The North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program is sponsoring a program to help educate motorists throughout the state about motorcycle safety. The program, called BikeSafe NC was established five years ago to provide motorcycle safety classes to North Carolina residents. The classes, taught by local motorcycle police officers does not replace a standard motorcycle operator’s education class, instructors warn, but is intended to provide tips for becoming a better, safer motorcycle rider. In honor of National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Week, a series of four of these classes was recently launched in Thomasville, North Carolina, and it is scheduled to continue through the month of July. About 12 residents of Thomasville and surrounding communities attended the first class, held at an area hotel. The class began with a law enforcement officer showing a series of photographs of fatal motorcycle collisions as a reminder of the risks involved in operating a motorcycle. Thomasville received a grant recently from the North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety Program to buy two 2011 Kawaski Concour 1400 patrol motorcycles and train two experienced police officers to operate them. Since it debuted in 2007, the BikeSafe NC has been credited with reducing the number of motorcycle collisions throughout the state by nearly one fourth.
As a Riverside personal injury lawyer, I am hopeful that this safety initiative and others like it are successful in reducing the number of collisions on American roadways. If you have been involved in a traffic accident, please consider contacting a Riverside car accident attorney.