What is a Motorcyclist’s Life Worth?

As motorcyclists we’re often treated as second class beings. Drivers treat us as though we’re less than human. Bicyclists get treated the same. The decisions of other vehicle drivers often put us in situations where we must fight our way through desperately difficult maneuvers to avoid critical injury or death. Often they roll up their windows, lock their doors, and refuse to come out for a conversation with us after the fact. It happens all too often to all of us.

After over six years and 50,000 miles of riding year-round in Canada injury free I was involved in an accident two weeks ago and suffered my first injury since I sprained my ankle as a child. Generally I’m not much of an ATGATT (All The Gear, All The Time) motorcyclist. I ride along the highway in a dress suit and sneakers when it suits me. Picture me as “The Gent” in Hell Ride. There I was wearing a red and white Arai helmet, a bright blue Arai jacket, and my NEXO Kangaroo Leather motorcycle gloves. On this one particular occasion, I happened to be both dressed to be seen as well as being dressed for the crash. In a typical “I didn’t see you coming (even though you’re dressed in bright clashing colors)” move I had a left turner pull out in front of me. No gaudy color combination and motorcycle gear saved me. After all, I’m just a motorcyclist. I can’t be worth too much. Why would I expect anyone to be looking for me?

Pretend like half of the drivers are blind, and the other half are out to kill you.
– Motorcycle Proverb

Maybe that’s why a lot of people are still vouching for the ATGATT approach to riding. Our favorite Russians, vshleme that took an interesting spin on assessing what is a motorcyclist’s life worth in this video. The concept was to address what a motorcyclist would be worth if he or she was to be parted out. Your kidneys, your lungs, your heart. People might just pay good money for that!

So, Mr. or Ms. Motorcyclist, are you ready to find out how much you’re worth?

What’d you think of the video? What’s your take on ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time)? Please comment!

You can also check out our past vshleme video post Sex as a Motorcycle Ride, and another Russian clip, topless girl motorcycle ride video on bikerMetric.