Motorcyclists urged to be aware of safe riding practices Published May 1, 2015 By Master Sgt. Joseph M. Kroll 88th Air Base Wing Safety Office WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- You wear your personal protective equipment. You stay on top of your motorcycle's routine maintenance. You follow all rules of the road when you ride. What more can you do to be a safe rider? A lot. Safety requires vigilance -- every day. There is always something else you can do to be safe. Let's look at a few informational safety items you can take with you when you head out on the highway. Hit the brakes Braking is probably the most important action a rider can perform. Braking allows a motorcycle to quickly slow down and come to a stop before hitting an obstacle. Most riders do not fully understand the distance required to bring the bike to a full stop. Braking distance increases with speed and, unfortunately, the increase is not linear. If a bike that is doing 30 mph can stop in 33 feet, it doesn't mean that the same bike doing 60 mph would be able to stop in 66 feet. It will actually take 134 feet to stop the bike at that speed. Slow down to give yourself time to react. Put yourself in a safe place If you are riding in a driver's blind spot, you may not be seen because the driver may fail to adequately check blind spots before changing lanes or making turns. Give yourself plenty of room. Car drivers are relatively limited in their ability to alter their position within the lane since cars occupy about 50 percent to 70 percent of it. Motorcycles, on the other hand, occupy a small part of the lane and can use this to great advantage. Alter your road position Periodically safely switching positions on the road lets you: › Improve your view of the situation ahead; › Improve your chances of being seen by other road users; › Avoid hazards in the road or improve surface grip; › Reduce the severity of a corner or bend; › Give information to influence other road users. This is especially important at night. Often, the lone headlight of a motorcycle appears to be one of the headlights of an oncoming car. As it accelerates more rapidly than a car, a motorcycle may be well ahead of a group of cars leaving a traffic signal. Move across the lane away from the car that could pull out in front of you. This will differentiate you from the other headlights and indicate your speed to the driver. It is also important you do your best to ride in a safe, predictable manner. Give yourself room to maneuver if potholes, wet leaves, railroad tracks and other circumstances dictate you have to take any action that fellow motorists may not anticipate.