Former Motorcyclist Vows Never to Ride Again as Road Fatalities Mount
For Bryan Clarke*, an entrepreneur who fell asleep around the steering wheel and wrecked his car in a multi-vehicle collision, escaping with few injuries, his life became even more exciting when he traded the mangled car remains for a high-speed Suzuki GSX-R600 motorcycle.
Soon, the open roads across Jamaica became fuel for his need for speed. The thrill of the ride, the adrenaline, and the wind whipping past his face were intoxicating and turned his passion into an addiction.
But like all addictions, there is always a negative consequence and after several near-death experiences, he has vowed never to ride another bike.
“I don’t want to say it was peer pressure that made me buy one, but as social beings, if we see our friends riding motorcycles, we are going to get excited and want to own one,” he revealed. “I always wanted to own a motorcycle because of the sound. When I turned on that engine and heard ‘vroom, vroom, vroooom’, it was almost therapeutic.”
Clarke, who was employed in the financial services in Kingston at the time, said it was also a powerful stress reliever. “Whenever I got stressed out at work, I would leave in the middle of the day, turn on that bike, and rev it. When I heard the vroom, vroom, vroooom, and started riding, it relieved the stress. I would ride all the way to Port Royal and back,” he recalled.
Clarke said he didn’t know the cartoon scenes of seeing blurs were real until he started riding. “I would be going so fast that all I could see were blurs and white lines. After riding so often, it became like walking, except you started to realise that the margin of error was like 0.0001 per cent. Meaning the slightest mistake would result in a casualty,” he said.
“If my mother wasn’t praying for me, I would have been dead by now,” a reflective Clarke added. “I remember narrowly avoiding a collision with a car, and a driver who witnessed it came up to me and said ‘yuh nuh si seh yuh lef’ yuh body pon di road down deh so?’ That was one of the many near misses. “Sometimes there was gravel on the road and the bike would skid and I would get up, dust myself off, and ride off again,” he shared.
While Clarke’s story is jolting, it is not unique. As part of efforts to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities among motorcyclists, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) along with the JN Foundation and other stakeholders established the National Helmet Wearing Coalition (NHWC) in March. Since then, they have been working to implement standards for helmets and educate motorcyclists about the need for safety gear.
Dr. Lucien Jones, Vice Chairman of the NRSC and Chairman of the Project Steering Committee for the NHWC believes this is a step in the right direction. “Our mission is to get motorcyclists to see the dangers associated with riding without safety gear, and equip them with lifesaving advice and equipment,” said Dr. Jones. “114 motorcyclists – 114 promising lives, were lost on our nation’s roads since the start of the year. This is a call for intensified action and we are working via the NHWC to play a role in reducing this carnage on our roads.”
Paula Fletcher, Executive Director of the NRSC pointed out that Jamaica is making strides in road safety, with road fatalities decreasing by 8 to 10 per cent from January to October. November shows even greater improvement, with a 14 per cent reduction. Still, she urged motorcyclists to wear their protective gear to avoid devastating consequences. “Helmets are not optional accessories; they are lifesavers,” she said. “We urge all motorcyclists to make informed choices that can protect them from life-altering injuries, and save their lives.”
Clarke believes a part of the reason he is still alive is because he wore safety gear. “I wore my helmet, steel-toe shoes, and motorcycle underpants. I even had a $30,000 jacket, gloves, paddings, everything. I was always fully geared up because I rode fast,” he explained. Yet, he said, despite wearing safety gears, there were always situations beyond his control, and he knew he had to be prepared.
Clarke recalled that in his days as an avid motorcyclist, he joined a motorcycle club and was stunned by a stark reality. Much of the meetings were often spent discussing how many riders had lost their lives or were injured. Within the camaraderie of the club, that somber undercurrent flowed continuously as stories of shattered lives cast a dark shadow.
Soon, his family and friends began to fear for his safety. “I had a friend who used to tell me that if I died because of a motorcycle crash he would not attend my funeral,” Clarke recalled. Knowing this, he did not tell his mother he bought the motorcycle. She found out over a year later when one of his brothers casually asked about it in front of her. “When my mother heard him asking, she started laughing. She laughed for a while and then said, ‘At least him won’t drop asleep on it’,” he recalled.
Meanwhile, Clarke said his riding days are over, and he would not encourage anyone to own or ride a motorcycle, but if they do, they should wear a helmet and the appropriate safety gear to protect themselves.
“I couldn’t bring myself to sell the bike because I didn’t want to feel responsible if someone on it crashed and died,” Clarke said. Clarke gave his bike away on one condition: the new owner had to sell it and use the money to go back to school, and he did. “I have lost friends to motorcycle crashes. I am lucky I am alive and will never ride one again.”
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