Death on the Road #RideSafe #140

WARNING: THE EMBEDDED VIDEO BELOW
CONTAINS GRAPHIC SCENES OF A FATAL
MOTORCYCLE CRASH.

Riding a motorcycle has a great feel of closeness with the road and the landscape either side of the road - and I love it. Everyone who rides craves being out on the road feeling the wind, but is also very aware how exposed they are in the event of an accident. Road death statistics for motorcyclists from the Road Safety Authority show that we represent less than 2% of licensed vehicles but account for 10% of road deaths. Motorcyclists are six times more likely to be killed on Irish roads than any other road user. So the message is very much to ride safely on our roads. Many deaths and serious injuries are the result of collisions with cars, but sometimes death results from motorcycles colliding with one another. 

The video below was released by the family of 22-year old Lewis Clark from the Isle of Man in an effort to improve road safety. He and another motorcyclist died instantly in a fireball that was captured by a video camera on the helmet of a rider from behind. It is horrific to watch, and must have been heart-breaking for the families of the two motorcyclists to watch. If it saves even one life of a motorcyclist (that could be my life) then some service will have been done by Beverly Clark, Lewis' Mum.

I'm writing this post in the few minutes before I make a 440 kilometre round trip to Sligo on my motorbike. Hopefully it will be an incident free journey, but today I'll be thinking of Lewis Clark and his family.

Ride safe everyone, and for those not on a motorcycle - Think Bike!