May is ‘Motorcycle Safety Awareness’ month
This May, during Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, all motorists are urged to take an extra look—double-check your blind spots—before turning or changing lanes because that extra second could save a life.
“Motorcyclists, with their smaller profiles, can easily ‘vanish’ in a vehicle’s blind spots,” says Scott Schloegel, acting president and CEO of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. “Although many cars today have blind-spot detection systems, they aren’t a fail-safe. So we urge car and truck drivers to actively be on the lookout for motorcyclists. Use your eyes and mirrors and look twice, especially in your blind spots, before maneuvering on the road.”
To help spread the word about safety awareness, images and animations can be downloaded from this link, “Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month,” for POS display or other literature that you may wish to use.
“According to the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA), in 2022 – the last year of complete data – motorcycle fatalities were up 1.2 percent,” says Schloegel. “Motorcyclists represented 15 percent of fatalities despite only being 3 percent of the vehicles on roadways. It’s everyone’s responsibility to keep the roadways safe.”
Safety tips, booklets, and other reference materials are available at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation website, msf-usa.org.
