Base motorcycle clubs will promote rider safety

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Melanie Streeter
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON --  The formation of motorcycle clubs on Air Force bases worldwide may increase mentoring, an important element for promoting safe riding, said the Air Force’s senior safety official.

Air Force leaders are alarmed at the rate that the Air Force is losing its Airmen, not only in four-wheeled vehicle accidents, but also with motorcycle accidents, said Maj. Gen. Kenneth W. Hess, Air Force chief of safety.

“The motorcycle-mentoring concept that Gen. [John P.] Jumper [Air Force chief of staff] has been espousing is really designed as one tool to attack the motorcycle death rate we’ve been having with our young Airmen,” General Hess said.

Motorcycle clubs could increase mentoring, as well as encourage responsible motorcycle use and enjoyment through education and training, officials said.

A recent data review showed motorcycle accidents are on the rise, resulting in 72 fatalities between fiscal 1999 and fiscal 2003. More than half of those fatalities resulted from single-vehicle crashes involving riders who exercised poor judgment and made risky decisions, officials said.

To fight this rise, major command officials identified wings to set up test clubs, General Hess said. These test clubs will try out the concept for about a year, and then most likely similar clubs will open up on Air Force bases worldwide.

“The benefit that we’re after is to pair up a young, inexperienced rider with somebody who’s been through the school of hard knocks to increase (a young rider’s) survival skills,” General Hess said. “The ultimate objective is to stop the deaths of our Airmen on the highway.”

To do that, the general said teaching sound decision-making skills as soon as possible is the key.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to season these young riders and get them experience before their luck runs out,” General Hess said. “In every endeavor you have in life that involves risk, you have a bag of skills and a bag of luck, and the idea is to fill up the skill bag before the luck bag empties.”

Being around people who have riding experience is one way to mitigate taking excessive risk before adequate skills are learned, the general said.

Since different bases face different challenges, motorcycle clubs will vary from location to location, each organizing as it sees fit to best cater to its motorcycle interests. For example, some wings may be near deserts with many dirt-bike riders, the general said. Those wings’ needs would be different from the needs of people on a base where riders are more interested in touring-style motorcycles.

Just as the club’s organization may differ, so may the activities at each. Besides organizing rides or charity events that give inexperienced riders a chance to learn by example, clubs may offer opportunities for experienced riders to talk with Airmen about proper maintenance. Club meetings are also a good setting for commanders to talk to Airmen who ride motorcycles about proper risk management and safety, the general said.

“Our strategy has been to attack the motor-vehicle problem with tools for commanders that will help them save the lives of our Airmen out there,” General Hess said. “Fundamentally, we all have a moral obligation to help our Airmen survive their tour in the United States Air Force.”