Out there!

I have enclosed an advertisement from the Sydney Morning Herald of June 7th 2014 for your review, consideration and feedback as this has me completely stumped. To begin with, the headline “Big on safety, because they’re out there” is misleading. While it appears this is an advert for Hyundai cars and “they” are motorcycles, in my 40+ years of riding motorcycles (as well as driving cars and trucks) it has rarely been motorcycles “that I share the road with” that ever jeopardised my safety – it has invariably been other cars and trucks. Being a 3rd generation rider I can assure Hyundai that there is also “nothing more important than my family’s safety” and although technology can be useful it is merely a panacea for poor drivers in general. Looking close I see there is a dog piloting this “death star” motorcycle, seemingly threatening mum, dad, Billy and Sue in their car… and the point is? What is to be inferred from this description? Studying the photograph closer, I realise that while the advert has depicted motorcyclists as “doggone” law breakers, the advert has accurately shown the car driver’s disregard for motorcyclists. If the picture is to be believed, their motorcyclist is on the correct

side of the road coming into a curve whereas the car is on the incorrect side. There is truth in advertising, as this is typically and exactly what does happen! In closing, while my BMW R1200RT itself may lack such safety features as “advanced avoidance technologies”, does the inclusion of such in vehicles indicate the further demise of actual rider/driver skills?

Bryan Fowler

Oakdale, NSW

In the size that the Hyundai ad is reproduced above, the text is illegible, but don’t worry, it actually makes more sense that way. Maybe Hyundai’s “accident avoidance technologies” extend to cars that drive themselves while the driver is busy texting, sitting in the outside lane on a multi-lane road. – Ed