While stalled in slow moving traffic a motorcycle drew alongside me with the engine revving, and came to a stop in front of me. It was being ridden by a young man, and sitting up high on the pillion seat was a young woman. He continously revved the engine so the bike sounded like a snorting bull ready to break out of the pen.
There came over me an awful feeling that he was giving the girl a thrill, and as we were about to enter a long one-way, dual lane road, I sensed he would ride very fast, which, in my mind was likely to end very badly. The entrance to this strip of road is on the downhill, and as soon as he could he was off, as fast as he could go, with the engine screaming like a banshee. In mere seconds he was out of my sight, and I could see well into the distance.
I think the bike was a Kawasaki, so I Googled Kawasaki and I think it would have been a Ninja, which is a 998cc model. That being the case, the estimated top speed could be 150 mph, or 240 kph. The rider sits in a snug well between the tank and the pillon seat. However, the passenger simply gets a small pillon seat with no backing, so she has to hold on to the rider as tightly as she can. Perhaps it's just me, but I think that is dangerous enough at 120 kph. At twice that speed, I hate to imagine.
Along the motorway there were two places where I could have turned off, but I chose not to do so because I could not see where traffic had come to a halt n the distance. Did the couple make it safely home? I saw nothing in the media to suggest that they had come to grief.
In 1963 I took someone's daughter on a long ride around Europe lasting over three months. There were times I was very tempted to ride fast, but always in my mind I was aware that I was responsible for her well-being. There were a couple of times that we would have met with serious injury, or even death had I not been careful, so my caution paid off.
I think I really impressed her by simply getting her home safe and sound. My reward was in her saying to me: Thank You! You don't get to hear that if you injure or kill someone.
Think about it, Guys!
Copyright (c9 2015 Eugene Carmichael
