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MotoGP, Nicky Hayden: Destiny does not send us heralds

Four days after the bicycle accident, some reflections on risk and 'pointless' accidents

MotoGP: Nicky Hayden: Destiny does not send us heralds

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MotoGP was on its way to Le Mans when the news arrived of the terrible accident that Nicky Hayden had in Misano.
Not because of a crash on the track - that would have been received differently - but rather as the consequence of an accident on the road between a bicycle and a car, just like many, unfortunately, that occur on our roads.

Four days after the accident, unfortunately the medical updates on Nicky’s conditions maintain strict confidentiality, guarded prognosis, and the most recent one is no different.

That, however, did not prevent a flood of fake news on social media, so much to force the Kentucky Kid’s father, Earl, to release a statement from the States.

At this point, we believe that the time has come to release some of the pressure around what happened, although we understand the curiosity and consequence of the love Nicky’s fan have for him, certainly one of the best riders in the paddock from a strictly human standpoint without any prejudice whatsoever to his status as a top rider.

What happened, unfortunately, makes him part of a statistic that has nothing to do with our sport, but with another - cycling - that the Kentucky Kid has always practiced diligently, as many of his colleagues do.

Cycling, an attractive sport because it has several aspects in common with motorcycle enthusiasts: balance, speed, sacrifice, courage.

According to statistics, 27 percent of bicycle collisions in the EU (35 in Italy) take place near intersections.

On lifegate you can read: “The increase of bicycles, in this case, can demonstrate a decrease in deaths both with the increased attention of drivers and cyclists, and with investments to make intersections safer and more bike friendly, all the way up to an increase in bicycle paths.
In 2014, about 26,000 people died in road accidents in the EU, a 42 percent drop from 2005, with respect to the total of 45,448.
Bicycle accidents represent eight percent of the total road accidents in the European Union, with the death of 2.112 cyclists in 2014.
In any case, between 2005 and 2014, fatal accidents on two wheels dropped thirty percent with respect to the initial three thousand; in Italy, the numbers dropped from 335 to 273. The fatality rate per million European residents also dropped from 6.2 percent in 2005 to 4.2 in 2014; in Italy, it went from 5.8 to 4.5.”

The numbers, as positive as they are, unfortunately are of no satisfaction because each digit represents a friend, a boyfriend, a husband, a father… As is the case of Nicky Hayden.

Following motorcycle and car racing, we are accustomed to seeing accidents and we often classify them as inevitable. Because ours is a sport that deals in risk. But it is not the only one: mountain climbing, skydiving and as the more recent, daredevil Cliff Diving athletes with their wingsuits confirm every day, there is and there will always be a fair number of young people attracted by high risk sporting challenges.

Despite this, what we cannot abide are accidents that we classify as ‘pointless’.

Michael Schumacher’s, four years ago near Maribel on a ski slope. As well as Jules Bianchi’s on 5 October 2014 in Suzuka during the Japanese F1 Grand Prix.

Pointless because they should not have happened. There should not have been a recovery vehicle in Jules’ path, nor a rock under Schumi’s helmet.

We would like to say that there should not have been a car at Nicky’s turn or an intersection on his route, but who is truly master of his own destiny?

Oscar Wilde said: “There is no such thing as an omen. Destiny does not send us heralds. She is too wise or too cruel for that.”
What does this first phrase tell you? What can we add that has not already been said, or rather, that has already been said and has meaning for us at this moment in time?

As always, we must seek the right words in the wise men who have gone before us.
“Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough; to achieve long life you have need of Fate only, but for right living you need the soul.”

So wrote Lucius Annaeus Seneca. We will wait for Nicky, upon his reawakening, to confirm it for us. His beautiful soul deserves a longer path.

Translated by Jonathan Blosser
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