Stretching Motorcycle Awareness Month for the Entire Riding Season

As Seen in Midwest Motorcyclist Magazine

 

 

 Summer has arrived in the Midwest and Motorcycle Awareness Month is already over. For those readers who took up the cause and participated in Motorcycle Awareness events last month: Thank you! You may have helped save a life. As always, my team and I were busy throughout the month of May, participating in various awareness activities and handing out swag to help you remind drivers to be Motorcycle Aware. 

 

Every year, my team and I try to come up with ways to stretch Motorcycle Awareness Month across the entire riding season in order to keep the momentum going. The hope is that the more we talk about and promote motorcycle awareness and safety, the more likely drivers are to finally get the message and watch for motorcycles. Here are a few ways you can add motorcycle awareness to your other summer activities.

 

DO get your kids involved. Encourage them to play Count the Motorcycles while you're in the car. Get a notebook or have them create a motorcycle-count chart that they can bring to show-and-tell in September. Hopefully, kids who have grown up specifically looking for motorcycles on the roads will be more likely to be Motorcycle Aware when they start driving.

 

DON'T talk the talk if you don't walk the walk. Be Motorcycle Aware when you're driving your vehicle. You're not too old to play Count the Motorcycles… 

 

DO use social media to spread the word. We talk about the power of social media all the time, yet I see very few posts encouraging motorcycle awareness after the month of May. Try creating a simple "Watch for Motorcycles" post, then share and re-share it every week with your followers. If you need ideas for motorcycle awareness posts, follow my account (Facebook.com/TheMotorcycleLawyer).

 

DO encourage awareness with swag. A quick web search will reveal dozens of websites where you can create inexpensive custom t-shirts, mugs, and stickers that you can share with family and friends. Many sites also offer a fundraising option; design a cool motorcycle awareness t-shirt, sell the shirts online to other riders, and donate the money to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation or your local ABATE chapter (or use it to create even more swag!). If you or your children play in a sports league, why not add a motorcycle awareness message to the team shirts? 

 

DON'T ignore local advocacy groups or club activities. There are a lot of ways to become more involved with the biker community. Find out what's going on in your neighborhood and get involved. 

 

DO have a takeaway. It's important to display motorcycle awareness messages (bumper stickers, lawn signs, etc.), but having a takeaway option will literally send the message home with your friends and visitors. Having a BBQ? Print some labels with "Watch for Motorcycles", and space to write someone's name, and stick them to your disposable cups. Having a yard sale? Use the same labels as price tags for your items. Kid hosting a lemonade stand? Write "Watch for Motorcycles" on the cups. There are lots of quick and easy ways to spread the word.

 

DO use the selfie. Let's face it, selfies are here to say, so we might as well use them to encourage motorcycle awareness. Use an app to add a custom motorcycle awareness message to your pics before you share them, or hold up one of our "Watch for Motorcycles" bumper stickers whenever you take a photo. You can get our bumper sticker by emailing reception@lawyerforlife.com or visiting www.MotorcycleLawyerMichigan.com. 

 

DON'T be passive when it comes to motorcycle awareness. As riders, we all need to work together to spread the word that motorcycles are everywhere. As The Motorcycle Lawyer, I can assure you that many vehicle drivers just aren't getting it. I know this because I get calls every day from motorcyclists who have been hit by a vehicle driver who claims they "didn't see" the motorcyclists, or riders who have had to lay their bikes down to avoid getting hit by drivers who were not motorcycle aware. One month of motorcycle awareness is not enough, we need to keep motorcyclists at the front of every driver's mind. 

 

DO tell us how you're keeping the momentum going! Find us on Facebook or email reception@lawyerforlife.com to share your ideas for spreading motorcycle awareness all season long. 

 

Before wrapping this up, I wanted to share an update regarding two Michigan Bills that have now been signed into law: House Bills 4853 and 4854, which both took effect May 23. Both laws relate to motorcycle safety training in Michigan. The first, HB 4853, allows public agencies (school districts, colleges, police departments, and other government entities) offering motorcycle safety  training courses to increase their prices from "up to $25" to "up to $50". The original fees were set in the 1980s and have not increased, even though both demand and cost to offer these courses has gone up. Most agencies have already set their calendars for 2016 and are unlikely to increase their fees until the 2017 riding season. 

 

The second Bill, HB 4854, should make up for the fee increase: this law allows motorcyclists applying for an original CY motorcycle endorsement to bypass the Secretary of State's written test, road sign test, and driving skills test if the rider has successfully taken and passed a certified motorcycle safety course. That's right: take and pass an SOS-approved motorcycle safety course, and you can apply directly for your motorcycle endorsement. 

 

Finally, next month (July) is Women's Motorcycle Month. My team and I are looking for women riders with a story to tell: We are looking for women riders' Best Ride Ever stories. Share them with us on Facebook, or send them by email to reception@lawyerforlife.com. We'll read everything you send us, and we may even use your story in our July magazine article and Facebook posts. 

 

Attorney Jason A. Waechter is a national attorney specializing in the areas of motorcycle and motor vehicle injury litigation. Mr. Waechter has collected millions of dollars in settlements, awards and verdicts for his motorcycle clients over the past 20 years.  Jason feels a duty to give back to his community. A portion of each case settled goes to educational resources for bikers, funds to help bikers while their cases are being litigated and our motorcycle accident prevention campaign.  Call Attorney Jason Waechter toll free at 1-877-BIKER LAW. Or visit www.TheMotorcycleLawyer.com