By doug_wertman

The weather has been nice this week, and that’s why I felt it was time to throw out my annual motorcycle safety lesson.  We see a lot more motorcycle accidents this time of the year because seasonal riders are pulling their bikes out of storage, motorcycle dealerships are running promotions to entice new riders, and everyone is hitting the road.

Whether you’re a new or experienced rider it’s even more important to pay attention to the other drivers on the road right now.  In the last 2 weeks I’ve already heard of 4 different motorcycle riders killed or injured in our area because they collided with cars that pulled out in front of them.  You must remember to pay more attention to the car than the car is paying to you! Many drivers don’t look twice, may feel they are superior to motorcycles, or may just be a bit slack this time of the year because they haven’t had to be as cautious watching for motorcycles in the colder months.

When riding always treat each car as if the driver cannot see you.  One of the most important rules of safety is taking the steps to keep yourself and other drivers safe.

If you’re a new rider or you’re thinking about buying your first motorcycle please please please take a motorcycle safety course before you get on the road.  At the very least spend check out the Learn To Ride A Motorcycle ebook.

The book will teach you valuable information starting from the very beginning phase of getting a permit, how to choose the right bike, choosing safety gear, and all the way up to proper riding techniques.  The book also recommends taking an MSF course, and I truly believe this is one of the best ways to learn proper riding safety.

If you ride, you’ve more than likely heard the phrase “Look Twice Save A Life“.  You’ve probably seen signs in yards, bumper stickers, and posts on Facebook.  As a rider I often find myself reminding many non-riders that yes, they do need to pay more attention to motorcycles, and that leads to my rant.

There seems to be a lot of hatred from those who don’t ride this year about “Look Twice Save A Life”.  I first noticed this a few months ago when someone on my Facebook friend’s list posted the typical reminder.  One of his friends (an older Grandma type lady I might add) felt the need to leave a comment stating that she did not agree with people posting this because “Motorcycles are dangerous!  Why should we have to look out for people who like to act crazy?”

Of course I couldn’t keep my mouth shut on that one.  I did inform her that she was being too quick to stereotype all riders, and though I couldn’t change her opinion, I could inform her of a few things.  Whether she decided to listen to me or not was her choice.  You can’t fix stupid after all.

I linked to several stories in the news at the time, many from our area, involving motorcyclists who were killed by a car.  In every one of those stories the driver wasn’t paying attention, claimed he/she didn’t see the bike, pulled out in front of a motorcycle, or ran a red light.  Yes, there are idiots on bikes just as there are idiots in cars.  We can’t change that, but we can inform others to keep an eye out for everyone’s safety.

She replied that she still didn’t agree with it.  The motorcyclists should watch out for themselves.  Okay, I get it.  I chocked it up to ignorance in her case, but I couldn’t help but notice many others posting similar messages on Facebook and Twitter, or even saying things like that to me in person in the last few months.  There has even been a string of thefts of the save a life yard signs in our area this summer.

Seriously?  Why is it so wrong to ask drivers to actually pay attention to the people around them?  Whether I’m on the bike or in my car I am fully aware of everything going on around me at all times.  I feel like if you can’t do that, you shouldn’t be on the road…period.  When I was first learning to drive it was drilled into my head that I had to pay as much if not more attention to the drivers around me as I did my own driving.  I admit I didn’t get my license until I was in my 20s, not because I was scared of driving a car, but because I was scared of the other drivers on the road who don’t pay attention.

It probably doesn’t do any good, but as I see people voicing that “bikes need to pay more attention and follow the rules of the road” I’ve made it a point to voice my opinions and share my own experiences.  I see just as many if not more people in cars who aren’t following the rules putting others lives in danger.

For instance a few years ago Ben and I were making our way through town after a two up ride through the mountains.  It was an early Sunday morning, and there weren’t many cars on the road.  As we approached an intersection at the end of town we both saw the woman in a van sitting at the stop sign on the right.  The closer we got I could see she was on her cell phone not paying attention at all.  She waited until we were so close that I could describe the details on the key chain hanging from her rear view mirror when she decided she was ready to pull out.  She didn’t even look for oncoming traffic until she was already half way in our lane.  To make matters worse she noticed us at the last minute, and instead of trying to get out of our way, she stopped right in our path.

To this day I don’t know how we managed to avoid hitting her and didn’t wreck.  We were doing the 35mph speed limit through town, but it was a miracle we came to a stop inches from the van.  Even as the passenger I could have reached out and touched her car.

How did she react?  She rolled down her window and yelled at us.  ”F*#&ing idiot!  You people need to slow down before you kill someone!”

It took everything in me not to drag her out of that car, but I’m too good to stoop to that level.  That mentality is abundant in our area.  No matter what the real story is when a car and bike collide people always assume the bike is at fault.

Just a couple months ago Ben was on the bike, and I was following behind him in the car.  He stopped at a stop sign and waited as a car was coming.  The car turned into the road we were on, and cut the corner.  The driver was busy digging around for something, and wasn’t even paying attention to making the turn.  I laid down on my car horn, and she came inches from taking Ben out.  He wasn’t at fault.  He was sitting there waiting as he should, and she almost ran over him.

I can’t tell you how many times on a 4 lane road we’ve had to swerve to avoid cars changing lanes without checking their blind spots, and on a daily basis I see at least one idiot who thinks it’s perfectly okay to lane cross.

I’ve lost 2 friends in accidents because a driver wasn’t paying attention.  The first, a car ran into him as he was sitting at a red light.  The car ran over him pinning him beneath.  The elderly man driving the car swore he didn’t see the bike or the red light.  In my opinion he shouldn’t have had a license.  The other, he was hit head on in a curve because the car was in his lane.  Speed wasn’t a factor in either.  Neither rider was in the wrong.

I do believe there are a lot of stupid people out there on the roads whether it be in a vehicle or on a bike, but many of these situations could be avoided if motorcycle safety was a bigger part of driver training.

When I got my permit to drive a car I also got my motorcycle permit.  If I hadn’t studied for both tests I wouldn’t have had any idea about anything pertaining to motorcycle safety because motorcycles aren’t even mentioned on the driver’s written test.  Why not?  I think all driver’s training should discuss ways to watch out for motorcycles, too.  Often times I’ve read stories from people who admitted they looked both directions, but the motorcycle was so small they just didn’t notice it coming.

So… whether you’re in a car or on a bike please watch out everyone around you, 2 wheels and 4.  It only takes a couple extra seconds to turn your head and look again for smaller vehicles.  When you’re driving, leave your cell phone alone.  If you think the call is so important you need to answer your phone, pull over.  Find a radio station you want to listen to before you move your car (or invest in a stereo with remote!), don’t fumble around in the floor for something you dropped, keep your eyes on the road, and your car in your lane!

Is that really too much to ask?

Listen up all you people who spend each warm weekend hitting US 178.  You need to be a little bit more careful this year because law enforcement is cracking down on wreckless motorcycle riders.  Hubby called me to tell me he bought a newspaper this morning, and I knew there had to be something related to motorcycles in it if he bought it.  Front page of the Greenville News confirms what we’ve all been hearing for awhile.  There are far too many complaints and too many motorcyclists acting stupid.

Personally I chose to stop riding 178 last year because there was a lot of wreckless activity going on, and I was tired of it.  It’s hard to enjoy the ride when you’re worrying about what some idiot is doing passing in a blind curve and stuff like that.  There have been numerous deaths on 178 in the past few years, and most of them have been caused by people just not riding right.

If you want to push the limits of yourself and your bike, go for it, but do it at a trackday where you’re on a closed course.  Remember when you’re out there opening up the throttle and pushing yourself to the limits on a mountain road, you’ve got other innocent drivers and bikers all around you.  Think smart, and think safe.

One thing that irks me about the article is there is definitely a stereotyping going on.

Emily said he has seen some examples of reckless driving during the group’s frequent outings along State 11. “You’ll see some young people” driving recklessly, he said. “But we’re not into that.” Story here

Well guess what? We’re not exactly into that either, and we’re some of those young people. Heck I could take you to 178 on any given Sunday morning and show you a very large group of riders in their 40s and 50s who are up there pushing it harder than any of the “young people” out there. As a note to you journalists out there, stop stereotyping already. Choose your quotes carefully, and don’t make it sound like you’re lumping us all into one group because I promise we’re not all these hooligans you try to make us out to be.

Last night I talked to a friend of mine who lives in Sarasota, Florida. He was telling me about how bad the wind was getting where he lives, yet he’s seen a ton of guys out riding through it. When I talked to him last night winds were gusting around 20mph. Well honestly I can’t say much about that. We’ve been stuck in some pretty heavy storms before with gusting winds that felt like they were going to push us completely off the road, but we had no choice but to keep riding or get stuck sitting on the side of the road in the middle of no where. I guess that’s something you get used to when you spend most of your time in the mountains though.

Where I was going with this point though, is that I hope all of you guys and gals in Florida are safe and sound. I’m sending good thoughts your way! I’m just glad this is only a tropical storm. I got kind of freaked out a few nights ago watching a special about hurricanes only getting stronger each year. They were talking about how pretty soon there might have to be another category to define storms much stronger than a category 5. Will we see a category 6 in the future? Or do you think it’ll be something like CAT5a and so on maybe even up to CAT5e!  That would seriously be scary.