BOISE, Idaho — During the summer, more people ride their motorcycles. This inherently creates more motorcycle accidents in the summer months.
The Idaho Transportation Department tells Idaho News 6 their preliminary reports show there have been 14 motorcycle deaths since January 1. Nine of those have happened since Memorial Day, which was May 29. Two were just this past weekend.
“Unfortunately, this year’s turning out to be very ugly for motorcycle fatalities in Idaho," said Sunshine Beer, the director of Idaho Star. "We’re well into the teens which is entirely too many crashes.”
Idaho Star is a motorcycle training program that teaches both novice and experienced riders.
Beer says many factors go into the summer months being more deadly outside of just more people on bikes, and that includes the heat.
Riders need to understand many things before hopping on a bike, Beer says. Bike functionality, maneuverability, and safety are a few. The most important to Beer is paying attention.
“For me, the biggest component is staying hyper-vigilant," Beer said. "Not getting complacent in my ride, staying in the moment.”
One of her former students is Johnathan Banner. He took the class back in March and is now a motorcycle rider.
I just saw different clips of things on YouTube, Instagram," Banner said about why he was interested in bikes. “I just thought it looked like a lot of fun."
Now that he knows both sides, Banner says drivers should keep in mind that they share the road with cyclists and be aware of them all the time.
Beer wants everyone to remember that behind each vehicle is a human.
“That motorcycle rider, the car driver, they have somebody that relies on them to be home at the end of the day," Beer said. "We all need to treat each other as human beings and not as metal objects."
For more information about Idaho Star visit their website.
