Staying safe on the roads for Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month and as it warms up outside, more bikers are hitting the streets.

An area engineer with MODOT said from April to October, they see the most people killed in motorcycle wrecks.

Chris Crocker urges all drivers to keep an eye out and stay safe on the road.

”I tell everybody it’s like a live video game and everybody’s out to get you,” Dave Hutson said.

That’s how Dave Hutson describes riding a motorcycle.

He owns grass roots motorcycles in downtown Cape. He said it takes a lot of focus to ride these bikes.

“You gotta have 360-degree vision. A lot of people don’t look for motorcycles,” he said.

“If you don’t see us and somebody pulls out, we usually don’t win”

He said you should always wear a helmet and protective gear in case you do get in a wreck.

“In southeast Missouri from 2016 to 2020 there were 56 fatalities,” Chris Crocker said.

Chris Crocker said during that same time frame, there were 584 people killed statewide in motorcycle involved accidents.

“The crashes we’re seeing with motorcycles, they tend to be more severe because you don’t have any external protection,” Crocker said.

Crocker said wear bright colors.

“Whether your motorcycle has reflective stripes on it or you maybe have a vest to throw on while traveling, we do recommend that to make yourself more visible,” he said.

“People that are driving cars have to really watch for motorcycles, we try to keep our lights on and all that but you have to watch for us,” Hutson said.

If you’ve had a motorcycle sitting around during the colder months, Hutson recommends you do a quick check to make sure everything is working right before taking it for a spin.

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