Motorcycles are tremendous fun. The freedom of the road and the sense of connectivity to the landscape around you is a cinematic pleasure, especially in scenic areas like California and Oregon. Like any subject of interest, motorcycling is a very social activity. Riding motorcycles in groups and planning trips together is a fantastic way to spend time with others and form a wider community of interests. Despite these tremendous and soulful aspects of riding, the reality of physics and the very nature of pushing an ostensibly unprotected body through open air at high speed involves a level of danger. Indeed, the increase of motorcycle fatalities has plateaued for 10 years across the States, despite best efforts in safer braking systems and evolved protective equipment. The rise in popularity has maintained a fatality rate that makes Motorcycling one of the most common dangerous forms of travel, and speaking with an accident lawyer will corroborate this hard-to-hear information.
To this end, every motorcyclist will likely incur some kind of road-related accident while riding the 2 wheels. As with any trauma, the psychological aspect of getting back on the bike can be a difficult one to master. Perhaps more complicated than learning to ride the bike itself.
Here are answers to important car accident questions so one can get back on the bike after a motorcycle accident.
Psychological Aspects
Under circumstances where physical damages haven’t been sustained, the psychological impact of meeting peril in an accident can be a long road to recovery. The mind has evolved to a point where it avoids repeating past mistakes and replays trauma situations like a cautionary tale. Part of the enjoyment of riding is a sense of danger, and as humans, we calculate our risk all the time in our daily lives. The best way to ensure no lasting psychological restraint from riding is simply to get back on your bike when physically possible.
Bike Maintenance
Another practical way to get back on your bike is to embrace a more profound understanding of how it works and maintain its function with higher precision. A responsive machine will react to a responsive mind. Importantly, from a psychological point of view, taking action and controlling the situation by learning how the machine works and developing a relationship with the bike leads to a better level of confidence in riding.
Workshops
Taking part in workshops on fixing bikes can also be a fun and social way to develop the skills mentioned above in motorcycle maintenance. Like any pursuit of knowledge, learning through discovery with more knowledgeable others can have therapeutic effects when handling trauma. Sharing stories of experiences helps people relate to their own experiences.
Counseling
Ultimately, if the experience is so extreme, seeking counseling is always a good idea to overcome any post-traumatic stress. Consider it a form of mental maintenance that aligns with the motorcycle’s supervision, and then getting back on your bike might not seem like such an arduous ordeal after all.
Be careful, and always take your time before returning to the bike.
