BikeSafe NC and your local police department

Here's a great program for riders in North Carolina: many local police departments in our state offer a free, day-long riding instruction course called BikeSafe NC.

My friend and fellow Harley rider Mike Russo and I spent yesterday, 8:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m., with local police officers learning to improve the safety aspects of our riding skills. (We did not spend time on performance topics, for example.)

As part of the BikeSafe NC program, the Cary Police Department hosted the course at their headquarters on Wilkinson Avenue off Academy in the heart of Cary. Several of their own "motor officers" teamed with motor officers from the Apex and Holly Springs police departments in giving nine of us riders a combination of classroom instruction and assessments from two rides, a short one in the morning and a longer ride in the afternoon

During the morning session, one of motor officers pointed out that the financial cost of a single fatality--in addition of course to the emotional cost to surviving friends and family--is more than $1M. The state of North Carolina thus figures that investing some money in rider safety programs makes for a good investment. I agree.

Sergeant Mike Conwell, of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and BikeSafe NC's statewide coordinator, also joined us in the classroom and rides. 

From 9:00 a.m. until about about 11:00, we sat in a classroom. Corporal Keith Perkins of the Cary PD started us off with a couple of presentations on elements of motorcycle accidents--including graphic videos--such as causes, police investigative techniques, and prevention techniques. Accident prevention was the overarching theme of the day.

Just after 11:00, we left the classroom for a 7-10 mile ride on city streets, each rider paired with a motor officer. I was fortunate to have Officer Darrell Roberson of the Apex PD. Even though I deviated in a huge way from the prescribed route, he just rolled with the whole experience--pun intended--and we made it back right on time for lunch with the rest of the group. It turns out that many of the other pairs of riders did their own thing as well; they just weren't as creative as I was.

At the end of the ride, Ofc. Roberson gave me some tips on how to improve my riding safety. For example, I was a bit nervous having a police officer for a riding partner and I was not as fluid in using the width of my lane as I should have been. I was working too hard to keep the entire right side of the lane open for Ofc. Roberson. In this program, the riders should ride as if there is not another rider behind them. As Ofc. Roberson pointed out to me, he was maintaining a safe following distance in anticipation of my moving across the width of the lane.

In the afternoon, we had more classroom instruction. However, at around 3:30 p.m. we got to do a 60+ mile ride, taking about 90 minutes. It was great! How much fun is it to ride with your own police escort?! We rode south towards Pittsboro on US 64 and then over by the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant. We came back on US 1 and Old US 1 into Apex.

At the end of the ride we arrived back at the Cary Police Department headquarters and Ofc. Roberson gave me a verbal and written assessment of my afternoon ride. He was gracious and direct: I took his morning instructions and applied them very well. He rated my riding skills very highly.

Even though I have 30 years and approximately 200,000 miles of riding experience, I still enjoy learning from qualified instructors how to ride more safely. Many thanks to the Apex, Cary, and Holly Springs police departments for participating in this great program. I highly recommend it to all riders.

Keep the shiny side up!

-The Long Rider

Comments

[Lisa]

Congratulations!
PS. Downtown Cary Rocks!