February Abate Blog
Hi Friends,
This is a new year and we have a lot to get done in motorcycle rights, protecting our freedom, motorcycle education, training to be safer riders, motorcycle awareness and getting the message out to watch out for us. To do this effectively we need every rider to get aboard and get involved with a Motorcycle Rights Organization. If we just sit back and wait for others to stop Legislators from taking our rights away, then we will lose the freedoms that we have fought so hard to get. In 1978 ABATE was formed to be the “eyes and ears of bikers”, to let you know when it’s time to get to work and fight for your rights and freedom. Everyone needs to be a member, so go online to abate.com or call 1-800-25BIKER or 614-319-3644 and join today.
The first part of being aware is knowing how safely we ride and how it affects how legislators and how the general public looks at us. The trend is that every year we have more bikes on the road, and that is a good thing. But, when there is a large amount of non-experiences rider on the roads, it can make experienced riders look bad. Look at what the facts are telling us. In 2020 we crashed 3,872 times with 203 fatalities. You would think that these numbers are down, but they are not. In 2019 we crashed 3.578 times with 155 fatalities with no Covid 19 lockdown. Why is this when we are not riding as much, and stats are up? We will try to get you some of the answers.
The Month of March we were up 45 crashes, 145 up from 100.
The Month of July we were up 123 crashes, 733 up from 610.
By the end of the year we were up 294 crashes and 48 fatalities.
Speed related crashes were up 131. OVI crashes were up 12. Failure to yield crashes were actually down by 10.
When I went to Dealerships later in the summer and fall, there were no new bikes on the showroom floor. People who had never owned a motorcycle before bought them up so they would have something to do. Unfortunately, their lack of training and experience reflects on the whole motorcycle population when Legislators are looking to make new laws.
After looking at the stats we wonder what we can do as just an everyday biker. When you are having breakfast or lunch with your riding friends, bring up how you have seen riders riding way over their skill level. We need to talk about safe riding and try to get our fellow bikers to be aware. If you know of someone that goes every year and gets another temporary permit, get him or her endorsed even if you go take the class with him. Remember to ride SMART; Ride Sober, Ride Motorcycle Endorsed, Ride Alert, Ride with the Right Gear and Ride Trained.
Saturday, May 1, 2021 we will be at AD Farrow Harley Davidson in Sunbury Ohio. If they won’t let us have a parade or speak on the State House steps for Motorcycle Awareness Month, we will do something else to let everyone know we are back out on the roads. It’s more important than ever to start 2021 motorcycling season off with AWARENESS! In the next newsletter I will talk about getting Proclamations. ABATE of Ohio has plenty of the small “Look Twice Save a Life” yard signs for $10.00 and we have Big 3ft X 5ft “Look Twice Save a Life” signs for $35.00.
Be smart and don’t ride in the salt. Ride Safe and Be Safe.
Mike Stock
Chairman of the Board, ABATE of Ohio, Inc.
614-319-3644
