Motorcycles must make noise to be avoided. So the excuse goes. If they are not loud enough, then we other drivers would not know they were on the road. Of course if they were not snaking between two lanes we would have a better chance of seeing them.

Of course the “so you know I’m here” is not a reason. Their own noise means they don’t notice what else is around them. They can’t hear the truck horn over their own engine noise. They don’t really care. The noise is the main reward of a bike.

The sound of their bike is probably muffled by our own insulated interior, further masked by the surround sound of our concert on wheels. There is no way that most of us hear them enough to avoid them on the highway. Since no one uses signals in America, it is likely that more and more bikers are seconds from hell. Or if they are lucky, just a couple years from having a wheel chair, a piss bag, and a great dog to open doors for them.

Vroom, vroom Veronica.