Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month

May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and Iceberg Alley Riders wish to remind motorists that motorcycles, cars, and trucks all share the road. Below are some tips for ensuring that all motorists can share the road safely all year long.

Tips for Motorcycle Riders to reduce risk while driving:

• NO alcohol or drugs (including prescription and over the counter medications). Impaired riding is an indiscriminate killer.
• NO cell phones or texting (don’t let cell phones and other activities distract you from your core mission of riding safely).
• NO aggressive riding.
• Keep your machine in top condition.
• Check your tires and air pressure regularly.
• Proper riding gear all the time (dress for the slide).
• Take a certified training course.
• Take refresher training courses.
• Practice riding skills regularly. Skills do degrade without practice.
• Learn ways to be visible to others on the road.
• Know about blind spots and how to avoid riding in one.
• Learn how to anticipate potential dangers (for example: identifying and avoiding obstacles on the road; identifying and avoiding aggressive drivers).
• Understand how the weather affects you and your motorcycle. Dress for anticipated conditions.
• Be mentally prepared to ride. Motorcycling has a greater psychological component than most other vehicles.
• Groups should develop a style of riding along with a plan or method.

Tips for drivers of other vehicles:

• NO alcohol or drugs (including prescription and over the counter medications). Impaired driving is an indiscriminate killer.
• NO cell phones or texting (don’t let cell phones and other activities distract you from your core mission of driving safely).
• NO aggressive driving.
• Keep your machine in top condition.
• A motorcycle is a vehicle with all the rights and privileges of any motor vehicle on the roadways.
• There are many types of motorcycles: Sport, Cruiser, Tour, Dirt, Trike with 2 wheels at the front and Trike with 2 wheels at the rear.
• Motorcycles are smaller in size and profile than cars or trucks. This makes them more difficult to see, gauge their speed, judge their distance, and to see them in traffic. Also, large vehicles (such as SUVs, vans and trucks), trees, shrubs, and even signs may block a motorcycle from your view and a motorcycle may seem to suddenly appear out of nowhere.
• Look twice (of course). Actively look for motorcycles.
• A motorcycle in your rearview / side view mirrors is harder to spot, look carefully and check your blind spot.
• From a car driver’s perspective, a motorcycle up ahead may appear to be “all over the road”.  From the motorcycle rider’s perspective, they are just avoiding sand, gravel, potholes, debris and defects on the roads.
• The stuff that flies out of a truck bed or trailer may be just an annoyance to the car driver behind you but can be deadly to a motorcycle. Always clean your truck bed or trailer bed and always secure your load.
• Keep a safe driving distance when following motorcycles. In the event of a quick or an emergency stop, a motorcycle can stop much quicker than a car or truck.
• Motorcycles tend to slow down more than cars or trucks when pulling into parking lots or driveways.

Many of these common tips for both motorcycle riders and car/truck drivers. We are all motorists. Taking the time to understand each other’s needs and limitations will make the roadways safer for all of us.