Dear Editor,
I usually enjoy reading columns by self-proclaimed
”
crusader
”
James Fennell; despite his past disrespect for private property
rights (support for the socialist blight ordinance), he usually
knows what’s right. However, his May 24 column crossed the line: He
wants local police to cite loud motorcycles, and ignorantly thinks
they’re just loud for
”
pleasure.
”
Dear Editor,
I usually enjoy reading columns by self-proclaimed “crusader” James Fennell; despite his past disrespect for private property rights (support for the socialist blight ordinance), he usually knows what’s right. However, his May 24 column crossed the line: He wants local police to cite loud motorcycles, and ignorantly thinks they’re just loud for “pleasure.”
I ride a motorcycle, and a loud one it is, and I will never quiet it. Just since November I have had four close call due to other drivers not paying attention; their cell-phone conversations must have concerned something really important. In all four cases, I was able to prepare for what nearly happened because I spotted their hands glued to their ears.
Every month we read about motorcycle deaths in the paper. The excuse most often given is, “I didn’t see him.” Local motorcyclist George Gera was recently killed in broad daylight because some idiot “didn’t see him.”
What lets other drivers know you’re there? A loud engine. No motorcycle horn is loud enough, James. I can recall one recent occasion on U.S. 101 where simply gunning the engine let a negligent driver know I was there (about a foot from his car) when he changed lanes and cut me off. (Turns out he was yapping on a hands-free headset.)
James whines about those who disrespect police, but the finger-pointing he does, and consequent laws, are exactly what generate said disrespect.
I proudly admit to having absolutely no respect, either for such laws or for the police who enforce them. The officer who cites me for my loud pipes will regret it.
If the police have the time to cite loud motorcycles, they are clearly overstaffed. Loud motorcycles save lives, James, and it appear you really need to get one (a life, that is).
Alan Viarengo, Gilroy
