Does the influx of new riders worry you?

[Smittie61984]

Bikes have exploded in Atlanta. I passed one company on the way to work and they had an covered parking section with 11 motorcycles (all cruisers except 1 EX500) and probably a total of 50cars (If even that) in the parking lot. Hell we have gotten to the point that people no longer wave to each other because you'd never be able to clutch and shift.

Scooters is what I have noticed the most. I even see Roman Holiday style Vespas out in the middle of the fucking redneck jacked up truck rebel flag toting country.

Then once you go to downtown Atlanta they are everywhere. Most don't wear gear though.

Now here is something amazing about that in my local town...
A local news channel has brought out more awareness about bikes. WSBTV (And their AM radio) has done amazing stuff about bikes and even in their traffic reports you'll hear them say "Watch out for the bikes. There are a lot of them out there". Plus our biggest radio personality "Neal Boortz" rides a motorcycle (BMW and a gear nazi which is good but hates sportbikes in the mountains) and I think that has had an influence on Atlanta.

But here is the report they did...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auALTtCnE_0

At my work the next day in which we have drivers driving F-450s and bigger pulling big bulldozers we had oure weekly safety meetings. One of the sub contractors spoke up about this report and told everyone to watch out for bikes. And mentioned a lot of riders out there aren't experienced and even if it's your fault or their fault there is no competition between a bike and a big truck hauling a bull dozer.