Governor’s Conference

by Gary Klinker

It feels more like fall as I write this. We are a week from heading to Harrisburg for the Meeting of the Minds. There are four BRC and two BRC2 classes left. Planning for next year has already begun. By next month I will have some numbers on students trained for this year. Though the number of classes was down due to a shortage of Coaches, we should be back up next year with our new staff involved from the start of the year.

Larry Geist and I attended the Governor’s Highway Safety Conference again this year. Starting with the MOSAC meeting the night before the official start, we were involved in many of the breakout sessions. Bill Kingsley, Tim Toman, Vicki Sanfelipo, and Kevin Carpenter were also in attendance from ABATE, so the Conference knows we are involved and interested in highway safety. Many of the sessions concerned better data collection and analysis of crash reports.

Something we need to keep track of going forward is something called the Safe System Approach. This involves safer roads, Autonomous Vehicles, connected highways, and removing the human factor in driving-or lack of driving. As someone who really likes to drive, and as a motorcyclist, this is very concerning to me. It seems the goal is to eliminate any human manipulation or decision making in the use of our roads. Hopefully by the time it is totally instituted I won’t be around to deal with it. What they want to do is a long way in the future, but it is coming.

Another session I attended dealt with Community Maps. This is a site we have used in the past to track crashes on a near real time basis. As motor vehicle crash reports come in from around the state they are uploaded to the system. Check it out at: https://transportal.cee.wisc.edu/partner/community-maps/. You can set parameters for motorcycles, cars, deer, alcohol, specific counties, speed and many more factors involved in crashes. It shows where the most crashes occur, and what injuries or fatalities are involved. It is a very handy tool. Take a look.

Just before the closing lunch on Wednesday we had a Motorcycle Safety Peer Exchange. All of us – ABATE members and a handful of other riders, and law enforcement people were in attendance. We discussed crashes and enforcement problems in different parts of the state. From the discussions it seemed to me that the problem of fatalities is different depending on the part of the state. Not scientific, but it seems to me in the southeast part of the state, where the most crashes take place, unlicensed riders and reckless operation are big. In the outer parts of the state where I live, lack of skills and deer are a larger factor. Impairment being a factor everywhere. It was a good exchange of ideas.

This coming weekend I will be attending a Wisconsin Motorcycle Safety Program Personal Development Workshop (PDW). These are continuing education classes for Rider Coaches. We are required to attend at least one every two years to maintain our certification. This one is being held at the Madison College facility in Columbus. Dr. Ray Ochs from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation will be the main presenter. It should be a good one. It also will involve riding portions.

Deer season is here. You have two choices. Ride extra carefully and watch for them or get out hunting and do your part to cut the numbers down. I plan to do both.

Ride Safe,

Gary