Dear Motorcycle Rider with Really Tiny Brake Lights…

Dear Motorcycle Rider with Really Tiny Brake Lights after the break…

Dear Motorcycle Rider with Really Tiny Brake Lights…

Dear Motorcycle Rider with Really Tiny Brake Lights,

I get it – You ride a motorcycle. You’re a rebel. You’re a loner. You can’t be tamed or controlled. You travel your own road. Got it. Good for you.

Here’s the thing – The concept of brake lights are to be noticed. They should be noticed by the person driving behind you. That’s kind of the point of brake lights. Brake lights is your way of saying, “I’ve decided to slow down. Please notice that,” without you turning around on your motorcycle (which, admittedly, would be awkward and painful for your back) and physically telling the person driving behind you precisely that.

Your brake lights, however, are tiny. Impossibly tiny. Even for motorcycle standards, your brake lights are incredibly, impossibly tiny.

Now, if you rode slowly or even if you rode normally, perhaps having impossibly, tiny brake lights (even for motorcycle standards) would not be a detrimental trait for your motorcycle (and, more importantly, you). However, you are a rebel and a loner and can not be tamed or controlled and are destined to travel your own road. That’s a very roundabout way of saying that the speed limit and other common sense road rules seem optional to you. Considering that you are on a motorcycle which is really just a bicycle with an engine attached to it, you might want to revise your daring riding philosophy.

I drive slow for many reasons. First, I drive slow because it is safe. It keeps me safe. It keeps the people around me safe. Second, driving slow saves me money. Lots of money. In this economy, it seems as though you can never save enough money. Third, driving slow helps the environment in some small fashion. People three hundred years from now will have to live here – Why make their work harder for them when that doesn’t have to happen?

Driving slow means that I have more reaction time, though, for when you pull something stupid like stopping suddenly for no apparent reason. Had I not been driving slow and paying attention, your motorcycle would have been totaled and you would have been injured. Maybe you would have died. My reaction time was not helped because I could not initially see your brake lights (they are really, really tiny, remember?) when you decided to stop for no apparent reason.

So, please, Motorcycle Rider with Really Tiny Brake Lights, do us all a favor and get much larger, much brighter brake lights. Or drive slower. Or stop less erratically. No one wants to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you. Yet you do not seem aware that your actions may one day hurt yourself because not everyone is like me – You know, the guy who drives slow enough and pays attention enough for when someone suddenly stops in front of them for no apparent reason. Thanks.

P.S. I hope you got to where you were traveling to safely.