Every month of the year should be motorcycle safety awareness month but, in May, TxDOT calls extra attention to the matter.

Some of you are already shaking your heads and saying "they deserve it for flying up and down the road, riding dangerously, doing stunts, etc".  True, some bikers are asking for it but, they are few in number, and incidences of trick riding or racing have fallen off greatly. It's the vast majority of bikers ... those riding safely and following the rules ... that the TxDOT campaign addresses and seeks to protect.

Being smaller, motorcycles are harder to see so, please, look twice...even a third time. Especially before changing lanes or making left turns across traffic. (Those left turns, by the way, result in the most car/motorcycle collisions.) Driver inattention causes the most motorcycle accidents in general. My own accident was due to an idiot not watching what he was doing. He never even saw me yet, nearly killed me. Please, again, pay attention to what you're doing, watch the road and look extra hard for motorcycles. They are not only smaller and harder to see, they also provide the rider with almost no protection. No seat belts, crumple zones, steel bumpers or anything else. Their helmets and your focus are all they have.

Bikers are moms and dads, aunts and uncles, doctors and lawyers, welders and engineers, retail workers, cops, firemen ... they are just like everybody else. They have someone waiting at home for them just like you. So, please, WATCH OUT FOR THEM. If you pay attention, they will make it home to their loved ones safely, and without incident.

Thank you! For more about events, causes, shows, rallies, and other motorcycle related events throughout the Borderland, visit the El Paso Motorcycle Coalition on Facebook.

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