Personal Injury Law

Chicago-Area Agencies Conclude ?Motorcycle Awareness Month?

By Kris Briggs

Today marks the end of May?s ?Motorcycle Awareness Month??a period during which local law enforcement agencies try to make drivers aware of the motorcycle riders who share the road with them, and to remind riders to take safety precautions as motorcycle riding increases during the summer months.

In a report broadcast yesterday, WGN TV discussed the types of motorcycle crashes that are considered ?textbook? examples: such accidents occur most often at intersections, when drivers attempting to make a left-hand turn don?t notice a motorcycle coming into the intersection, and cut off the rider. Citing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the report noted that motorcyclists are 37 times more likely to die in a crash than people in passenger cars are. Even police riders are sometimes forced off the road, despite riding with flashing lights and sirens that should make it more likely that drivers would notice them.

Many riders like to wear dark clothing; however, research has shown that the use of fluorescent, reflective, or brightly-colored clothing, as well as the use of white helmets, reduces the likelihood that a motorcycle rider will be injured in a crash caused by someone else?s negligence.

Motorcycle Awareness Month may be over, but Chicago motorcycle riders must stay alert throughout the year. Unfortunately, according to media reports, a 31-year-old Carpentersville motorcyclists lost his life just last Saturday when he rode off the road near Richmond.

Full post as published by Illinois Injury Law Blog on June 01, 2010 (boomark / email).