askapro
riding gear. I’m proud to say we expe- rienced the largest reduction of fatali- ties in the country—38 fewer deaths—for a 7 percent decrease in the first year. We are the only state besides Idaho
that requires motorcycle instructors to wear a motorcycle-specific (or any other type) of jacket as part of their protective gear any time the students see them riding. This includes riding to and from the range as well as rid- ing to any demonstrations. We feel it is hypocritical and sends a mixed message to talk about the importance of riding gear if the instructors don’t practice what they preach. Actions always speak louder than words. We also trained a record number of civil- ian instructors and students in the state in intermediate and advanced training courses on their own bikes. What makes this even more
remarkable is that this all happened the same year total traffic safety fatal- ities (including cars, trucks, busses, etc.) in California increased 4 per- cent, according to the National Safety Council. This means
the relative
societal danger of riding became signifi- cantly safer compared to previous years. And we have plenty more safety initiatives that have us working closer with DMV, law enforcement and the judicial system to decrease fatalities even further. Of course, I’m the first to admit that rider
training is only one piece of the safety puz- zle and that rider behavior is influenced by many factors. Similarly, one-year fluctua- tions mean less than three-plus year trends, so stay tuned for more data as it becomes available. Unfortunately, the incentives issue has
caused many state programs to increase beginner training numbers (the worst pos- sible metric) by lowering the barrier to entry to our sport by either offering free or heavily subsidized beginner rider training, or not being honest about the dangers and difficulty of riding. I don’t think state motorcycle safety programs should be in the business of “promoting” the sport. That’s the job of private business and tour- ism bureaus. Rather, they should be brutally honest with prospective riders, spend their resources promoting follow-on training for existing riders on their own bikes, and pay more than lip service to lifelong learning.
The military did just that in 2009 by mak- ing follow-on and refresher training a requirement and saw between 37 and 61 percent reductions in fatalities, depending on the service. We can do the same, but it’s going to take
organizations like BMW MOA to be the opinion leaders in our riding communities and make safety cool so the others will embrace it. Perhaps only then will motor- cycle riding begin to get anywhere near as statistically safe as driving a car.
Lee Parks (162125) has been riding and rac- ing motorcycles for well over 33 years. He has been the editor of both consumer and trade motorcycle magazines, manufacturers his own line of motorcycle gloves and is a WERA national endurance champion. His riding skills book Total Control has sold over 100,000 copies in five languages around the world. Lee’s Total Control Training company manages—and is the curriculum vendor for—the California Motorcyclist Safety Pro- gram as well as several large military con- tracts. If you have a question you’d like to him to answer in this column, send him an email at
lee@totalcontroltraining.net.
www.motomachines.com
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BMW OWNERS NEWS August 2016
skills
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