I could almost understand someone who doesn’t ride a bike coming to the sort of conclusion that Lynn Saxberg of Motorcycle Mama does when discussing Luc Bourdon’s fatal motorcycle accident - but coming from a biker? That’s just plain wrong.

First off we have the bike, “a Suzuki GSXR 1000, the same type of bike Luc Bourdon was riding when he died on May 29, just two weeks after successfully completing a motorcycle safety course.”

I gotta tell ya, that’s actually a pretty sweet looking ride. In addition to looking good Saxberg says it is “one of the fastest, most powerful sportbikes you can buy. It is designed for racing. Some say it shouldn’t even be sold for street use.”

And there’s the first problem I have, it is a street legal bike, full stop, end of story. What “some say” is not material unless those people have the knowledge, experience, and qualifications, to make that decision.

Anything else is gossip and speculation.

According to Saxberg

The NHL defenceman died when he collided head-on with a transport truck in northern New Brunswick, his home province. Some reports said he was passing on a curve. Police said there might have been a gust of wind, but alcohol was not a factor.

– and then she asks

What went wrong? Was it the bike? The lack of experience? Was it a failure in the training/licencing system? In my opinion, it’s a combination of the three.

How about asking the obvious question, “Was it an unfortunate accident”?

If Bourdon was passing on a curve, as “some say“, the type of bike he was riding had absolutely nothing to do with the accident - you could pass on a curve with a 49cc scooter and find that the last thing you see is the grill of an oncoming truck.

If he was passing when he should not have been he was ignoring both the rules of the road as detailed on the test he passed to get his license and the training he was given in his safety course - in which case neither the type of bike he was driving, nor the New Brunswick training/licensing system, had absolutely anything to do with the accident.

If, as the police say, he “might have been caught by a gust of wind, the type of bike Bourdon was driving would have had little, or nothing, to do with the accident - inexperience would have played a role if that is what happened, but it has nothing to do with what he was riding, and next to nothing to do with provincial training/licensing systems.

These are simple, common sense, observations, that I would expect any biker who has spent any time in the seat to arrive at given what we know of the incident - and I cannot possibly see how the graduated licensing system used by Ontario would have prevented it.

We do not, and possibly never will, know the details of the event that took this young mans life. Maybe it was inexperience, maybe he was riding a bike beyond his ability, maybe he was speeding, maybe he was passing on a curve, maybe he was caught by a gust of wind, and maybe it wasn’t even his fault, maybe it was something completely out of his control - maybe it was even an accident.

There is some level of risk associated with just about everything we do, and that includes crossing the street, driving to work, or, as some of us choose to do, hop on our bikes and go for a ride with our friends…. and the very last thing anyone, in any province, or any territory, needs is more regulation based on nothing more than speculation.