Personally that’s why I enjoy riding. It requires me to let go of the idea that I have overarching control of my life. Any day could be my last, and if today is my last day I’d like to enjoy it.
Part of me thinks this is insane, part of me gets it.
Riding my bicycle in the city is my version of it. While it is dangerous and initially I felt too afraid to enjoy it, eventually I came to the attitude that the adrenaline rush and requirement to be so focused is a feeling of being more alive than if I was half zoned out in a car because I could be half zoned out.
I’ve always said I would love a motorcycle if I could feel safe but maybe your perspective here is what I need.
Agreed that it’s insane. The way I look at it is that there is an inherent amount of danger in any activity. Doesn’t matter how safe or dangerous something is, conscious acceptance of the risk is satisfying.
I think not experiencing life for the short time it exists is insane. Being that controlled by fear, I think that person’s ironically the biggest threat to their life, laying waste to experiences and opportunities to live it. A sane person wouldn’t do that to themselves.
There’s a balance though, right? Fear keeps us alive and is good at that. By this argument I could easily talk myself into trying heroin and be miserable then dead in 6 months.
To put it simply, “To live with as few regrets on the dying day as possible.” Fear helps us survive but also holds us back. It keeps people away from heroin, but also puts them in miserable ruts. Individually it’s different for all, but learning to control fear and not let it control you opens up a world of amazing possibilities and experiences. To have a life worth dying for is an achievement most squander until it’s far too late.
Yeah I’m just saying it’s not always easy to strike the balance. I’m several times more open to risk than my grandparents were, but I’m willing to bet I’m much more risk averse than you are. I think we are all controlled by “fear” to a large extent because if we weren’t, we wouldn’t last long.
I’ve been thinking about quitting my job for years. But there are so many pluses to it that it’s incredibly hard to go through with it. On the other hand, I’m a slave stuck inside most of my life. I haven’t figured out how to quit my job without blowing up my path to a secure retirement. It’s hard. Life’s hard.
Well, that’s easy. Just don’t make your retirement dependent on your current situation. Go explore the world and find better ways and meet good souls. You probably randomly stumbled into your situation through a jobs website or hiring agency. Not exactly a life defining moment when you can do it again any other week but now with a backlog of experience.
There’s a lot of better opportunities out there. And if you don’t like them, you can always come back. But sometimes pulling the plug feels scary because you don’t know what’s going to happen, despite plug pullers always saying it was the best thing they did.
deleted by creator
Thirded. And it keeps me disengaged for a while. I need to unplug because of what my job was for two damn decades. Five years ago I would have to pull over for a call or text because I was on call 24/7.
I certainly wouldn’t answer that call if it were my last day on earth. Now I don’t answer it while I’m on the bike.
Had the same attitude until psychiatrist said that it is suicidal behavior
I struggle to see how it is suicidal. I define suicide as “trying to kill yourself.” I don’t see how accepting my mortality and not letting the fear of death get in the way of enjoying my life could be classified as suicidal.
You (but probably me) enjoy the thought of having yourself killed. Moreover, you engage in behavior that increases chances of getting into an accident.
I don’t know about you, maybe you have a different shit in your head, just take care
I enjoy the thought of living a life worth dying for, but I suppose you could look at it as if I’m killing myself in order to live my life?
Driving a car is also a behavior that increases the chances of getting into an accident, but I don’t think think you’d call everyone who drives a car suicidal. (Or maybe you would, which I think would be totally fair based on your previous point.)
If I was speeding around without a helmet because I hated my life and wanted to die to get away from my responsibilities I think I’d be more likely to call that behavior “suicidal”.
If I was speeding around without a helmet because I hated my life and wanted to die to get away from my responsibilities I think I’d be more likely to call that behavior “suicidal”.
This
100% We are all mortal. The denial of death is a terrible trend, it makes people have no idea how to deal when a loved one dies.
Get a new psychiatrist. There is a big difference between self destructive risk taking and the acknowledgment of the inherent mortality of our lives.
That’s an interesting take. I enjoy riding due to the full control of my machine and piercing through the wind while zooming through the landscape. And the best part is when there’s some nice curves to corner through. All of these reasons would only be enhanced with less cars on the road.
Absolutely. There’s a feeling of being more “present” in the world. It’s more stimulating for your senses, which I think is ultimately why your brain rewards you for it with dopamine.
Motorcycles might be dangerous as fuck (but fun as hell) but this is a good time to mention that for just about all of us driving is, by far, the most dangerous thing we do every day.
Sure would be cool to have protected lanes for !micromobility@lemmy.world though
you know what else is crazy? That prison sentence you get after you run me over for negligent manslaughter.
Unless I drive away, a close friend can’t even get insurance for her bike anymore, because a hit and run left her with a TBI, and she had to fight the insurance company to cover it.
depends on how well that works more than likely, chances are you’re going to end up killing someone eventually, if you do run.
Literally the main reason I sold my motorcycle last year.
Funnily enough this is sort of my argument for confident drivers arguing that they are safe when driving at speeds way over the speed limit. Like yeah, you won’t crash in isolation. Like if this was a time trial, then sure, you would be number 1 in the world. But thats not driving. Driving with other people is more like mario kart. You can be the best driver in the in the world but all it takes is one green shell on their phone to not notice you and its all over.
green shell
This is what I’m calling them from now on.
Man, I absolutely love driving within the speed limit and seeing a big queue of would-be speeders gradually building up behind me.
I ride a bike. I have accepted death.
I’ve been rear-ended while driving three times over the years. Two were minor, one totaled the car. I have to think that all three of those would have been exponentially worse if I was on a motorcycle instead of in a car.
This is why lane splitting and filtering exist and need to be legal. Reduces the amount of rear-ending INTO bikes
Legal where I live and it’s fantastic. Love being first in line at every intersection and not having to worry about getting ran over.
Buuut… there is a fair number of drivers who like to yell at me to not cut in line… had one person drive on the sidewalk and around me onto the crosswalk and said “if you can cut, so can I.” Super scary.
I usually just say, “it’s legal, learn to drive” but the “learn to drive” part makes a certain kind of driver so mad that it’s not worth risking the road rage
some people shouldnt be allowed to drive
I was rear-ended the third day after buying a motorcycle.
Now I have a habit of looking into the mirror before full stop
as a motorcycle rider: I know. that’s why i don’t only need to pay attention to everything around me but also account for idiots
Back when I rode I just assumed they were actively trying to kill me. Worked pretty well considering I only ever hurt myself.
motorcycles are the helicopters of the road (don’t sneeze!)
It is really annoying to sneeze in a helmet. It just bounces back in your face.
swimmers are like pedestrians, cars are like boats, motorcycles are like jet skis!
FYI jet skis are much more dangerous than motorcycles.
Even worse, tiktok
Bloody hell people here present driving motorcycle or even bicycle as a big survival thingy. Wtf.
Never once feared for my life on bicycle. On the road never heard or saw about motorcycle crashes other than these where the motorcyclist lost control or did something stupid. Hell, people recommend getting motorcycle.
Now, this may be regional thing but in this case, how the hell is, let’s assume, USA so bad with driving if most ya all spend most of your life driving?
If everyone is allowed to drive, you also have the incapable ones. The people able to drive properly aren’t important and you don’t notice them, only those that are dangerous. In other countries they are forced to walk or use public transport. This starts with harder to acquire license and ends with infrastructure.
i don’t think this will solve anything. where i live licenses are stupid hard and expensive to acquire. i’m talking 6mo long process and 3k bucks.
still plenty of idiots on the roads, and a lot of people driving without a license, especially motorcycles.
when we are made to depend so heavily on cars, people just gotta use it despite everything. i think the solution involves better public transport.
I pedal bike to work and have close calls weekly with cars. Couple months ago I was in the bike path and a car came next to me and matched my speed and then came into the bike lane and drove me into the grass. I thought they were doing it on purpose but they were just confused following their GPS and drifted… Similar stories on my motorcycle. Lane splitting is legal where I live but people still yell at me saying I can’t “cut in line” and I had one lady drive on the sidewalk and around me onto the crosswalk (at a red light) saying “if you can cut then so can I.” It was kinda terrifying.
Where I live, everyone drives and everyone hates driving and hates other drivers, but they hate bikes and motorcycles more because out grouping or something. Only way to stay alive is to pretend you’re invisible and not piss car drivers off.
Midwest USA if curious
Gimmie a sec to grab my jaw from the floor. Yeah if I ever end in the USA I’m gonna make sure to avoid getting on two wheels. Where I live there is some hatred between bikers and drivers (two way), but not that point.
I’m gonna assume you’re actually in the GTA in Canada because there are no states in the Midwest USA where lane splitting is legal.
Montana. It’s not actually the Midwest I suppose, but we frequently say it is
It’s definitely an issue of distracted driving rather than a lack of skills to drive adequately. Because of our lack of public transportation options compared to where I’m assuming you live, most folks have to drive to do most things. They also have to do this at the same time as everyone else, which makes driving a shitty necessity and overall poor experience. Now we have computers in our hands and can do something more enjoyable than pay attention to the road while you’re on your Thursday evening 1.5 hour commute home from work.
Personally I think that distracted driving violations should be treated the same way a DUI is.
Fits with what the u/UnPassive wrote. Still terrible. And yeah, where I live we have quite good public transport, even if folk here tend to think it’s not good enough. But overall where I live people seem to be more focused, maybe because a lot of them likes to speed a little bit too much, and that requires focus. Our traffic isn’t that congested.
I’ve been hit 4 times in the past 2 years, all while I did everything absolutely correct. It’s utterly amazing that I’m not dead.
Not motorcycling only, everything in the proximity of cars.
Fuck cars.
Would you say dragon fuck cars?
Are the cars destroyed in the process?
Yes. Let’s blame others around rather than the person making a cheap joke and acting like they are too cool to follow the accepted rules. Would we feel this way if they made a such a caviler statement about owning a gun? Would it work if were mocking nurses paying attention to administrating medicine?
Of course not.
It’s the person on Instagram. If you can’t care that the rider could be a mother or a father to a little kid, pull over and sell your fucking car and take a bus. You have the illusion of responsibility without actually thinking it’s a cooperative event on a massive scale.
you know, its kinda lame you are mad at the joke, but i feel this anger. people will fucking kill you in traffic because they can’t put that garbage addiction down for 20 fucking minutes while they drive to get groceries. ive never been in such an accident but know people who went through a bad time because of it.
driving while looking at stupid racist memes from your uncle should be grounds for immediate and permanent suspension of your right to drive at all.
I have a plate in my wrist and 9 pins. Luckily the person behind me stopped quick enough to save my life.
Sir this is a joke.
Obviously. However people do sit on IG and not give a shit about people on motorcycles. And I have been hit while doing 70 from one of them. And I had a 3 year old at the time.
So, maybe pick something better to be funny about. Because to some it won’t ever be funny.
Welcome to the internet, grow some skin and learn how to use the block button
I’m not blocking blatant stupidity. I’m calling it stupid for the whole world to see. It’s not for you. Because it’s obvious you’re stupid. It’s for those that read it and not think it’s cool because it’s a meme so “everyone” is doing it.
Shelling into “it’s just a joke” is pure and utter bullshit. Grow some skin yourself and realize that actions have consequences.
I never said i liked the meme lmao calm down
Who said I was talking to you about the meme? Why do you assume my audience is JUST you? I’m telling every fuck twit that thinks it’s cool to do this or even joke about it, it’s not. And I don’t need your parental assessment on my emotions. I’ll tell you right to your face, shut the fuck up or be shut up.
I mean you literally replied to me? Never gave you “parental assessment” but go on then
We know and that’s why most of us that care about our life we drive slow as well as stop even if it’s a green light the rest well let’s hope they have good luck or don’t depending on what you wish for them!
