On July 1, 2008 the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) implemented a new motorcycle training program aimed at reducing the number of motorcycle accidents.

The Basic Rider Course was designed by FDHSMV and will be offered by private schools and teachers.  Drivers who take the class and successfully pass the test will automatically be able to apply to have the motorcycle endorsement added to their driver’s license.  A list of approved sponsors can be found on the FDHSMV website.

The FDHSMV has also partnered with the Florida Riding Training Program and the Tallahassee law enforcement to promote new motorcycle safety campaign.  The campaign slogan is “Ride Proud, Dress Loud” which emphazes brightly colored clothing to improve a motorcyclist’s visibility in an effort to reduce the number of motorcycle accidents. 

It will be interesting to see just how successful the safety campaign will be.  For a motorcycle rider to improve his or her visibility means they would have to give up all the black leather gear they currently wear when they’re out on the road and replace it with bright, reflective colors.  That may be a difficult change for your die hard Harley-Davidson riders, but only time will tell.

Last November a member of the Hillsboro Oregon Police Department was on a routine traffic stop when he nearly lost his life in an accident, and the whole thing was recorded by the camera on his motorcycle.

The video shows Officer Clint Chrz standing next to a vehicle, talking to the driver on the shoulder of the Pacific Highway. Out of nowhere you see his motorcycle come flying into him. A drunk driver had hit his motorcycle and which then rammed into the the officer. The force of the car crash threw him into the middle of the highway. Luckily another car on the highway saw him lying there and pulled his vehicle up to protect him from on-coming traffic. Whether his helmet saved his life, we will never know, but the officer suffered only cuts, bruises and a concussion.

It is because of accidents like that of Officer Chrz that 43 states, including Florida, have enacted the “Move Over” law. It requires drivers to slow down when approaching emergency vehicles and give them the amount of room they need to do their job without getting hit by on-coming traffic.