{"id":255774,"date":"2026-05-02T20:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/255774\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T20:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T20:19:10","slug":"motorcycle-safety-experts-urge-caution-as-i-75-congestion-grows-in-southwest-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/255774\/","title":{"rendered":"Motorcycle safety experts urge caution as I-75 congestion grows in Southwest Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) &#8211; Motorcycle experts are speaking out about roadway safety as Florida Highway Patrol troopers warn that I-75 is getting more congested and they are seeing more crashes as Southwest Florida continues to grow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Victor Sailsbury, a rider coach at Ride Safe USA, said operating a motorcycle \u201ctakes a different skill set than just operating a regular vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Ride Safe USA offers the Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic Rider Course, which is required by Florida law before a rider can get a motorcycle endorsement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe try to give them skills \u2014 mental skills and physical skills \u2014 to deal with situations when they happen out there that\u2019s out of their control,\u201d Sailsbury said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/2026\/05\/02\/lovebug-season-returns-suncoast-experts-warn-car-damage\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/2026\/05\/02\/lovebug-season-returns-suncoast-experts-warn-car-damage\/\">Lovebug season returns to Suncoast, experts warn of car damage<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Steve Bixler, general manager at Hap\u2019s Cycle Sales, one of the oldest motorcycle shops on the Suncoast, said his family-owned shop has operated since 1948. He said even small preparation can make a big difference.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cEven when it wasn\u2019t required by law we still absolutely advocated that people should get educated and take the safety course,\u201d Bixler said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">State Trooper Kenn Watson said impatience on the roadways can be dangerous.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe have to pack patience \u2014 making quick lane changes, accelerating past slower moving vehicles can be extremely dangerous,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Sailsbury said safety is also about perception, because one reckless rider can shape how people treat everyone on two wheels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cOne bad apple and they blanket assume all motorcyclists are like that and it\u2019s not true out there but that\u2019s the one that they notice,\u201d Sailsbury said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Sailsbury said his job is to prepare students for busier, faster roads, where riders have less protection and less time to react. He said it comes down to understanding the risk and riding defensively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIf anything happens out there between car and motorcycle \u2014 the motorcycle is at higher risk because the car has more protection, more safety features available where we don\u2019t have those on the motorcycle \u2014 so there is a lot of responsibility,\u201d Sailsbury said.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) &#8211; Motorcycle experts are speaking out about roadway safety as Florida Highway Patrol troopers warn&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,618,29,111182,111181,111183,111184],"class_list":["post-255774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-highway-patrol","tag-florida-news","tag-i-75-traffic-southwest-florida","tag-motorcycle-safety-florida","tag-motorcycle-training-course","tag-ride-safe-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}