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PennDOT\u2019s Motorcycle Safety Program offers free basic and intermediate training at dozens of sites statewide, including Classic Harley\u2011Davidson in Bern Township in 2024. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)<\/p>\nWith motorcycle season entering its peak, the Highway Safety Network and Muhlenberg Township Police recently gathered at Jim Deitrich Park to urge both riders and motorists to take greater responsibility on the road.<\/p>\n
The event, part of PennDOT\u2019s Live Free Ride Alive motorcycle safety campaign, brought together safety advocates and two of the township\u2019s certified motorcycle patrolmen, Officers Sam Calabria and Jason Walters, to highlight the risks that accompany the busy summer riding months.<\/p>\n
The campaign uses social media, outreach events and statewide training programs to promote defensive riding and remind drivers to watch for motorcycles.<\/p>\n
Walters emphasized that riders must understand their limits and that motorists must do more to look for motorcycles, which are smaller and more easily hidden in blind spots.<\/p>\n
PennDOT\u2019s Motorcycle Safety Program offers free basic and intermediate training at dozens of sites statewide, including Classic Harley\u2011Davidson in Bern Township in 2024. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to learn how to share the road,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Drivers, he added, should signal lane changes, check mirrors and follow motorcycles at a greater distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re smaller and lighter, the motorcycles can stop more quickly,\u201d Walters said.<\/p>\n
Crash numbers underscore the urgency.<\/p>\n
From March through June of last year, police departments in Berks County recorded 33 motorcycle\u2011involved crashes, one of them fatal. The county has reached that same total this year, with two fatalities.<\/p>\n
One of this spring\u2019s fatal crashes happened when one motorcycle rear-ended another in a group of motorcycle riders. The other, according to state police, involved a motorcycle driven by a man who was under the influence of an illegal drug colliding with the rear of an SUV that was stopped waiting for traffic to clear to turn left.<\/p>\n
Calabria said inexperience remains a major factor.<\/p>\n
He said it\u2019s important to ride with confidence, and that comes with training and experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing through police training, that was one of the hardest courses that I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d he said of the 80\u2011hour certification program.<\/p>\n
PennDOT\u2019s Motorcycle Safety Program offers free basic and intermediate training at dozens of sites statewide, including Classic Harley\u2011Davidson in Bern Township. Successful completion waives the PennDOT skills test for permit holders.<\/p>\n