CHP Secures Grant to Increase Motorcyle Safety Awareness
This is a press release from the California Highway Patrol:
To help save lives and reduce the risk associated with riding a motorcycle, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) will implement a new, federally funded grant campaign promoting motorcycle safety in California from October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022.
The goal of the Get Educated and Ride Safe (GEARS) IV grant is to decrease the number of motorcycle-involved crashes and victims through education and enforcement campaigns. In federal fiscal year (FFY) 2018-19, there was an approximate 10 percent decrease in motorcycle-involved crashes in California, followed by a 20 percent drop the following year based on provisional data. Even with the decline, there were 6,849 motorcycle-involved crashes resulting in 306 deaths and 6,118 injuries within CHP jurisdiction in FFY 2019-20.
“While the decrease in the number of crashes is encouraging, there is still work to be done,” said CHP Commissioner Amanda Ray. “The GEARS IV grant will support the Department’s efforts to increase motorcycle safety through education and enforcement.”
During this grant period, the CHP will participate in traffic safety education campaigns, such as “May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.” These campaigns will promote the use of U.S. Department of Transportation-compliant helmets for all riders and raise motorists’ awareness of sharing the road with motorcyclists. The CHP will also increase enforcement efforts in areas with a high number of motorcycle-involved crashes, which were a result of speed, improper turning, and driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security.
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Awareness this:
Motorcycles, are freakin’ dangerous!!
I quit riding in 1972 because of stupid car-drivers and crowded roads, and every time some clown “lane-splits” anywhere near me, I have to say “slow down, don’t want to see you in the ER with all your bones broken and half your skin scraped off”…
Motorcycles would be a fine way to transport yourself, if everyone had one, but there’s so many bad drivers, careless and intoxicated drivers, and vicious, crazy-drivers, that a single minute of motorcycle transportation is fraught with intolerable risk crossed with virtual certainty that somebody will change lanes unnecessarily and hit you, or somebody will turn left in front of you, or someone will simply run you off the road for the hell of it!
And why do we need people who ride with no mufflers? If I drove a Toyota one mile with no mufflers, I would probably collect bullet holes in my fenders, and rightly so!
Motorcycles are operated by a “special-class” of of daredevils and misfits, and, in my opinion, if you don’t qualify for a “Hells-Angels” vest, you probably just shouldn’t have a bike…
Whenever I see a “Yoga Girl” driving her Vespa in a Crop-Top and Lululemons and Birkenstock Arizonas, her down vest flapping in the wind and her helmet-strap unhitched, I feel like taking her photo and sending it to her Mother…
Stupid-cycles, they should call them, but then they do keep Ambulance-Drivers in work…
VMG, I agree with most of your comment about motorcycles being dangerous, and the need to watch out for crazy drivers. It is against the law to rider in California without a noise compliant muffler(s) on your bike, but law enforcement just lets it roll off their shoulders. I disagree with you that bikes are operated by a special class of daredevils and misfits. They make up a small percentage of the total rider population. Hells Angles are nothing but law breaking jackass in my book. Please give some respect to the rest of us that ride and follow all the rules of the road and law!
Riders following every law are the exception, and I am uncertain that a single example exists, but you go ahead!
I am proud to say I am an exception, and riding for over sixty years with no major accidents keeps me rolling.
DRIVERS following every law are the exception, and I am uncertain that a single example exists, but you go ahead!
VMG, I think what you meant to say was, Some motorcycle riders, and most car/truck drivers are freakin’ dangerous!! I failed to see where you pointed out that motorcycles are dangerous. Don’t get me wrong, they are, but, you didn’t point it out. What you did point out is how oblivious, there by, dangerous, drivers are, especially around riders.
Lane splitting: legal in California, has limits. Do some riders exceed the limits, breaking the law? Of course. But nowhere near the majority of riders. I’m sure you see it otherwise. Don’t worry, the coin has two sides. You are most assuredly grouped, by riders, in with drivers who never see motorcycles.
Yoga girls. That’s a good one. Don’t forget the clowns in shorts, tennies, tank top, and skull cap. Personally, I go ATGATT, All The Gear, All The Time, including Summer in Redding. But hey, that’s me.
H.A.: I know a few. Yes, there is a chapter in Humboldt. Has been since at least the early 1970s. Shady stuff? They know I don’t want to know and I don’t ask. Ride like crazy? On occasion, just like drivers. My experience is that they usually take it to the Samoa dragstrip on public race days, whereas drivers take it down Broadway, H & I streets, etc. And, not every Harley rider is a patch wearing member. In fact, most are motorcyclists, NOT bikers.
Sigh, I’m tired of this debate. Ride safely. Keep your head on a swivel.
PS, I will agree on the noise issue. I know several loud pipes that didn’t save lives. My swiveling head on my quiet bike has kept me alive.
When motorcycle begin having a pulsing headlight, I started flashing my high beams at every one of them.
I understand they are doing that to increase their chances of being seen, but in my opinion they’re increased visibility is coming at a risk to everyone else due to how distracting the pulsating headlights are.
The pulsing headlight(s) made you look right? That is the whole point. The rider wants people to see him. Flashing your high beams is uncalled for and rude!
Flashing high beams in any situation is illegal. A friend did it at a cop who was driving with his highs on, and got a good scolding. Flashing highs could also be dangerous to the driver getting flashed, especially a motorcycle trying to stay balanced. As a point of reference, motorcycle lights do not flicker low/high, they flicker low/dim. I suspect you know this Martin, so this is to cagers, er, uh, other drivers.
Bug, I do know about the flashing head lights. Thank you for saying so. Appreciated!