Education Never Ends

 Executive Report by John Reblin

We are getting into the fall of the year, warm days, cool nights. You can see the crops in the fields as you ride around the state become ripe and ready for that flurry of activity from the farmers and others to get the crops in to be sold and used for a food supply. This time of the year it is important to watch out for equipment on the road, pulling out of or into the fields and for the animals getting kicked up and running. It is also that time for the State Meeting where we all get together, reflect on the last year’s accomplishments, and start that focus on next year. Hopefully, you made your plans to stop up in Stevens Point, enjoy some food, stories and friendship, and support your organization.

Packing up and hitting the road is next on the list of things to do. Others and I are heading to Harrisburg PA. to attend the Meeting of the Minds, a three-day national conference put on to support the MRF and to share ideas from around the country of what people are seeing going on in their state and what we have to look forward to here. We also will be setting the legislative agenda for the MRF, sharing concerns and thoughts of what we need to focus on to keep motorcycling as we know it, on the road.

My day job has me driving throughout the course of the day. Sometimes it seems that my whole day is driving and when I get home, I sometimes don’t have the desire to crawl back into a vehicle. My van during the day becomes my desk, storage, kitchen, and that place to stay dry and warm when the weather becomes nasty. My van has been pretty faithful to me. I was never left stranded. It got me there and back when the weather was nasty cold of -20 and then throw in windchills. I never got into the ditch with snow all around me. It has some rattles, dirt, and oh yeah, a cracked windshield. It is a Ford and I think most of them have that option. But I do get the basic maintenance done to it when it is due. We have been together for over 420 thousand miles and still ticking.

For the last of couple years, we have been talking about Ride Your Own Ride as a way to reduce motorcycle crashes and fatalities. Part of that is making sure you are able to operate your motorcycle with the skills needed to get from point A to point B in one piece and safe. If you don’t crash, you don’t need to go through the agony of injury or worse, right? So how do you improve your skills? You practice on your own or you take a rider education course right? Something with trained instructors that have the knowledge and skills to teach you the right way to ride and can show you the little things you can do to improve your skills to ride better.

All this will improve your chances of getting home safe and sound. But what if something happens when you and some friends are out on a ride and enjoying the fall riding season? Maybe a rider hit some gravel, or a deer or turkey ran into the road and the rider goes down. What then? Well maybe we need to talk a bit about Accident Scene Management and what to do after the crash and after you have called 911 to get help. Vicki Sanfelipo heads this group up, and if you did not know is married to the founder of ABATE of Wisconsin, Tony “Pan”. She and her instructors show and explain what you need to do in case you come across a crash scene or someone in your group is involved in a crash. Everything from making sure you called 911 to securing the scene and what you should do, and more importantly what you should and shouldn’t do to the victim of the crash.

While the warmer weather is a great time to take a rider education course, as we transition to the cooler weather that is the perfect time to take an Accident Scene Management, ASMI, course. If you are thinking, well I took one of those five or ten years ago, get in contact with Vicki and take a refresher course. Vicki’s website is www.roadguardians.org, check it out. There is great information about the classes and a schedule.

Why do I bring this up? I was driving my van with the thousands of miles back from Madison one day on 94. It was a nice cool morning with the sun shining. I was cruising along listening to the radio when I saw the back end of an SUV in front of me rolling over a few times and ending up in the opposite lane, with the person driving the vehicle getting ejected and laying in the freeway. I and a couple others quickly pulled over, stopped and as one woman was calling 911, the other person had his emergency pack out of his work vehicle and was assessing the person as I started directing traffic away from the scene into the other lane of traffic. Other vehicles stopped in the lane and blocked traffic for us using their vehicles as we continued to assist the woman. After a few minutes the local rescue squad was there along with the State Patrol and other law enforcement. We were asked to help with walking the debris field to look for any children that could have been with her since we saw an empty car seat. After a few more minutes and getting statements, we were able to leave after the person was on the helicopter and being flown to the hospital. I felt comfortable helping out and I credit taking the ASMI course previously and remembered, yeah, I need the refresher also.

Ride Your Own Ride,

John