My topic on stereotypes would be on motorcyclists. Not that this is new, but this is what I am. As a motorcyclist who has held my riding license for more than 2 years and also a driving license for more than 3 years, I feel that riders are being stereotyped. There have been incidences where parents object to their sons getting a motorbike license even though these men are already reaching mid-20s.
These guys even consider paying for their own license but their parents disallow and offer to sponsor them for a driving license instead. “A car is like metal wrapped around the man. But a bike is like a man wrapped around metal”, a not so Confucian thought I believe. But one that many parents stand fast to. The best thing is there are no racial grounds to argue about. The main argument would be that it is unsafe.
I never disagreed that riding a bike has its risk. But where do we draw the line in the kind of risk we take? I for one take a calculated risk. After being on the bike almost every single day since I was legally able to do so and suffering at least 10 falls since then, I learnt that as long as you are a motorist on the road, “It’s Never Just About You”. This is what the traffic police always try to educate everyone, not just riders. There are times when I switch mode to driving and as a driver, it is no difference compared to riding. Only that as a driver I do not feel as vulnerable as when I am a rider. The risk of getting into an accident is still the same. Only the consequences may differ.
My mother always tells me to be careful on the road especially when I am working, as a dispatch rider. Apart from me being tired after school and straight away going to work without much rest she would always remind me to be alert because on the bike, “you bang people also you fall, you get banged also you fall”. A lose-lose situation to put it right. Of course I always keep her words in mind.
Friends and relatives also sometimes gawk when they learn that I ride to school and for a living. They always ask, “Is it safe?”, “Won’t kena langgar meh?”. Of course once in a while I would tease them and say that I have kissed some cars’ behind before and had some intimate moments with the road, literally. After their initial shock, I would then try my best to convince them that it is not dangerous, at times. If words and explanations do not do the trick, then I would offer them a free ride around school maybe a one-way trip somewhere. It usually gets the result I want. By the end of the ride most of them would go, “Eh it’s not that bad leh”. Done. Maybe I should give rides to parents and people who feel that riding is a major safety hazard. Maybe I also should not disclose to them the number of times I ended up lying on the road in the first place to get them to even sit on my humble bike and make the ride just like any other ride at a funfair.