Short Trips Non-ATGATT not a good idea.

Learned my short trip lesson long ago.
Hopped into my car coming out of one store and was gonna drive to another store 2 blocks away and did not put my seat belt on.
After traveling 1 block, I turned right at the light, and here comes this wide eyed woman with a police cruiser in full pursuit in my lane.
She swerved back into her own lane, ran the red light and t-boned a car behind me.
Lesson learned, you just never know............

Last weekend (5/30) I went on a very short 2 mile round trip to fuel my bike. Was planning to go on a group ride the following day. Being a lurker here on ADV I'm well aware of ATGATT.

The weather that Saturday was perfect. I almost didn't wear a jacket. I left the house wearing blue jeans and sneakers, cause I was too lazy to put on my boots for a short trip. Hell I even looked at my 3/4 helmet before I grabbed my Shoei DS Hornet.

Filled the tank, pulled out of the station and got about two hundred feet and was taken out hard. Was on a four lane road and the lady to my left decided she could turn right from the inside lane. Happened so fast, I wasn't even able to think "Oh Shit!". Don't remember the impact at all, just seeing the car, then being on the asphalt.

Damage done: Helmet, jacket and bike look ugly. My left arm from wrist to shoulder hit her car. Very bruised and still hurts. Right knee hurts, atm, and must've been twisted when the bike went down. Guess I'm lucky cause it could've been worse. No more 3/4 helmet for me, and next time I'll take the time to wear boots even for an around the block trip.

I drive better drunk, too. Makes me more careful. Can't be bothered to find a DD or call a cab... :slurp

I agree completely. As an example...I get funny looks wearing all leathers just popping around Norfolk, but my self-policing is that I don't go through the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel in less than full leather (or anywhere my speeds will be over 45mph-ish). All it takes is one bonehead and you'd be very dead in that there tunnel. I know I can't make myself wear leather pants 100% of the time (jacket yes, pants no), but I come to some reasonable agreement with myself as to where I'm most likely to potentially need it, and wear it in at least those conditions 100% of the time.

Boots are another biggie. I won't go anywhere without proper footwear. I twisted an ankle pretty solidly with a dumb drop in a parking lot (getting foot stuck in the still spinning rear wheel) and since then I haven't got on a bike without proper footwear.

Every trip starts out close to the beginning in both time and distance.

Day rides also end there (obviously only a minority of moto trips are overnighters or longer).

The accidents happen where the trips are occurring. Kind of a non-statistic.