Washington State Press Release about Motorcycle Safety Awareness month.
Click HERE for a copy of the press release!
DOL's post card awareness campaing about Motorcycle Safety Awareness and endorsements.
Click HERE for a copy of the press release!
Intermediate Rider Training
Washington's riders have been asking for a 1-day (on training bikes) rider safety course to attain an endorsement. WMSP is offering the I.R.T. to help more riders become endorsed.
This 1-day course has a 3 hour class component that covers Rider RISK, Rider Preparation, Safe(r) Street Strategies, and Impairment. The 5 hour on-bike training covers riding skills such as counter-steering, counter-weighting, front/rear brake relationships, friction zone, swerving vs. maximum braking, and more.
It's a fantastic venue to refresh and/or get endorsed!
Motorcycle Fatalities
For calendar year 2009, here is a brief snapshot of the motorcycle operator fatality data in WA:
Single-vehicle crashes occur when the motorcycle rider makes an error - or combination of errors - that lead to a crash. There is no other vehicle or car around. These factors (operator-caused, single-vehicle, lack of endorsement, and legal helmet) are all factors that every motorcycle rider can take responsibility for.
Do you know that an endorsement is required to ride in WA?
Are you endorsed?
If you are not, you can get your endorsement by taking the written and skills test on your own motorcycle at a department of licensing office. An alternative and smarter idea, would be to take a novice, intermediate, or experienced rider class through one of our schools that provide motorcycle safety education. Within the class, you'll not only gain skills to operate your motorcycle safely, but you'll learn valuable mental strategies to apply while riding, that may keep you from having to use advanced life-saving operational skills!
After some analysis on Washington's 2009 fatal motorcycle crash information, these graphs were put together for your information.
Inter-Agency Partnerships Combating Motorcycle Fatalities
Here are a couple resources to see what's being done around the state of Washington to combat the motorcycle fatalities. These partnerships include Washington Traffic Safety Commission, Washington State Patrol, Department of Licensing, National Highway Traffic Safety Association, and others.
For an overview of these partnerships and their activities, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission has some information here: http://www.wtsc.wa.gov/programs/motorcycle.php
More nifty information, including snapshots of training information in Washington: http://www.endorseyoursport.com/nifty_information/
Motorcycle Helmets
Effective July 26th, 2009, the helmet law in WA was updated to reflect the federal motor vehicle standard (FMVSS #218). The law (RCW 46.37.530) now states:
For purposes of this section, "motorcycle helmet" means a protective covering for the head consisting of a hard outer shell, padding adjacent to and inside the outer shell, and a neck or chin strap type retention system, with the manufacturer's certification applied in accordance with 49 C.F.R. Sec. 571.218 indicating that the motorcycle helmet meets standards established by the United States department of transportation.
The Washington State Patrol is looking for illegal helmets as one component in its efforts to reduce fatalities among WA motorcyclists. The ticket for wearing an illegal helmet? $124.