We’re a little more than halfway through May and “Motorcycle Awareness Month.” May is typically the kick-off for motorcycle season in many parts of the country and car drivers have to get used to seeing us out there on the roads again. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation launched a microsite “For Car Drivers” to educate and encourage safety and awareness of all those out there riding on two wheels.
Over half of all fatal motorcycle crashes involve another vehicle. Most of the time, the motorist, not the motorcyclist, is at fault because they unintentionally fail to “recognize” a motorcycle. Car drivers are often distracted while they are driving, whether it’s due to children acting up in the car, using a cell phone, fiddling with the radio, trying to eat or using some sort of GPS device.
MSF encourages all car drivers to use the SEE strategy while driving to reduce the number of accidents out there on the roads. What is SEE?
- Search: actively scan and identify factors that could create increased risk
- Evaluate: consider potential problems arising from the interaction of those factors
- Execute: the physical skills used to prevent or avoid the resulting hazards
I realize that stressing motorcycle awareness on a motorcycle blog is essentially preaching to the choir, but hopefully there are some cagers that also read this blog that can help encourage other car drivers to become better drivers. Look and look again for motorcyclists, just drive while you’re driving (let the cell calls go to voice mail!), turn signals aren’t just there to hold your hair elastics and slow the F down! We should all be able to be nice out there on the roads.