Ride Your Own Ride Campaign

Last year with Covid, the shutdowns, and the stimulus checks left us in a weird situation. Last year, motorcycle crashes went up for whatever reason. We are all trying to sort out why. Was it the extra money we got that allowed people to be able to buy that first time bike? Was it due to people having time off so they were able to get more miles on, or maybe not taking that rider education course? Whatever the reason, motorcycle fatalities were up 40 percent over our 10-year average, per the Wisconsin DOT.
Last year we talked about “Riding Your Own Ride”. We were trying to say that you need to be able to control your bike, stay in your lane of travel, obey the traffic laws, and not ride under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Over the winter months we created a poster that we handed out at S.T.E.A.M. and were planning to release this spring. We decided to talk to the Wisconsin DOT to get their input on this plan and to see if they wanted to work with us again. They agreed.
Yesterday I got the numbers from the Wisconsin DOT and we are up 37 percent as far as motorcycle fatalities over last year numbers. That is shocking that the number is up so high. As we look at the crashes, we have information on, many are again rider error crashes. With this as a backdrop, the Wisconsin DOT partnered with us again to create a poster.
It is up to us to share these posters in different locations and start spreading the word and mentoring riders to make sure they understand the responsibility of riding on our roads. If we cannot work together and lower these crashes, the State and Federal Government with give us a hand and I am sure we won’t like what they offer as a solution.
Your District Director should have posters to distribute, and they will be available at the Summer Hummer for you to pick up and to put up. I would like to get information about the locations where you are getting them up. It can be as easy as Jim’s Malt Shop, Main Street, Bugavia, WI.
I would also ask that you spend time when out and about talking to riders, urging them to “Ride Your Own Ride”. Give them some helpful tips and help them make good decisions by mentoring and sharing your experiences and knowledge. Urge them to take that Rider Education course that will challenge them and help them avoid issues as they are out on the road. Who knows, the person you help out may be a friend of yours that maybe does not have the skills quite yet, but with help and encouragement from you he or she will have better experiences on the road and live to talk about it.
John