Steve Cook, of the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 7, our district, champions motorcycle riders, whom he said “must sometimes feel that you have a big “Hit Me” sign on your backs,” especially as they ride the “mean streets” of the Tampa Bay area.

“Who among us,” he asks, in a recent newsletter of this district’s Community Traffic Safety Teams, “has not had the coffee-drinking, cell-phone talking, makeup-applying SUV driver ease over into our lane? I was cut off twice on Ulmerton Road just the other day.”

He cites the “Hurt Study,” by H. H. “Bill” Hurt Jr. and other researchers, which says the single most common - and deadly - cause of motorcycle crashes is a vehicle turning left into their path. “If you’ve had this happen, then you know how scary it can be.”

(A good summary of the Hurt Study is available at: http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-Safety/Hurt-study-summary.htm.)

“Who has the responsibility to assure you have a safe ride? It would be nice to believe that the four-wheel vehicle operator will obey the rules, see you, yield the right of properly, etc. [But] too often that’s not the case. Invariably [after a car-motorcycle crash] the car’s driver says: “I didn’t see [him].”

“The cold, hard fact,” Cook wrote, “is that responsibility for your safety rests solely on you.”

To that end, he advises riders who haven’t done it to take the time to get some professional training, which is available for both experienced and novice riders, and is aimed at preparing them for “real-world situations.”

Motorcycle rider courses teach and improve skills such as: effective turning, braking maneuvers, obstacle avoidance and traffic strategies, plus help selecting protective apparel and developing responsible attitudes.

For information on the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles” Florida Rider Training Program, Cook suggests checking out: http://casey.hsmv.state.fl.us/intranet/dd/motorcycles.

For more information on motorcycle safety, he recommends: NHTSA