Letter: Car drivers need course, too

OFF THE WIRE
http://www.reflector.com/opinion/letters/letter-car-drivers-need-safety-course-too-604913
Letter: Car drivers need course, too 

Ninety-eight percent of fatalities in car/motorcycle accidents are the motorcycle driver or passenger (NHTSA). More than one-third of those accidents are a result of the car driver's failure to yield. Your Aug. 1 editorial correctly suggests that bikers must be aware that other drivers might pull out in front of them. But you also imply that failure to avoid this is somehow the motorcyclist's fault.
We don't blame the victim's attire for the heinous actions of the rapist. We don't cite the age of the child as the excuse for the pedophile.
But if motorcyclists fail to drive in fear of car drivers, and are killed, it's the biker's fault? With 27 years experience riding a motorcycle, including many brushes with death, I can tell you that it is the passenger-vehicle driver who would most benefit from eight hours spent riding a motorcycle with local police.
Of course there are inexperienced or just plain bad riders, just as with car drivers. And it is true that our vehicles are capable of the kind of performance that would make a Ferrari jealous. But that doesn't mean we automatically are at fault for any accident. If we drive badly, we pay with our lives. If you drive badly, we pay with our lives.
Motorcyclists ride to save fuel costs. We ride to save manufacturing costs. We save parking space. We diffuse congestion. We don't eat while we're driving, or text, or turn around to chastise unruly children. We ride to commute, to travel and to recreate. We're fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, gangsters and lawyers. (OK, maybe they're the same thing.) You should thank us every time you see one of us instead of ignoring us and then blaming us when you run us down.