the son of an orthopedic surgeon. Of course, we didn’t know how dangerous soccer was. We never had anyone question those rules.

Anything can kill you, if you are stupid and not paying attention. You have a lot of idiots out there using phones and driving and they don’t see you. These kinds of people are lucky they can drive and breath at the same time, so be careful.

She means you are not sensible enough.

it’s the car driver’s inattention to motorcyclists sharing the road because they are easily distracted by their phones, other passengers in their car, the radio, etc. that really influences a parents decision to say NO!

It’s Motorcycle Michael! (Finally, found something that rhymes with “Michael” that the skinheads didn’t think of first).

I was 11 when I started learning to ride on my Borther’s Mini Bike in the School of Hard Knocks" also known as the woods, for 5 years I rode dirt bikes then converted to street bikes. I still ride to this day and love it. I’ve had some friends that learned way later in life than i did and on those rocket street bikes, I think (my opinion) they were not “schooled” well enough and for that reason, they had crashes and unfortunately most lost their lives too. You got to respect the bike and what it can do, you got to respect yourself to learn what the bike can and can not do.

Keep in mind that yesterday’s strip Elly said Michael could have a motorcycle “over her dead body”. In that case, Michael does not have too long a wait with all that screaming and screeching she does. Nobody can have Elly’s blood pressure and live.

If Elly is anything like my wife, Elly is on her tip toes and stretching for all she is worth. Meanwhile, Michael just stands there, flat-footed, and easily grabs the item. Oh well.

Michael rides in the school bus, which has killed children through accidents. He also rides in the family car, which Elly has crashed (although she did not put her kids at risk because she was alone, although cars are still a big killer of children). Michael rides his bicycles, where over 100 kids a years are killed by. Michael goes swimming at the beach, yet drowning is a ranking cause of child deaths. Elly seems unfazed by him engaging in all those risks (or if she was honest, would admit she has not been the Queen of Safety, given her accident with John’s car).

The safest course of action to do, which has had the lowest deaths, is for Michael to buy a gun.

This is an appeal to motorists who are NOT on motorcycles.

Please, please, please pay attention to what is around you at all times. Motorcycles are difficult to see in side mirrors and often do not register on the new mirrors that warn of someone in a blind spot, so please turn your head to check traffic before making a turn or lane change. Motorcyclists cannot stop on a dime when you pull in front of them, and certainly cannot compete physically when you pull right into them.

It is up to us to be proactive and help prevent the accidents that kill motorcyclists while we get minor dents in our cars. It might be your friends and family next.

And while we’re on the subject, when you mow your front lawn, do not blow the clippings into the street. For a motorcyclist, lawn clippings might as well be black ice for all the traction they can maintain.

Zing!

In Canada, they gave Motorcycle Licenses to 16 year olds in the early 90s and still do, but they aren’t even interested in cycles anymore, big reason why Harley Davidson sales have fallen, another strip without any rewrites

I grew taller than my mom in 7th grade. We were taking a walk and I said, “Um. Hey mom. I can see right over your head.”

She laughed, but every time she was mad at me, she’d meet me at the back door which had 3 steps up to the kitchen and stand on the top step.

A defining moment in the history of the Patterson family.

The danger of motorcycles has nothing to do with how properly YOU handle them, it’s how IMPROPERLY other drivers are around them.

My Mom, at about 5’4", was outgrown by all us kids. (Dad was 6’ 2"). But she always said, “You may be bigger than me, but you’re never too big to spank!”

I had a motorcycle when I was 12, a Suzuki 90 that I got to ride on the weekends at our place in the country where there were more tractors on the road than cars. In Texas then you could get a motorcycle license at 14 if the engine was 100cc or under.

I never had an issue with motorcycle riders. Ever one of them I have seen stops at red lights and stop signs, as well as paying attention to crosswalks. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for cyclists, who I have seen bicycling straight though red lights. That is a good way to get hit by a car coming in the opposite direction which has the green light.