Scooter Thoughts

I want to ride a motorcycle so badly I can taste it! I had a motorcycle when I was in my early 20's, so I'm not sure why those tight u-turns on the driving test make me cringe to the point I can't pass the test. I passed the written test without a wrong answer ~ but that didn't help me with the driving test. That sucks.

So I bought a 50cc scooter to tool around Westminster. I've ridden it to work a couple of times. I take it down the street from my house and practice those tight turns in a parking lot. But there's one thing I've noticed ... drivers in cars treat people on scooters like crap. Okay, not all of them, but many that I've encountered.

Drivers get too close to the scooters especially at stop signs and red lights. They get irritated and pass you even on 25 and 30 mph roads where the scooter keeps up with the speed limit. Do some of these drivers automatically assume that the scooter can't keep up with the flow of traffic?

Scooters are supposed to stay to the right of the road or drive on the shoulder. Let me say one thing about that - that makes it even worse and in my opinion puts the scooter driver in harm's way.

Even when I watch how drivers treat motorcyclist, I notice something. It's great when motorcyclist or scooter drivers take the classes to learn the rules of riding these machines ... but it would be nice if the drivers of the cars took the same training so they know what we know. We try to be defensive drivers, but drivers of cars seem to want to play chicken with the people on two-wheels. It quite frankly pisses me off.

I'd love to ride my scooter around town more, but sometimes it unnerves me. Cars are not watching out for us no matter how visible we try to be. They can't hear the "roar" of our engines because they're on the cell phone or have the music blasting inside the car.

There I times when I'm kinda glad I didn't pass the motorcycle test. I need to get my comfort level up when I'm out there exposed and vulnerable in the midst of the cars and SUV's.