I had a discussion the other day with a very experienced rider who was taking the MSF class to get licensed and do some learning. After walking away, I think I may be the one that did some learning. I can say for certain that I had never thought about it from this perspective before. Now that I have, I can see both sides of the story. I am curious to hear what others think.

I know this will likely be controversial, but I think it is an important discussion.

The discussion was based off of the Susanna Schick incident in LA. >LINK TO ARTICLE<

The short version is that the woman on the bicycle exchanged words with the person in the car and it appears that the person in the car either hit her bike or knocked her off the road. Either way, she is in the hospital with a LOT of injuries as a result of whatever took place.

I will give the student’s view on this topic (I pulled this from an e-mail that I asked the student to write and send to me about this, so it is written from the student’s perspective):

After reading this, I realized how mad I am at other riders (motorcycle riders) who confront drivers during their rides when they feel like the driver has done something wrong.

I am tired of motorcyclists putting MY life in danger because of their behavior. I understand that drivers are idiots. But I don't understand why displaying rage towards these drivers is a useful form of communication. Almost all the dangerous moves done by drivers are done by drivers who are not paying attention. Therefore, this is what the driver experiences "lalalalalalala, OH HOLY SHIT THIS GUY IS TRYING TO KILL ME". That's it. The driver has no idea what they did wrong. They don't know how to translate a middle finger and vague arm movements and shouted profanity into instructions on how to improve their driving. All they know is that motorcyclists are dangerous and crazy. If a motorcyclist was able to communicate effectively after a driver made a mistake, then I would gladly approve. But, in almost all instances, the only end result is one more driver on the road with a negative conditioned response to seeing a motorcycle

And then you have the drivers that go through the exact same experience and experience the exact same rage that the motorcyclists felt. The driver sees a motorcyclists swerving or weaving around his/her car and the driver decides to defend his property or explain to the motorcyclist the "rules of the road". This is where I come in - because I also ride a motorcycle. And I don't want to end up as a hood ornament because a driver sees the perfect opportunity to "get back" at that ‘insane motorcyclist’ that flipped him off the other day.
I have never quite had it put in that perspective before. Hearing it stated like that, I can certainly understand that point of view. It truly makes sense. This also leaves a lot of questions. Like, how do we as riders get cagers to pay attention? When something does happen, how do we ensure that oblivious person understands what could have just happened? Furthermore, are we wasting our time trying to communicate this concept to someone who is apparently not interested in what is going on around them? Maybe it’s just better for us (the collective us) to understand that these are the conditions that we drive in and be prepared to react to the unknown.

Let’s be honest, we know that riding a motorcycle is inherently more dangerous than a four wheeled vehicle. By getting on our bikes and going out to ride, we are assuming those risks. Most of us do our best to negate those risks by wearing our protective gear. Realistically, we can’t change every driver on the road (although it would be nice). Where does that leave us?