WHO ’ S VULNERABLE ? predict you will hear the term ‘ Vulnerable Road

I User ’ a lot in the future , and you will hear it applied specifically to motorcyclists . So , I hereby serve notice to all and sundry that the moment this loathsome term becomes a meme for the media , and they begin to refer to motorcycle riders as “ vulnerable ”, I will declare them my enemy and strive with all of my might to destroy them . Be thusly advised . I am not now , have never been and will never be a ‘ vulnerable road user ’. I am a well-skilled and vastly experienced motorcyclist . I happily and eagerly cheat death each time I ride , because it makes me feel more alive than anything I have ever done . I am constantly honing my abilities and challenging myself in the never-ending learning curve that is riding motorcycles . I am no more vulnerable to the mindless vagaries of stinking car drivers than a shark is to the school fish it swims among . Believe me when I tell you I am not remotely interested in being depicted as “ vulnerable ” in the media or in government policy . I am insulted and offended by such a repellent descriptor . I realise some of our rider representatives feel magical government coffers will creak open and disgorge untold sums of money – money that will be spent saving us from ourselves – if only they could make the government understand how truly and wretchedly “ vulnerable ” we really are . Can they not see that this is the slippery slope to the legislation of everything from compulsory fluoro clothing to daylight-only riding ? I would like these people to realise and remove their heads from their distended bottoms for a second , and hearken to the wise words of my friend , JD : “ This ‘ vulnerable road user ’ theme , is just another blow in the relentless dumbing down of motorcycling – the whitewashing , mainstreaming , and blandening of our beloved lifestyle , which is being pushed by those who purport to represent us in order to get the car-driving cattle to think we are just like them but with half the number of wheels . The Internet motorcycle forums are inhabited by people who commute on two wheels , or wear fluoro vests on their Life Be In It-style rides . But these misguided souls are not motorcyclists in the true sense of the word , however much they stand up at quasi-political rallies and claim to be . They are beige wannabes . They are wishing to be seen by other cardiganwearers as being part of a lifestyle they will never be part of and never understand . And these are the ‘ vulnerable road users ’ who bleat about their rights needing to be protected and wanting to be hugged by the rest of the road-using world while they are ‘ riding ’ to their local latte joint on the way home from the annual toy run .” JD , is , of course , absolutely and scaldingly right . On the one hand , riders ’ groups shrewishly demand our rights as riders be respected , while simultaneously trying to paint us as weak and defenceless road-users .