Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

• "Frankly, I think the book would have been great if£t had been umtten by a rider. " o 00 0') ,..-.4 reviews from a number of newspapers and gives them to me ). This was in the Sacramento Union last August; this was written by a motorcyclist. He says exactly my whole point in writing the book! That it's a death machine? (quoted from the review) That was his words . Are those your sentiments, too? Vh , yes, somewhat. Now he said the fact that it is usually the car's fault (in the majority of motorcycle/other vehicle accidents) and that I didn't emphasize it enough. He's possibly right. I agree; I don't think that you did. Possibly right! I don't think it matters! You don't? Why? Because it's the motorcyclist that gets hurtl There's always going to be old ladies whose eyes are beginning to fail and they're not going to see 'em. That's on the street we're talking about , yet I've met a lot of 'em from the desert - a little peculiar sand , a little rock - paraplegics, the whole bit. (produces two grisly photographs of motorcycle accident victims) I'll let you have these two pictures, too, if you think they'll publish them . I'm just the contributing writer. Yes! They won't do it, will you ? I honestly don't know, Uhmrn-hrnrn. I have subscribed to two or three motorcycle magazines through the yea rs ... And? I've never seen anything like them (the pictures given to me). It all looks pretty clean . Pure - pure as the driven snow . You do catch things here and there . I caught the fact that the edi tor of Motorcyclist was inj u red quite badly testing a machine. It was the magazine's publisher, Richard Lague. Motorcyclist's editor, Dale Boller, told me that while what you say is true, you did not give complete information about the accident, such as how and why it happened . In fact, your book fails to give a complete picture of any accident cited in it, only results and aftermath. Mr. Boller told me that Mr. Lague was injured as the result of a driver crossing into the wrong side of the road as Mr. Lague rounded a turn. J realize that! "I think I mentioned at the beginning of the book that most of the time it's the car that's at fault. " 28 Then why wasn't that information included? I would have to spend my entire book - uh , the latest figures by (Dr.) Harry Hurt ... says here "5 I percent of all motorcycle accidents are caused by automobile drivers." Hah! J think he's wrong! I think about 90% of them (automobiles) are at fault ; I think motorcyclists are wonderful driversl They have to be! Why didn't I say whose fault it was? Because it's like a train hitting a car: You describe how badly the people in the car were hurt. You wouldn't go into detail how it was the train's fault. It would clarify the situation, wouldn't it? I think I mentioned in the beginning of the book that most of the time it's the car that's at fault . To the uninitiated reader, however, when reading the tragic accounts of the deaths of the people mentioned in your book, it gives one the impression that many of these victims went out and torpedoed themselves into oblivion. There's no specific information in any of the cases as to the victim's physical or mental state as they rode their motorcycles, whether they were going fast or slow, if they were intoxicated, sober, on drugs ... It gives the impression, no matter who the reader may be, that just the mere act of riding condemns the rider to death. I do not say absolutely to death To some tragic end, then, To certain injury. almost. There are exceptions, of course. Someone who has ridden a motorcycle all his life and have never had a minor accident . In your book you portray certain people as being hooked on motorcycles, but there are people who are just as hooked on clothing, stereos and cars. Are you saying I'm zeroing in too much on the motorcycles? There's an equal amount of hard-sell that is placed on other mass-market consumer items, cars especially. As I see it, there is a bigger hard-sell on those items than on motorcycles. Well , there are other books I could go into , except that people have come up to me and said, "W ha t are you going to do next? Guns?" I said no. This (M urdercycle.s) is a one-shot thing for me, but I realize that it's not going to let up. I've been asked to speak to driver's ed classes , PTAs - I could be speaking every night of the week , if I wanted to. One of the chapter titles in Murdercycles ~s "The Honchos and Jocks of Motorcycle Racing." That was just to make it int eresting. The story of motorcycle racing - I forgot what those original titles were , but I thought that they were dullsville (sic). I thought, "W hy don't we call it 'The Japanese Revenger " because I heard that. Another chapter: "The Hospital: Plush Hotel for Bikers. You give the idea that all a motorcyclist has to do is crash, and before he hits the pavement he's whisked off for fun and games in a hospital ward - at public expense, of course, I spent a lot of tim e at Rancho Los Amigos (a hospital located in Downey , CA), not just one day. I talked to them (accident victims) as often as I wanted. And it's just really a nice pla ce - it is, if you've been over there. The sun filters through and they 're wheeling around in their wheelchairs - it's a scene out of M'A'S'H, it really is. And it's kind of fun and games; the guys kid a lot back and forth . So it wasn 't as sad as you would think at that point. Of course, it was tra gic to see some of the quads (sic) trying to feed themselves and all that. But it's not a hotel. No - but it was n ice . .. I could have j ust sa id : "Hotel for Bikers ," instea d of " Plush ." But th is is just nitpicking . . . You may call it nitpicking, but there is also quite a devotion in Murdercycles - if not an obsession - to sex, or the lack of it due to an injury. That's what they told me . I called the guys who were at home and that was the first thing they hit me with. But, given the dramatic tone of the book, it's made out that sex is a shallow, base trail common to motorcyclists. "You used to be a macho man, but now you're only half of one." You're right about that. I wanted it to • a .... come across that "listen, buddy, it may be over." WhY' do you call the beginning of a motoerolll race "a Keystone comedy?" Oh, because they take off so - you know what I mean. There's nothing funny, if that's what you mean. It's not. It's crazy that they leap over everything, hills and gullies - well, like an obstacle course , is what it is. " Keystone comedy" is just a figure of speech; they go off kind of wild , hill ynilly , all different directions and tha t ha ppens in motocross races a lot of times. Motocross takes place on a closedcircuit course. There is nothing that I find disorganized about it. Yeah . . . Are you familiar with observed trials? Yes, somewhat. I know it's very studied . .. they go very slow. Do you find anything horrifically dangerous about trials? A II oj it. The slower you go , the better, of course, but it proves out in your latest statistics ... you take your mopeds. You think that there would be more deaths, because there really, ah , wasn't that big of a jump .. . What you're saying isn't germaine to the subject of observed trials. Well , I wasn't talking about it; I thought we had left that subject. I don't consider myself an expert on racing, OK? "To quote an old phrase, 'Some of my best friends are motorcyclists. ", In your chapter on racing, it contained many generalities and inaccuracies about motorcycle sports. Well I thought about it. I did hang out at the motorcycle parks , but I didn't get into the pits. I thought. "Why do it? Because these are guys who really know it's really dangerous. " So what am I going to learn differently? I went to the different races ; every type of race you could imagine; so I spent a lot of time on that. Then I took that full course on riding - and the Yamaha "Learn How to Ride" program. which I didn't get a chance to take . . . What did you think of it? I thought it was a promotional idea to improve sales . . . I think that every young person who gets on a motorcycle should be aware that there's a very good likelihood that they're going to get hurt. Isn't there an equally good chance of getting injured in cars or airplanes? No . -I say the benefits of a car, an airplane, far outweigh (those of) the motorcycle. The motorcycle has been in existence only 10 years longer than the automobile and I can't think of much that it has done good . . . I think it's done more damage . .. I respect Dr. Harry Hurt, but he is a motorcyclist. Do you hold that against him? No, I don't hold that against him .. . but. . . But-? They've given so much money (to Hurt for his motorcycle accident study program)1 $378,000 just to do this studyl Do you think that's too much? Well , I did all of mine all on my own. And I put out a lot of money, but I didn't put out $378 ,000. If I had the backing that he (Hurt) had, and if I was able to go to the scene of accidents like he did , we would really have a book in Murdercycles! And it would be Jar worse than just seeing the hospital end of things. . V y ~ ~th~ Aiffen v~~ , ~ that he began , his project as a recognized researcher on the subject (of motorcycle safety). Do you know how many studies are made like this? Hurt's study is a scholarly work on the subject of motorcycle accidents. Well , I feel that mine is a scholarly study, too . I've been told that by doctors and things that you'll find in those reviews that it is a worthwhile piece of work . When' I'm told today - by a lauryer - that they're using it as a "bible" for their case (in litigation against a motorcycle manufacturer) You feel proud, right? Yes, I do . . . I think you already know (going down a list of notes) the fact that I think tricycles look like minature motorcycles. All of them, practically. I never thought of them tha t wa y. (reading on) Genital damage is something I want to go into. Harry Hurt even has sa id that groin injuries are occurring a lot more than we realize, because of the sensitivity of the topic. I have in the book a loss of testicles . .. III Helmets: I'm all for them . If you want a touch of humor in your interview, from the chapter "Those Bareheaded Bastards" (giggling, reading excerpt): "Bruce Patton of Alberquerque said it was a bad law and was determined to protest by riding his motorbike bare-headed all the way to the state capitol, which he did. And then riding home, he rammed a van and died of massive head injuries at 23." If about 50,000 people get killed in car accidents each year, how many injuries are reported? A million? Two million? I suppose there are injuries that aren't reported, too. If the doctor in your book says that the motorcycle deaths sustained each year in this country are worse than any war, what, then, do you call the deaths from cars? I didn't say it - a doctor did. I know. What do you think he would say? Uh, that would be up to him to answer, OK? I am quoting this gentleman, who is the senior vice- president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety , and he said (reading): "Banning the automobile as a means of eliminating death and injury associated with its crashes was not an available solution. This is not so with the motorcycle in America - yet. Although it's making remarkable gains in the marketplace, few would argue that its continued availability is a transportation necessity. So it is still quite realistic to consider, as one means of reducing or eliminating injuries associated with motorcycles, banning their sale of operation or both. " It's stili a free country. I did say (in Murdercycles) "oh, what a fantastic ideal" But it was kind of a facetious remark If somebody sees that, they'll be inclined to take it as gospel truth. True? Well , I think it is possible to do so (ban motorcycles) , OK? Now I was really very amazed by the CHP figures (of accidents versus machines in force) ... In four years that I studied there, they had 388 machines. You total those four years and they had 366 accidents - the LAPD had I I I accidents. I took a look at those figures and found them to be misleading. If somebody took those numbers at their face valueOh, I have always said thatl When I quoted this on TV and radio, I said right away that some of them were just fender, benders, not all of them dra jnatic, horrible acc}~~'}~:, r~ju;s~ ~~r-

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