Months ago I posted this link to Twitter and Facebook. I came across Kawasaki Motorcycles doing demo rides here in San Antonio so I went home, got my helmet and riding jacket and came back. I got two rides on two different ultra performance sport bikes. To give you an idea, the second bike was a ZX-14 that will do the quarter mile in under 10 seconds out of the box with a 0-60 that will keep up with a Ferrari. The other one was a liter bike that would give the Ferrari a run for it’s money on handling. These bikes are great fun and a rush to have that much power at your disposal. One of my readers (a great guy living in Russia) sent me a message back that I was an adrenaline junky and that I should be more careful now that I have a family. He was right, to a point.
He is right that I need to be careful and limit my risks even on one of these bikes, which I did. Traffic is the number one thing that will get you killed on a bike. I’m more careful when I ride than when I drive. But I ride fully knowing the extra risks I’m taking and work to mitigate those risks by doing things like wearing proper clothing, paying more attention, and making sure I don’t take anything to slow my reactions. I have also taken lessons, read books, and had a couple mentors in riding so I could be better at it.
The same should hold true of anything you do. Some of us do things that are statistically more dangerous, like riding motorcycles, but we all do things that are dangerous. One of the most dangerous things we do everyday is drive to work. Vehicle accidents kill more people than almost anything else around the world, but we still do it. We can lessen the chances of getting killed by wearing seat belts, paying attention, and not drinking and driving.
Take a look at your normal day. What things do you do without thinking about the dangers? How can you mitigate that danger? What do you do that you shouldn’t? I’m not talking about staying in your house and never leaving, because that could get you killed, too. I’m talking about driving when you are half asleep, or going into large crowds, or for us younger guys, showing off just to show off.
Most people can tell when they are doing something risky, but few of us take the time to look at it. The military has a process for this; Identify risks, Develop Controls, Implement Controls, and Supervise. It sounds stupid easy, and it is. The idea is just to get people to stop and look around for the danger in what is around them.
You can use this simple thing to look at what you can make safer in your life. Think about everything, from the simplest mundane things like driving to work and to your personal protection. What can you do to make your life safer?
Stay Safe,
Ben