May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month

Driving a motorcycle is a family tradition for Washington Police Officer Ron See.

See has been riding and driving motorcycles since he was a little boy. While he wasn't able to afford a bike after he was newly married, he went out and purchased a new motorcycle once he could afford it and has been riding ever since.

'I got my children into it and now my grandchildren are starting to ride,” See said.

While See is passionate about his bikes, he wants to remind southeast Iowans to drive safely and be aware of their surroundings during May Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.

'People in cars need to be aware that motorcycles are going to become more prevalent on the road,” See said. 'You can easily miss them. Motorcyclists need to drive very defensively and prepare for a vehicle not to see them.”

Iowa is safety first

Iowa is the third state in the U.S. for motorcycle ownership per capita, meaning that one out of every 18 people owns and operates a motorcycle. Even with the high amount of motorcycle use, however, Iowa is 42nd in the U.S. for motorcycle accidents per capita, with only 41 fatal accidents and 1,077 injuries from motorcycle accidents in Iowa in 2018.

'That's not too bad considering some of the conditions we have here in the upper Midwest,” said Art Tousignant, Iowa State Representative for the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association and resident of Mt. Pleasant. 'Road conditions are a big factor for a motorcyclist. It's not like a car. You don't have bumpers or doors. You have you, your motorcycle and any gear you're wearing.”

According to the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, around 70 percent of people in self-reported, single-vehicle motorcycle accidents considered themselves to be riding too fast for the conditions of the road and over 80 percent wished they had been dressed better for an accident.

Ever-changing road conditions

Rain, fog or debris in the road can make driving a motorcycle challenging.

Rain not only limits visibility of motorcyclists and other vehicle drivers, it changes stopping capacity. A motorcycle that takes 30 to 40 feet to fully stop can now take up to 70 feet to stop, Tousignant said.

'It almost doubles. People don't think about how rain severely changes traction on the road,” Tousignant said.

Fog has a similar effect in creating moisture on the road. Not only that, but animals come out at night.

'The fog can change suddenly, and we don't like dodging deer. It's no fun,” Tousignant said.

Agriculture in southeast Iowa also has an effect on road conditions. Someone may be driving out of a wet field and leave mud and chunks of dirt on the road or spill grain in the fall, Tousignant said.

Grass clippings can also create a dangerously slick road condition. While in Iowa there is no state law that prohibits people from blowing grass clippings into the road, most towns have an ordinance that prohibits it.

Road kill is another inconvenience. Anything bigger than a squirrel can create a huge problem.

'I've seen motorcycles end up wrecking because of road kill,” Tousignant said.

Potholes are anothing thing motorcyclists need to be wary of. Some cities and counties fill pothols with gravel, Tousignant said. That can create two issues for motorcyclists. If it rains and the gravel-filled potholes fill with water, there are pockets in the road that are not compact. When the bike hits that, the front end will 'shimmy” and inexperienced riders can go down really quickly, Tousignant said.

The other issue is other vehicles picking up rocks in their tires, which then pop up and can hit motorcyclists.

'Imagine getting a rock into the cheeck at 50 miles per hour,” Tousignant said.

Bike safety

Motorcyclists have an acronym that they checklist before getting out their bikes: T-CLOCK. T-CLOCK stands for check tires and wheels, control levers, lights and batteries, oil and fluid levels, chassis, which is the body of the bike, and the kickstand.

See said that while checking everything is important, tire pressure is one of the biggest items drivers overlook.

'That's when you have problems, when you're riding with low air pressure,” See said.

Correct air pressure can help a motorcyclist stay grounded and get better gas mileage, See said.

Leather is the official uniform of a motorcyclist. Tousignant said that it's about protection.

'I have been in motorcycle accidents,” Tousignant said. 'It's better to have some protection than to have nothing.”

Tousignant encourages new motorcyclists to take a safety course through Southeastern Community College or Indian Hills Community College.

'A lot of times people go buy a motorcycle because it's cool, but they don't know how to ride and they buy something they're not capable of handling and wind up either hurting or killing themselves,” Tousignant said.

Share the road

Tousignant said that when motorcyclists pick up their speed when passing cars, it isn't because they like going really fast -- it's to get out of people's blind spots.

'We don't like being anywhere on the right side of your car because you will not see us,” Tousignant said. 'There's an old adage that ‘loud pipes save lives.' They don't always, but sometimes it helps drivers know we're there. Please watch for us.”

That being said, See said that even for him, it's easy on a motorcycle to exceed the speed limit.

The biggest thing is watch your speed, make sure your lights are working and wear light-colored clothing to make yourself a little more visible,” See said.

Tousignat also said that when he is sitting at a stop sign or stop light, which are common places for motorcyclists to get hit from the rear, he lightly flexes his break lights in the hopes that he is more visible to other vehicles.

He also always carries safety glasses to protect his eyes from rocks and bugs. When driving at night, he lowers his speed and makes sure to wear something reflective.

'What if you do crash?” Tousignant asked. 'How is someone going to find you? It's not the coolest thing to think about, but it is something people need to think about and be aware of those changing road conditions.”