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Only today for example both my nephews were stopped by the boys in blue while out riding their scooters .. one was told his vehicle was illegal because 'it was too dirty' .. the other was told to go home and get properly dressed 'you must wear a leather jacket and gloves' ..
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OK, I can understand being angry about the 'too dirty' comments, but I thoroughly agree with stopping people and reminding them to put some sensible clothes on while riding two-wheelers.
I'm a biker myself, and even in this mini-heatwave I wouldn't
dream of going without my armour, head to toe. I came off once at 50mph, and skidded myself about 25-30 feet into a crash barrier, and it's only due to the armour that I still have legs.
The average figure for 'road rash' is around 2 inches of flesh lost for every 5 feet that you skid. You don't HAVE 2 inches of flesh thickness on your arms before you've hit bone, and a 25-foot skid is sufficient to remove more than enough flesh to kill you outright. And good gloves are pricey, but if you come off without them you
will lose fingers. My gloves set me back something like £70 (real top-of-the-range stuff), and I came down on one hand when I skidded out, and the only damage was some slight scuffing to the glove. If I'd have landed even at 30mph on my palm, it would have destroyed my hand.