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Tips for drivers during Motorcycle Awareness Month
Suburban Chicago News ^ | 5/6/05

Posted on 05/06/2005 12:39:51 PM PDT by martin_fierro

Tips for drivers during Motorcycle Awareness Month

A number of communities across the state of Illinois are proclaiming May as Motorcycle Awareness Month. These communities, along with ABATE of Illinois Inc., recognize motorcyclists have the privilege to share the highways and byways across America.

Throughout the month of May and continuing through the year, the DuKane Chapter of ABATE of Illinois — A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education — offers these tips to the driving public to be increase their awareness of motorcyclists.

• Motorcyclists often slow by downshifting or rolling off the throttle. Allow more following distance, about three or four seconds.

• Stopping distance for motorcycles is nearly the same as for cars, but slippery pavement makes quick stopping difficult. Allow a motorcyclist more following distance because it can't always stop "on a dime."

• Motorcyclists often adjust position within a lane to be seen more easily and to minimize the effects of wind, road debris and passing vehicles. Understand that motorcyclists adjust lane position for a purpose, not to be reckless or show off.

• Because of its small size, a motorcycle might seem to be moving faster than it really is and may look farther away than it is. When checking traffic to turn at an intersection, predict a motorcycle is closer than it looks.

• A motorcycle can easily be hidden by objects inside or outside a car, such as door posts, mirrors, passengers, bushes, fences, bridges, blind spots, etc. Take an extra moment to thoroughly check traffic, whether you're changing lanes or turning at intersections.

• There are a lot more cars and trucks than motorcycles on the road, and some drivers don't "recognize" a motorcycle and ignore it (usually unintentionally). Look for motorcycles, especially when checking traffic at an intersection.

• At night, single headlights and taillights of motorcycles can blend into the lights of other traffic. Those "odd" lights could be a motorcycle.

• When a motorcycle is in motion, don't think of it as motorcycle; think of it as a person.

Contributed by DuKane Chapter of ABATE of Illinois in Wheaton.


TOPICS: Hobbies; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: abate; motorcycles
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Let's be careful out there!
1 posted on 05/06/2005 12:39:51 PM PDT by martin_fierro
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To: 230FMJ; 506trooper; 68 grunt; AdamSelene235; angry elephant; archy; Askel5; baddog1; basil; ...
FReeper
Motorcycle
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2 posted on 05/06/2005 12:41:19 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: martin_fierro
1. Watch out for left turners at intersections ! Don't allow another car (on your left) to obstruct your view.

2. Never slow down without checking your rear.

3. Practice emergency stops and swerves regularly.

3 posted on 05/06/2005 12:45:05 PM PDT by AdamSelene235 (Truth has become so rare and precious she is always attended to by a bodyguard of lies.)
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To: AdamSelene235

Had a guy a few weeks ago who swerved in front of me in his SUV and then swerve back because 'I' caused him to move quickly and THAT caused him to drop his cell phone into his Starbucks cup.


4 posted on 05/06/2005 12:49:55 PM PDT by pikachu (Your milage may vary and objects in the mirror may be uglier than the appear!)
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To: pikachu

Stupid Cager trick #1324123412341aa


5 posted on 05/06/2005 12:50:58 PM PDT by AdamSelene235 (Truth has become so rare and precious she is always attended to by a bodyguard of lies.)
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To: martin_fierro
This is all excellent advice.

Scooters, on the other hand, are legitimate targets.

6 posted on 05/06/2005 1:09:07 PM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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To: martin_fierro

• Stopping distance for motorcycles is nearly the same as for cars,
-------
What kind of 'bus' are you riding???? 'Most' motorcycles stop much more rapidly than cars.


7 posted on 05/06/2005 1:46:01 PM PDT by SFC Chromey (Panama, Bosnia, Iraq, where next? I say retreat through Iran, then flank west through Syria!)
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To: SFC Chromey

ah motorists, what a group huh, it's hard enough when in a car I have to use ESP to guess if some idiot is going to change lanes esp on three lanes since so many people have never heard of turn signals, sorry men are the worst for it, I've got turn signals so engrained I signal at times when it is unnecessary, yeah so what...

when I was a teenager, we had friends who got severely injured when a driver changed lanes and didn't see them so I've been extra aware of motorcyclists then and now that both my brothers and my sister have bought their middle aged crisis Harley's, I continue to be extra aware in fact I was sitting a red light in my car and saw my sister tooling down the intersecting street and some bitch drove out in front of her from a parking lot at the last possible moment, which she anticipated, but as a new driver, her heart was racing after that, so was mine....


8 posted on 05/06/2005 1:57:46 PM PDT by littlelilac
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To: martin_fierro

You have a great looking Bike! Have you ever taken it to the Rock Store in Topanga Canyon? or up to Laguna Seca of course in Calif... My late husband was a Cio and use to go on the Annual PIG RUNS..very fun...


9 posted on 05/06/2005 2:06:08 PM PDT by missyme (The Conclusion is:)
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To: martin_fierro

Cio sp ( COP...)


10 posted on 05/06/2005 2:07:13 PM PDT by missyme (The Conclusion is:)
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To: AdamSelene235

and
cover and secure your loads in your truck beds...


11 posted on 05/06/2005 2:15:25 PM PDT by Rakkasan1 (The MRS wanted to go to an expensive place to eat so I took her to the gas station.)
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To: Rakkasan1
Let me add the annoyance of smokers who flick their butts out the window.

(I'm a smoker.)
12 posted on 05/06/2005 2:37:41 PM PDT by LuLuLuLu (Loud pipes save lives.)
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To: LuLuLuLu; martin_fierro
"Let me add the annoyance of smokers who flick their butts out the window."

Being mooned can be distracting.

13 posted on 05/06/2005 3:22:17 PM PDT by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: martin_fierro

Oh, now I understand. I thought May was the opening of motorcycle hunting season. Nah, couldn't be. It's open season all year.


14 posted on 05/06/2005 3:48:33 PM PDT by wizr (Freedom ain't free.)
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To: martin_fierro
• When a motorcycle is in motion, don't think of it as motorcycle; think of it as a person.

And here in Floriduh, think of it as an invitation to discover the complexities of our new "No retreat" gun law.

Have a polite day. :-)

15 posted on 05/06/2005 3:51:13 PM PDT by JoeSixPack1
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To: Hank Rearden

Is that why I saw so many scooters in Paris, France? And hardly any motorcycles?


16 posted on 05/06/2005 5:07:19 PM PDT by AntiBurr ("The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."-- Ecclesiastes)
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To: martin_fierro

Hang up and drive!


17 posted on 05/06/2005 5:13:52 PM PDT by Liberal Classic (No better friend, no worse enemy. Semper Fi.)
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To: martin_fierro

Good advice!!


18 posted on 05/06/2005 5:40:53 PM PDT by international american (Tagline now flameproof....purchased from "Conspiracy Guy Custom Taglines"LLC)
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To: martin_fierro

This is all old news in NH, where motorcycle safety is practically a high school elective. Laconia forever!


19 posted on 05/06/2005 6:57:05 PM PDT by NHAntiMassRedRebel (There's still alot of us left up here. Don't underestimate me, Masshole!)
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To: Hank Rearden

I'm gonna be riding a scooter in a few months, buddy.

A dear friend's dad passed on a coupla months ago, and once all the probate crap and garage sale goes down, she's gonna sell me one of her daddy's scooters, so I don't have to waste gas and money driving the POS Chevy.

The family has already given me dad's old van, that I donated to a worthy cause.

I'd buy dad's Harley, but I can't afford it, nor can I afford any of the other bikes he had, though there are a few "drool-factor" rides in his small collection.

I'm only getting back on two wheels after a 10 year hiatus. The pause was caused by 3 consecutive nasty (but non-damaging) incidents on my KZ 1100.

I swore to myself after the third one (ball-bearings gravel and oil on a hairpin) that I'd never ride again.....

I guess I fibbed


20 posted on 05/07/2005 12:09:48 AM PDT by Don W (My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless three other people are with me.)
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