Safety Report

by Gary Klinker

It has been a hell of a month for our ABATE family and for the Safe Rider Program. With the tragic loss of Marlene we are all struggling with emotion and at the same time working very quickly to make sure all of our programs and policies carry on without glitches. This is a tribute to our leadership team that you the members have elected and put in place. The sympathy and support of the whole Safe Rider team goes out to Twit.

I want to thank another ABATE region for their generous donation to the Safe Rider program. Region 2C sent us a check that is very much appreciated. Thanks to all members of 2C! Last month I promised you some report of our training season, but with the transitions taking place in the office, not all classes have been finalized yet. Our preliminary reports look like we were down on BRC2 Experienced class graduates. The BRC grads should end up being slightly higher than last year. As usual, plans for next season are already in the works.

Three Rider Coaches attended the Governor’s Highway Safety conference at the end of August. Jack Hayward wrote a good report of the conference that you will find in this Newsletter, so I won’t go into a lot of detail on the breakout sessions. There were some very interesting ones, but I would like to see at least one each year dealing with motorcycle issues. John Reblin and the MOSAC team did a great job on the Peer Exchange session the day before the conference. It was well attended especially by ABATE of Wisconsin members. This is a round table discussion of motorcycle issues with questions submitted ahead of time by those attending. It is very focused and deals with the pertinent issues we all are concerned with. Following the Peer Exchange session we attended the regular meeting of MOSAC. We should all be thankful for the work our Deputy Director does with MOSAC, all over and above his work for ABATE.

Next month I will have a full report on the 2018 class numbers and also report on the Meeting of the Minds.

Until then, ride safe,

Gary