There are many things to be aware and we have a month for all of them some of them are just a day or a week. But each May we have Motorcycle Awareness Month. AMERiders supports Motorcycle Awareness Month so make sure to look twice and save a life.
In the month of May, in particular, look out for motorcycle safety events in your area. Some of these are rides that promote visibility, others are geared toward skills enhancement. All of them will help make you a better rider. For example, two years ago, I decided to upgrade my moto license, which meant that I had to review, practice, and demonstrate all the rules of the road. What were those reminders, you ask? So glad you did.
After a day with an experienced instructor I was reminded of the importance of the following:
- Leave lots of space between you and the driver in front both while you’re riding and while you’re waiting. This gives you more space to evade the drive that you suddenly notice is headed right where you are as though you aren’t there. You saw this because you always….
- Watch your side mirrors—even when you’re stopped. Someone hit our car from behind just yesterday. He thought the advance green was for him, ‘cept we were all still waiting for our light. Well, not all of us, clearly; great reminder to watch for distracted drivers.
- Wear all your gear, all the time, even when it’s damn hot. Nothing is as warm as third degree burns on your whole body, and nothing ruins a riding season like broken limbs.
Fact is, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), as the number of motorcycle riders increases (yay!) so do the instances of fatal motorcycle crashed (boo!), 37 percent of which involve alcohol! Drink and ride? Duh. Aside from giving you an over-inflated sense of your abilities, alcohol impairs both your balance and response time. Drugs are also a bad idea on a bike, but the statistics are difficult to gather, so in the meantime, err on the side of “no.” After all, isn’t riding the only high you need?
Choosing to participate in a sport that has elevated levels of risk is not what we need to avoid, we need to avoid our own mistakes and drivers who make them. So, during this, the month when we’re paying a little more attention, do that. Don’t complain about what people do, watch out for them while you do everything right.
~And as always…
~Live Free Ride Hard~
~AMERiders
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Let AMERiders keep you up to date on May 2019 Is Motorcycle Awareness Month so Look Twice Save a Life.
And as always don’t forget to send us your stories, pictures, and events for posting to GALLERY.AMERIDERS @ GMAIL.COM and we will post them for you. The more people that know about your event the better and we are offering free advertising. We would also love to hear about your rides and love to see those bikes so send those stories and pictures.
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