Friday 17 October 2014

Boys & Girls, Always Use Protection! To Prevent... (You know)



“Check out that female biker”

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind?

Let’s see; A lady wearing tight fitting leather pants, maybe in a cropped top and high heel booties. You see quite a bit of skin and you’re definitely checking out her curves. Sounds sexy?




Well, think again.

<Credits to pinterest>
If she crashes, boy, it ain’t gonna be sexy no more.

To real and down-to-earth bikers, riding safely (in terms of both attitude and gears) is the number one thing, and it shall be the new sexy. Riding “naked”, would only be deemed foolish.

I could not further emphasize the importance of road and riding safety. Many a time, we are simply too complacent towards the potential dangers we are exposed to on the roads, as if we don’t know riding itself already makes us more vulnerable to begin with.

Hmm.. What should I wear for the ride?
We all know in motorcycling, when you meet with a collision, you, the very being, gets hit first. Your body receives the direct contact and can shatter upon impact. Whereas in comparison to driving, you are covered all around inside a metal shell structure.

If another vehicle hits you, the car’s frame you are seated in receives the first contact and absorbs the initial impact. This reduces the potential severity of your bodily injury in an accident.

<Credits to memey>
After riding for close to seven years, I’ve had my fair share of accidents;
A fractured rib,
multiple abrasions,
listening to the sound of my skin scrapping against the tarmac,
a mild head concussion,
crashed into the rear of a taxi where my abdomen hit my motorcycle’s handlebar before it sent me flying into mid air, landing on top of the taxi with a loud “thud” (think of a lizard getting slapped onto the windscreen).


Unfortunately for most of the times, the fault lies in the opposite party.

Yes, you can lodge a police report, win the case and receive due compensation in dollars and cents. But can the amount of money make up for all the pain, suffering and recovery time you have to go through?

Plus, your injury may never recover to the state is originally was.

Sobs, when I was injured from an accident

Money can buy many things, but it cannot buy back Time that is lost and it cannot buy Happiness

Injury and recovery time is time lost. When you are injured and motioning through the recovery process, let’s just say you ain’t gonna be in the best of moods. In fact, it can get pretty depressing at times, feeling so freaking handicapped.

My fresh abrasions

Your usual 5 minutes shower now takes 30 minutes with a broken collarbone or fractured ankle. You have to be really careful when wearing clothes, so as not to rub against the fresh abrasions.

In a worse scenario, your usual 45 minutes morning run turn tragically into lying on the hospital bed for 45 weeks.

Taking barely a few minutes to don on the appropriate riding gears could very well prevent injuries that could take months or even years to recover.

The Essentials





Full Face Helmet

It’s compulsory to wear a helmet to ride in Singapore (except if you’re a singh).

Instead of wearing a half face helmet whereby your precious face could be terribly scarred by scrapping the tarmac in an accident, why not a switch to a full face helmet to have your entire head and face protected? Ask yourself, how much is your head worth?

I’m a girl, so trust me when I say no amount of make-up would be able to cover up a deep scar, and cosmetic surgeries are definitely more expensive than a full face helmet. Oh, and did I mention? There will be recovery downtime for surgeries.

Jacket

Protect your upper body, especially the spine that you need, to function. Wearing a jacket that has no armor is as good as not wearing one.

When you fall, your shoulder, elbow and back are usually the first to receive impact. So have them protected by getting a jacket that is equipped with shoulder, elbow and back armor.

Would you rather spend $100 on a solid Dainese back protector or countless months and years of physiotherapies and chiropractics that would also drain your Medi-save away?


Gloves

We use our hands everyday for almost everything, so protecting them is crucial. They are also the first to hit the ground, as it’s a natural human reaction to reach out their hands for support or reduce impact upon a fall.

FYI, it takes only 2 seconds to wear a pair of gloves.



Shoes/Boots

We walk everyday, so don’t you want to protect your feet by swopping your fancy Quiksilver flip flops to a covered shoe with ankle protection?

A mild fracture of the ankle or a broken toe would result in you not being able to walk normally –> which will cause you to limp –> which will make you look abnormal –> which will make you upset and significantly reducing your QOL (Quality Of Life) that money cannot measure.

A good pair of shoes sets you back at just $150.


Now who says being all covered up and well protected when riding can’t look good? ;)