Safety Tips for Motorcyclists

Don’t like the weather?  Wait it will change.  Speaking of weather, on those few warm days and some not so warm days one of the early signs of spring has made its presence known.  I’m talking about motorcycles.

I’m going to ask everyone to remember to be vigilant and look more than once for motorcycles.  A few seconds of safe driving techniques could save everyone from years of heartache and pain.

That being said, motorcycle operators and their passengers also have a responsibility for the safe operation of a motorcycle.  Drivers have you done your equipment safety check?  Is everything working? Have you re-acclimated to your motorcycle’s equipment, switches, grips, brakes and shifting?  

Myself, I take a couple of days to re-acclimate myself and check my equipment by doing some slow driving skill drills like braking, cornering, acceleration, obstacle avoidance and using all the buttons and switches so I am familiar with them and can utilize them while driving at road speed.  A great place to do these drills is at a local school or my personal favorite a local cemetery.  Yes, the allegory is a reminder if I’m not safe, myself or the person riding with me, may end up a resident here.  But anywhere where there is no traffic and you can tune your skills would be worth the investment of time and effort. 

When operating a motorcycle, defensive driving is “standard operating procedure.”  Remember what you are driving and even if you are “in the right,” if you crash, most likely it’s going to hurt you and your passenger.  Safety equipment is always a plus, helmet, gloves, eye protection, boots, etc.  If you choose not to use certain safety equipment, as my wife says, “choice is a wonderful thing, so is responsibility.” 

I was out driving I-96 and US-23 last weekend and saw several groups out picking up litter.  It was great to see people making the effort to make their community a better and cleaner place to live.  You did a great job and thank you for your efforts.  

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention what happened in Boston.  It was heartening to observe, when people needed help, not everybody ran away and it wasn’t just public safety personnel who came to people’s aid.  We saw many ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things and helping people by; performing first-air, clearing areas so others could get in to help and escorting others to safety.  The people of Boston have every right to be proud of how they took positive action during a time of crisis and America has every right to be proud of them too.

We also saw an outstanding public safety response from law enforcement, EMS and fire fighters.  It was a massive coordinated effort by local, state and federal agencies utilizing their various skills, knowledge and technology which included cooperation from citizens and media to solve this act of violence.  And that is not a small endeavor.

If you have a questions or comments please email them to askatrooper12@gmail.com, or mail them to Ask A Trooper, Michigan State Police – Brighton Post, 4337 Buno Road, Brighton, MI  48116.