On Wednesday, I rode the full tilt boogie, siren, blue lights, lane splittin', passing everyone, blowing red lights, max throttle from Wrightsville Beach to S. Kerr and Market St. due to a report of a motorcycle accident. I found a moped which was trying to cut through stopped traffic at a ninety degree angla and it was clobbered in the last lane it crossed. Personal injury? Certainly!! The question which troubled me was: How did this guy go about 35 feet and get involved in a wreck at very slow speed, while I had travelled about 5 miles at full throttle with no problems? The answer for the injured moped rider is failure to not pay attention to the fundamentals of survival. By making his attempted move through stopped traffic, he exposed himself to a certain collision and it happened. How many times had he made this move before and made it? Impossible to tell. It may have been a thousand, it may have been just one. How much training did he have? Uncertain, probably none. The lesson is that whatever your age or experience, it is always good to be trained & tested by professionals and that training should periodically be assessed. Attending a basic or experienced rider course through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and following it up with an on-the-road assessment course such as BikeSafeNorth Carolina is very heplful in your war to survive on the mean streets. Here at the Wilmington Police Department, we offer BikeSafeNC monthly for no charge!