May is Motorcycle Safety Month. To help celebrate this very important issue, several representatives of the media met on an overcast Monday morning at the Luzerne County Community College parking lot C, where the college conducts its riders’ safety training, to help spread the word.
Karen Dussinger, press officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, related that, “Wyoming Valley Motorcycle Club was gracious enough to include us on their May is Motorcycle Safety Month billboard.”
This got the ball rolling for Monday’s event which saw, in addition to the Weekender, WNEP 16’s Ryan Leckey and Duffy from Rock 107 both on live remotes. All of this attention was to promote awareness of motorcycles on Pennsylvania roads this riding season.
Dussinger continued, “It was a great opportunity, and the timing was right” for the event. “It’s an important message, and (WVMC is) always so enthusiastic about everything, and they really push safety.”
Leckey related how he got involved, saying, “I’d been in touch with Penn Dot and tied (safety) into the Memorial Day weekend, quite timely.” He added, “We try to give people stories that they can use at the right time.”
Memorial Day Weekend begins Friday, May 28 and officially ends on Monday, May 31. This weekend sees an increase of motorcycles on the road because it’s a holiday and is often referred to as the unofficial first weekend of summer.
“I would like to ride a moped to work, but it’s just me and the truckers at 3:30 a.m,” Leckey said.
This is quite a reasonable fear, as it seems the smaller your vehicle, the larger the trucks seem to be.
Helping with the organization and keeping an eye on safety during Monday’s remote was Stephanie Wasmanski, who is the site coordinator and RideCoach for Pennsylvania’s Motorcycle Safety Program. She has been doing this for five years. She comes by her talents genetically, as her father was a MSP RiderCoach as well. She told me the story of how she got her automobile driver’s license.
“I wasn’t allowed to get my driver’s license until I took the motorcycle safety course,” she said. “I had my motorcycle license one week before I got my driver’s license. My dad said that it would make you a better rider and driver. It’s all about being aware of each other.”
Wasmanski is both excited and serious about the work that she does. She said that the safety courses are great and that “the Basic Rider’s Course is really something, and it gives (new drivers and riders) a good background. The classroom portion will give them a lot of good information.” She added, “We require full safety gear. This includes a helmet, gloves, eye protection and over-the-ankle footwear.”
I showed her my tactical boots, and we got into a good discussion of steel-toed boots and the importance of having your ankles covered. What can I say, girls and shoes, it’s a thing. In this case, it’s a safety thing.
Duffy, part of the “Big and Fancy Morning Show,” was there on his own bike, a sweet little Suzuki GSXR. He’s been riding for a while now and got his start on dirt bikes.
“I took the MSP course here, and that’s how I got my license,” Duffy said. “I had ridden a dirt bike, but it’s different for street. The course showed me I had a lot of bad habits from riding dirt bikes, and it showed me how to ride the right way for the street.”
In imitation of Fonzie, Duffy attempted to ride his bike over a shark tank in the parking lot. On radio, it worked much better, especially since we had no ramp or shark tank. Well, we had a small ramp, but Duffy broke it. He feels that one good reason to do this kind of spot was to “make sure people who drive in cars pay attention to motorcycle riders.” It’s all about being aware of each other.
Also on hand for the morning was Rebecca Rybak who is from the North East Highway Safety Program. Rybak said, “The HSP is funded under PennDOT, and we help to promote the MSP and the Web site, www.LiveFreeRideAlive.”
She said that last week the group passed out posters to bars and coffee shops to help raise awareness. Her group also promotes the mature rider task force, and she too stresses the need for veteran riders to “take the course and wear all your gear and to make vehicle riders more aware of motorcycle riders. There are more riders out there, and they are riding more frequently.”
So let’s all enjoy this Memorial Day weekend, and please be aware of each other out there.
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