By: Belt Drive Betty
This has been the riding season from HE** (Double Hockey Sticks) where I live in Canada. Rainy, cold, miserable and a season filled with motorcycle accidents/crashes that have killed and injured large numbers of riders this year.
The trend of higher than normal crashes and riders being killed is happening right across North America and figuring out why this is happening must become a priority.
There are tools a rider can have in their arsenal that will help them.
#1 – Training
Upgrading and practicing your defensive riding skills including emergency stopping and maneuvering gives you peace of mind knowing your skills are honed and ready when you need them. Many accidents while the cagers fault might be avoided if you continue to practice and rev up your reaction skills.
#2 – Never Ride Alone Program
It is available for members of riderfriendly.com for free, the Never Ride Alone Program is like having your guardian angel riding with you. The real people on the other end of the phone track your progress as you check in along your ride and should something happen that you forget to call them – they try you twice. If they still can’t reach you, they dispatch 911 to go find you from your last check-in. It’s based on the Never Work Alone programs and gives you and your loved ones some peace of mind when you are riding solo. Good in the Continental US and Canada – the toll free number can connect you to the community at riderfriendly.com too – it’s a direct – toll free line to our answering service who can reach myself or my webmistress and then we can reach into the community if you can’t!
#3 – Networking
Use the community to find riders to help you along with the directory at Riderfriendly.com for savings on hotels, motels and learn about businesses other riders are recommending. Knowing you can get help if you need it from fellow riders, and that you have another avenue to find businesses that want to work with riders, give one a little peace of mind. Again, your membership card with the toll-free number is in your profile page when you register for free.
#4- SkyMed Insurance
The cost of an air ambulance in the event of a motorcycle crash can be a rather jarring $10 – $60K depending on where the crash took place and the distance the air ambulance must travel. Then there are a whole host of other considerations, like, your spouse/significant other, your motorcycle, your doctors/hospital bills and if you don’t have travel insurance that can run into the hundreds of thousands very quickly depending on your situation.
SkyMed Insurance offers several ways to help you minimize the financial trauma and it’s a product that Biker Down is now working with and the CMTA here in Canada is offering memberships to Canadian Riders who would be financially crippled if they were ever in a crash in the US. Here is the link to the US site – https://skymed.com/ – ask Laurie Montoya, your editor to connect you to the person she deals with so that she can get you the Biker Down Rate.
#5 – BikerDown Foundation Membership
(www.bikerdown.org/join-us/) Because of the perks of roadside assistance and the assistance you get in the event of a crash, because you just never know when it could happen to you.
These are five things that I believe can help a rider enjoy their season a little more, upgrading your skills, using a free tracking device like the Never Ride Alone Program, the Rider Friendly Directory of Businesses, SkyMed Insurance and Membership in BikerDown. They all give you peace of mind and that helps make the season a little bit sweeter.
I am off on what will likely be my fourth and last ride of any import for the season.
I am off to film in Hafford Saskatchewan, the 2018 riding season’s winner of Canada’s MOST Rider Friendly Community Contest.
It will mean I get a paltry 10,000K/6,000 miles in on the season, but hey, it’s better than no mileage – right?
Next time, I’ll fill you in on my visit to Saskatchewan and show you why this little community has won our Contest!
