Motorcycles are the choice mode of transportation in our town. They are easy to maneuver along our narrow roads, they consume less gas, and parking them is no problem at all.
Sometimes we would have guests come over and seeing that we rely on these motorcycles so much to get around, they would want to get their own as well. There are individuals who can drive guests on their motorcycles and charge only a small amount, but of course, nothing beats driving one yourself. The feel of the wind in your hair, the concrete road whizzing by below your feet, the roar of the engine beneath you - you get the idea. So to be able to earn some money, some generous (and brave) souls rent out their personal motorcycles to these guests who want to experience riding one.
The price and the duration of the rental are usually the first things negotiated, but one thing that owners often forget is to ask if the renter can actually drive a motorcycle! Some owners think that because someone is interested in renting a motorcycle, then it is automatically assumed that the renter knows how to drive one.
I met this one guy named Jim who was one of those guests who got away with renting a motorcycle without having much knowledge on how to operate it. He did alright his first few tries so I thought he was going to do okay for the rest of his stay. One afternoon, Jim decided to hang out at a hotel and drink like there was no tomorrow. Drinking and driving? The perfect combination for a car crash story.
I was driving down the road that afternoon when I saw a figure laying on the edge of the road. It was Jim. The motorcycle he rented was fallen to its side beside him. I stopped and although he was conscious (and actually laughing about it), I could see that he was badly hurt. It looked like he skidded a short distance because he had cuts and bruises all on the right side of his body. He had his shirt tied to his right arm and when I opened that up, it was deeply pierced and bleeding profusely.
Another passer-by and I rushed Jim to the clinic where they treated his wounds and stitched his arm up. Jim told us what happened was the alcohol got to him and he just started speeding on his motorcycle like crazy. He gunned the engine on a muddy dirt road. He was probably doing 80 when he hit a bank of soft earth that just couldn't keep a speeding motorcycle stable. He spun out of control and fell to his side with the motorcycle on top of him. A sharp piece of metal was what sliced his arm open.
On top of all his cuts, bruises and 16 stitches, Jim had to pay for all the damages to the motorcycle. There's the obvious lesson to be learned here, but I'm just going to say that driving a motorcycle is not the same as driving a car!
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