Trike Talk

Motorcycle Trikes and Bikes: News and Views

Motorcycle Safety – May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month

The month of May is upon on us and with the longer days and warmer temperatures come more opportunities to ride your bikes or trikes. Most of us a pretty good at watching out for ouselves but we know the folks in the 4-wheel vehicles are not always on the look out for us. For this reason May has been named Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.

The point of this awareness campaign is to get the folks driving the cars and trucks to pay a little extra attention and to watch out for those riding their bikes and trikes. Emphasis will be placed throughout the month on things like reminding drivers that motorcycles are smaller than most vehicles so they are a little easier to overlook. Pay extra attention when driving to look for motorcycles and trikes. Be sure when checking their side mirrors when driving to watch in their blind spot for bikers. It really doesn’t matter if you are on a big Vintage Harley Davidson or a little Yamaha XT folks are looking for cars and trucks when they are driving and not motorcycles. So we all have to be aware and drive defensively. In addition wear your safety gear when riding.

Here are a few additional safety tips for folks to be aware of during the heavy riding season:

For the Automobile Driver

• Remember the motorcycle is a vehicle with all of the rights and privileges of any other motor vehicle on the roadway. Always allow a motorcyclist the full lane width — never try to share a lane

• Always make a visual check for motorcycles by checking mirrors and blind spots before entering or leaving a lane of traffic and at intersections

• Always signal your intentions before changing lanes or merging with traffic

• Don’t be fooled by a flashing turn signal on a mo?torcycle — motorcycle signals are often not self-canceling and riders sometimes forget to turn them off. Wait to be sure the motorcycle is going to turn before you proceed

• Allow more following distance, three or four sec?onds, when behind a motorcycle, so the motorcyclist has enough time to maneuver or stop in an emer?gency. And don’t tailgate. In dry conditions, motorcycles can stop more quickly than cars.

For the Bikers

• Avoid riding in poor weather conditions

• Wearing brightly colored protective gear and a DOT-compliant helmet

• Using turn signals for every turn or lane change, even if the rider thinks no one will see it

• Combining hand and turn signals to draw more attention to themselves

• Using reflective tape and stickers

• Positioning themselves in the lane where they will be most visible to other drivers

So be safe as we get the 2009 riding season under way!

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