Dear Hillary,
My teenage daughter wants a motorcycle for her birthday in August. She will be 17. She has all the good reasons as to why she should have a motorcycle, ease of getting to school, all her friends have one, I wouldn’t need to pick her up all the time, etc. On the surface, it makes sense, but I am very worried about her being involved in an accident, never mind being killed, brain damage would very quickly change things. Am I just being an anxious father?
Jim
Dear Jim,
I do not think you are an anxious father, but rather, you are a concerned father. The road accident statistics are horrendous, Thailand having one of the worst records as far as road accidents are concerned. Have you ever noticed that Thai girls have a scar on the back of their right calf? Those are from burns from the exhaust pipe. Just because her friends have motorcycles is not a good enough reason for your daughter to have one. However, looking at the realities of it all, she will either ride herself, or go pillion with one of her friends. If she has her own motorcycle, you can insist on a high level of protective gear and a mandatory helmet (get a good one with full-face protection), as well as ‘crash bars’ on the motorcycle. You can also make sure she is competent at riding, through a school, and she does not ride without a valid license. In this way, if she does have an accident, the physical injury is less, and a good helmet, fastened up too, protects and brain and face. You should sit down with your daughter and discuss your fears; however, there will be other threats to your daughter’s health as she grows up. I hope nothing too drastic will happen to her.
