on the cover / By Mark McKenna

Keep Upright!

Whitmer says the thing he hears most when a motorist hits a motorcycle is, “I didn’t see them.” His advice to fellow riders: “Assume people don’t see you and be prepared to take drastic measures. You can be the best rider in the world and someone else can cause you to crash.” The RiderCoaches also have similar advice. Johnson says riders should always “Stay Alert. Stay Aware. That’s what we preach, be aware of what’s going on around you and be prepared to act.”

Riders also need to know their limitations and abilities as well as their bikes. “Be familiar with your bike and it’s capabilities,” Whitmer said. “I’ve seen people buy a new Kawasaki from the shop, pull out, and crash right across the street. I’ve seen it,”

It’s not just motorists who are making mistakes. Whitmer also sees riders with bad habits. Whitmer says he repeatedly spots riders taking their feet off the pegs and walking the bike to a stop. A proper safe stop uses both brakes to come to a complete stop, requiring a rider to use their right foot to engage the rear brake while squeezing the front brake with the right hand.

Local CHP Public Affairs Officer Paul Dahlen says if there are more bikes on the road this year the CHP hasn’t had any spike in accidents or citations. “We have only had two fatal wrecks this year,” he said. He knows first-hand the dangers of riding. Dahlen rode motorcycles on patrol for the CHP out of Redwood City. “It was not uncommon for people to lane change me,” he said. He agreed with Whitmer on issuing tickets for cutting of patrol bikes, “You want to make sure drivers don’t think they have free reign over the whole road. They need to check their blind spots.”

We all share the road. Motorists and riders all share responsibility for their own safety and the safety of others on the road. Garcia says all people should drive defensively, but riders even more so than cars. He echoes the sentiment of others: “Assume people won’t see you all the time. Don’t take it personally, accept it and adjust your riding strategy accordingly.”

Jennifer Joell, owner of Redwood Region Motorcycle Training, says that she hopes that as more people ride — be it for fun, to beat gas prices or whatever — that more drivers will start looking for motorcycles and be more aware of riders on the road. “Let’s face it,” she said, “motorcycles are just darn hard to see.”

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