No one likes red tape. Period.
We want a reasonable degree of safety, sure enough. Riders, no matter what we ride, operate with a reasonable expectation that the bikes we ride were manufactured to a reasonable standard, and aren't going to randomly and unexpectedly have, say, a catastrophic engine failure while we're riding them.
At the same time, we both understand and accept the fact that we're traveling on machines that won't protect us the same way crumple zones and airbags would on a modern car if we happen to crash. And we also take measures to mitigate potential injuries, to the degree that we feel is right and necessary. Helmets, armored jackets/pants/gloves, good boots, and so on.
But time and again, legislative attempts to make motorcycle technical inspections mandatory have failed in a number of European Union countries, and it's not difficult to understand why. The first explanation is simple: These nations have broad and engaged ridership, with motorcyclist associations that have been ready and willing to fight back and draw attention to these issues.
