Why Motorcycles Are Better Than Cars

Since man's discovery of the wheel thousands of years ago he has ever strived to propel himself further, faster - most often directly into peat bogs, where he would sink and his well-preserved body would remain for centuries before eventually being discovered and scrutinized by modern scientists. His misfortunes, however, could not quell his love for speed or the wheel.

Welcome to the twenty-first century, in case you've been embedded in peat for a while, where the wheel is now a common sight. Man has found many ingenious uses for it along with some that really do belong at the bottom of a bog. Which are which, you ask? Let's take a look at two, the automobile and the motorcycle, and you decide.

The automobile is most typically a four-wheeled vehicle, having between two and four doors and seating anywhere from two to ten passengers in an enclosed space. This enclosed space is extremely handy when the weather is not cooperating with your travel plans. The motorcycle on the other hand is a two-wheeled vehicle that has no doors. Rather than sitting within an enclosed space the motorcycle rider, with up to one passenger, straddle the machine between their legs similar to a cowboy on horseback. This can be extremely uncomfortable in less-than-hospitable weather such as snow or hard rain.

Passengers in automobiles are secured to their seats by restrictive strips of fabric called seatbelts. Seatbelts protect them from being thrown from the automobile in the event of a collision. In some automobiles these seatbelts are manual and must be locked into place before the automobile begins moving. In others, the seatbelts are automatic and move into place as you enter or exit the automobile. Motorcycles, conversely, have no such restrictive seatbelts making mounting and dismounting a far easier than getting into and out of an automobile. Motorcyclists in most places, however, must wear a protective helmet over their heads in place of seatbelts to protect their heads from the force of impact in case they fall from the motorcycle. Both are restrictive but failure to wear a seatbelt or helmet is a violation of the law and will result in stiff fines imposed by less than friendly authority figures, which have become almost as common as the wheel itself.

Then there is the matter of licensing. Both an automobile driver and a motorcycle rider must have a driver's license issued by the state of their residence in order to operate their machine. This insures, supposedly, that everyone on the road knows the rules and has demonstrated basic driving skills. Motorcyclists, however, must go a step further, and demonstrate their ability to navigate their machines in adverse situations, dodging like madmen between cones in the parking lot at the local DMV all for the right to ride their motorcycles on the road.

Those in cars are caged - effectively cut off from the outside world. Those on motorcycles are completely involved in the experience, free to feel the wind and bugs and mind-altering exhilaration. I believe this is what ancient man was trying to capture when he invented the wheel. Benjamin Franklin once wrote, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." He probably said that right before hopping on his motorcycle and speeding triumphantly off into the sunset - or perhaps a peat bog.