Inexperience shows

Here in Australia, if you have an open car drivers licence, you can go out and buy yourself a little scooter and ride it on that licence as long as the bike is under 50cc capacity. You don't need to have any instruction like you do on a bigger bike, you definitely don't need to have any experience.

This was demonstrated to me yesterday on my way home from work. We were stopped at a red light and I was watching the cross traffic go by when something caught my attention. It was a guy on a little scooter with his helmet on back to front. I don't mean his face was covered, but the bit that goes around your neck was around his face and vice versa. I have no idea where the strap was, or even if he had it done up.

I had a minor motorcycle accident about two years ago where I dropped the bike at about sixty kilometres and hour and slid for about fifteen metres until I hit the car I was trying to avoid. That hurt and my full face helmet had a lot of scratches on it where my head hit the road. I was wearing all the protective gear even though it was summer. I shudder to think what this guy would have looked like if he'd come off dressed in his shorts and t-shirt and his open faced helmet on the wrong way round.