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Show BIB: RIDER EDUCATION. I WHO NEEDS IT? By Charles H. Hartman i President, Motorcycle Safety Foundation I Many riders agree that ( some form of training program pro-gram should be available ' for motorcyclists, but when t it comes to their own training train-ing they're not so sure. In 1 a survey of nearly 5,000 i motorcylists, Wisconsin ' Department of Trans porta- tion officials found that . over 75 percent believed ' rider education should be available. But when the respondents were asked if ' they would take such a j course, only 44 percent said they would attend. I Evidence from another study, of 900 motorcycle accidents in Southern Cali- ' fornia, showed that although the motorcyclists had been riding an average of three years, when faced with an accident situation they didn't know what to do. They either took no evasive action or carried out the maneuver incorrectly. Rider education programs for new and experienced riders emphasize handling emergency situations. Perhaps Per-haps if more of these riders had taken a training program pro-gram they would have been better able to handle an emergency when it cropped up. Dr. Hartman is president pres-ident of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, an organization or-ganization which encourages and develops motorcycle safety education programs on a nationwide basis. |