No, but seriously

This morning I was making my way west across town and came to merge on to one of the motorways. Traffic was light and it was relatively early. As I set off down the on-ramp, I saw a white Ford Taurus jump the red lights behind me and careen past me on the dirt, accelerating towards the motorway. Just about the time I thought "he's going to crash!" he shot across all three lanes of traffic. His brake lights came on just as he slammed into the concrete divider in the middle of the motorway. Overcompensating for the first crash, the driver then yanked the wheel hard to the right which deflected him back across all three lanes again, this time with the front wheels locked up and performing a full 360 on the way across. Last I saw he vanished off the hard shoulder down the grass verge, presumably to come to rest upside down in a ditch.
You know what my first thought was? Not "I wonder if he's OK" or "wow that was lucky he didn't hit anyone". No - it was "what a total dick. Nice to see Karma work so quickly once in a while."
Does that make me a bad person to wish ill of someone driving like that? I don't think so. Clearly he had no right being behind the wheel of a car, and forces beyond my control sorted the problem out nice and quick.

I've ridden motorbikes since I was 14. That doesn't mean I know everything there is to know - it just means I've ridden bikes for 26 years. This weekend a friend and I went to a local motorcycle safety course for a post-winter refresher. It was fun to be out with like-minded individuals, and whilst I didn't learn anything totally new, it was good to put some techniques to the test in a controlled environment. For example I did learn how far I could go before the ABS kicks in on my bike.

We did a lot of cone work - cornering, low-speed maneuvering, swerve-and-brake, emergency stops - that sort of thing. For the most part, all the riders on the course were pretty competent although one guy did have a really hard time with his Harley. He dropped it a couple of times and just didn't look confident on it at all. His undoing was the double-u-turn test where you have to perform a double-u-turn inside a 26ft wide box. I found that one hard and my bike is nice and maneuverable. I kept letting the speed get down too low and losing balance. Once I had the hang of it, things were OK but one of the instructors put us all to shame by doing the same exercise in a 23ft box on a fully loaded Honda Goldwing. If you're not into bikes, Google for a Honda Goldwing for a picture, then walk out a 23ft box in your office and see if you think that bike could double-u-turn in that space. It can - I've seen it done.

So what's the point of a course like this for riders who've been doing it for as long as I have? The point is that it helps refresh your technique on things you might have taken for granted, and that you can still learn things in a controlled environment. The same goes for cars - perhaps we should all consider advanced motorist courses once in a while. It won't do anything for all the other lunatics on the road, but it will give you a better insight into stuff you didn't know you didn't know.