KENNEWICK, Wash. – Recently there have been a few motorcycle fatalities around the area and the Kennewick Police Department and a local motorcycle rider offer some safety tips on how you can stay safe.
It doesn’t matter if you drive a motorcycle or a car, with the weather getting warmer, more cyclists are hitting the road.
Jack Overton is the lead salesman at Thunder Alley Motorsports. He’s got six motorcycles himself and has been riding them for around ten years.
Last year he was involved in a hit-and-run.
“I was taking a right-hand turn onto Clearwater off of 395,” said Overton. “A car had left Walgreens and they didn’t signal or anything. They just got into the right-hand lane and came over and didn’t even attempt to stop. They just sped off.”
Overton told me he came off the bike and tumbled a few times.
He said thankfully he just walked away with some road rash and a twisted up ankle.
The damage to his bike cost him $13,000.
Overton says there are things we can do to mitigate that though.
Sergeant Chris Littrell of the Kennewick Police Department says as a motorcycle rider being attentive even if you didn’t do anything wrong is the key to staying safe.
“As a rider, you have to pay attention to what’s going on around you,” said Sgt. Littrell. “We just have to really make sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Paying attention to what’s going on inside of our car and what’s going on in the road.”
One in five motorcycle crashes ends with either serious injuries or death.
Overton echos Sgt. Littrell is just staying alert.
“There are just things that just become commonplace,” said Overton. “You know head on a swivel kind of thing because it can literally come from any direction.”
Both Overton and Sgt. Littrell says they can’t stress enough the importance of taking a motorcycle training course.
Not only because it’s the law and you can be ticketed for not having a motorcycle certificate, but the techniques they teach could save your life.