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Military riders focus on safety

2K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  RobMoore 
#1 ·
The Naval Safety Center (NSC) reported that 63% of the fatal motorcycle accidents involving Sailors from 2007 to 2011 were riders who did not follow through with training to ride. A push by the military to make sure service members get the proper training will hopefully decrease the number of motorcycle accidents.

NSC data shows over 30 service members died while riding a motorcycle in 2011. Sorting through the data, the odds of dying in a motorcycle crash (1in 2954) are many times that of being killed while on duty (1 in 23,134) or driving a car (1 in 17,359).

"One of the most important things that Sailors and other riders need to keep in mind is that riding a motorcycle requires being a continuous student," said Daniel Moore, lead instructor for Naval District Washington's motorcycle safety courses. "If you go out on deployment, when you come back take another course before you ride your motorcycle just to brush off the cobwebs."

Taking the Basic Rider's Course or the Military Sportbike Rider's Course is actually required of all Sailors, whether riding on base or not. Department of Defense civilian employees are required to pass a course before riding a motorcycle on a base or military installation. The certificates from the courses must be renewed at least every three years. Courses are generally run at least once a month at many military bases.

Some do not follow the requirement.

"[Sailors] come back from overseas and they have a fistful of money, and go into dealers and buy motorcycles with no training," said Moore. "A mistake people get into is that they buy too much of a bike for their skill level; you have to grow in your abilities as you grow in the size of the motorcycle."

[DCMilitary]
 
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