Time to raise a Little Awareness

[Arun_in_TO]

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I kind of like the idea of doing this at the beginning of every riding season.

ALso we should be aware, it would be completely and utterly self-defeating if anybody lowsided or something during this rally!!

Yeap, That is my line of thought too. The group rides on those days have to really demonstrate a lot of discipline on our part as riders. That's the point we will have to stress to the guys / gals leading their teams to the event; to put safety above all else.

We will have to remember to carry that same caution and restraint through the rest of the season. I honestly do not want to see another new thread in the fallen riders section.

 

[Myztyk]

This is what I could come up with so far: "Ride for Road Safety Awareness Day - 2011"

-- Plan the event on a Sunday in July. Main aim would be to raise awareness and create media visibility for the high death toll this season and the past years
-- The ride can end with presenting a petition to 'Minister of Transportation' requesting for the following measures to be implemented:

****** Introduce mandatory information and test questions for All classes of Licensing on Sharing the roads with motorcycles.
****** Display early warning road signs for riders around areas which have experienced multiple motorcycle accidents
****** Upgrade the curriculum of Driver Training to specifically prompt the driving students to 'be aware of possible motorcycles' as part of driving instruction


-- On the day of the event, we can organize Group Rides out from different parts of the city.
-- All groups meet at a specified location and we observe silence for all the recent riders we have lost
-- We also meet with media and use this as a platform to appeal to all drivers to make the roads safer.
-- We then ride out to Queen's park along a designated route and present the petition to the Minister and we ride out, through a designated route again, back to our starting point.
-- The groups split and ride back out again


In the days leading up to this, we can also work on setting up a website with all necessary videos explaining the most possible chances when riders crash and also the ways to avoid this. Also, a Facebook campaign and online pledge form that drivers, riders who visit the site can fill expressing their support and so on.



Here are some of the things we will have to work out :

 The date for the event, which should not clash with any major events in the city
 Group Ride announcements, logistics etc.
 Media release and press release
 Interviews from accident survivors for the website
 Petition – wording, formalities etc.
 Location for the meet up, city permits, police clearance if any
 Communication with the Ministry for a representative to receive our petition ( I don’t think they operate on the weekends )
 Any more that I must have not thought about ??


We will need to form a committee of riders to delegate the tasks. I have emailed some members on here, esp. Shaun who has some experience organizing something in the past. Once we have a proper action plan, we can plan a meetup at a coffee joint and map out the next steps.

Some really good thoughts in here.

Here are some builds for you:

- Timing feels off. Most people are worried about vacations and celebrating in July not road awareness.
- Would recommend tying it in with Motorcycle Awareness month in May.
- Would be wasting time presenting anything to a ministry official. They don't initiate anything unless they are told. Need to leverage politicians. We have this little thing called a provincial election coming up....might be a good opportunity. If you walked into every local candidates debate with a string of bikers demanding reform during the Q&A period you're at least going to get some attention.
- Need to get an advocate at a high level of government or a loudmouth MPP like McTeig who knows how to get press on his side.
- How can you leverage celebrity to gain attention with this? Can you get someone famous who rides to help support the cause? (totally out there...but Dan Akroyd rides...could you convince him to speak on your behalf?)
- Need stats to back up how bad things have gottent this year. It feels like it's worse, is it really?
- Think about PR opportunities for petition signing. e.g. Can you get Harper's wife to sign the petition? She rides around Ottawa all the time. Good PR play for the PM, good exposure for the cause.
- Need to leverage local clubs that already have big memberships. Can you get them to participate? I know everyone on this forum hates Harley riders, but the Milton HOG chapter has over 200 members who show up to stuff. They're in this with us as well.

Failing that Keith gets it. The message needs to be stark, it needs to be loud and quite frankly it needs to piss some people off.

Oh and unless you get >1000 bikers out to support your event? No one is going to care.

There's a lot of rambling in here, I'm at work and only half paying attention.

 

[turbodish]

At the end of the ride post the pictures on a huge wall somewhere prominent for people to see with the words "Fallen" or "Killed" above their heads and a small caption of how/when they fell under them.

And the result of that would be about half of the pictures and descriptions pointing to crashes where the motorcycle rider was at fault and may even have been the only vehicle present.

The problem is that too many here are focusing on cars and trucks as virtually being the sole at-fault players when riders are downed. The truth is that pretty much half the time it's the riders themselves that are the problem.

Descriptions of some of the group rides advertising "spirited rides" and the not-unexpected outcomes posted right in this same forum (right, ujelly?) will tell the tale of where a good part of the problem is. Other posts here by riders complaining about other riders blowing by them at twice their speed in the same lane (on an on-ramp no less) tells some more. Then there is simple momentary rider inattention and carelessness despite riding otherwise responsibly.

Don't get me wrong - it's a shame and a tragedy when a rider goes down despite riding in a completely responsible manner and doing everything right, and where nothing they could have reasonably done would have helped them avoid or mitigate the severity of that crash. Sadly, a few of us have seen that sort of thing first hand.

That said, far too often even when it's the other vehicle's initial faulty act that triggers a crash, a rider's own riding at the time is what made that crash either unavoidable or far more severe than it would otherwise have been. And also far too often, it's the rider's faulty act that provides the initial trigger for a crash.

Any safety awareness program needs to hit both sides of the street. Yes, the cars and trucks need to take more care to be aware of smaller vulnerable users sharing the road with them, whether it be motorcycles, bicycles, or ebikes. But riders also need to take some responsibility for their own well-being too, and not ride like they're auditioning to become organ donor of the year.

Throw that complete message out there, and back it up with strong peer pressure, and then you might have an effect on rider safety.

 

[turbodish]

Yeap, That is my line of thought too. The group rides on those days have to really demonstrate a lot of discipline on our part as riders. That's the point we will have to stress to the guys / gals leading their teams to the event; to put safety above all else.

We will have to remember to carry that same caution and restraint through the rest of the season. I honestly do not want to see another new thread in the fallen riders section.

I didn't want to raise this in another thread for obvious reasons, but this again shows that a good part of the problem lies within our own house. It says much when you actually have to remind people during a group ride (whether for protest or for funeral) with a request along the lines of "Please ride in a respectful manner (no speeding, revving of engines, stunting, etc.)" To a funeral!

Don't promote responsible and respectful riding just during a group protest ride or group ride to a funeral. Promote it in ALL riding! You can't credibly point fingers at the driving shortcomings of others when your own riding practices are so abysmally poor.

 

[turbodish]

I think you're missing the point of a protest/demonstration. This isn't a charity ride for Dad. This is to make a stone cold point.

What point is that? We'll do what we want because we don't think you people drive safely enough to consider the safety of motorcycle riders, and to drive it home we'll slow you down and even stop you on the busiest highway in North America?

What does that leave in the mind of those people you've held up in their cars and trucks? And the next day when everything goes back to normal, what do you think will go through their minds when the first crotch rocket blasts down the shoulder or lane-splits and weaves between cars and trucks at 200+ kmph?

 

[killerkeith]

What point is that? We'll do what we want because we don't think you people drive safely enough to consider the safety of motorcycle riders, and to drive it home we'll slow you down and even stop you on the busiest highway in North America?

What does that leave in the mind of those people you've held up in their cars and trucks? And the next day when everything goes back to normal, what do you think will go through their minds when the first crotch rocket blasts down the shoulder or lane-splits and weaves between cars and trucks at 200+ kmph?

Something like this in June/July is pointless. Something like this in April isn't. It acts as a reminder to drivers to watch out for bikes at the start of the season even if it takes shutting down the busiest road in NA for 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon. We are trying to make a point, not make friends with the cagers who already hate us.

I do see your point though, another traffic jam might get lost on the average 401 user in Toronto.

Do you have any ideas yourself or are you just gonna dump on everyone's creativity?

 

[Irocian]

I remember the gardiner getting shut down and it gots loads of attention and no accidents. It was bad to public but sure got their cause out there and the media

 

[Myztyk]

I remember the gardiner getting shut down and it gots loads of attention and no accidents. It was bad to public but sure got their cause out there and the media

Oh yeah...when the truckers protested high diesel price when they spiked at 85 cents. Yeah,that went REAL well.

 

[Arun_in_TO]

Spent the afternoon in the lingering memories of Liz at her funeral. As much as I am humbled by her good deeds and her passion for life; I cannot stop thinking that this loss could have been avoided.

Nevertheless, I was glad for a moment to be a part of the funeral procession and her final 'ride' to her resting place. It was a fitting tribute to see so many riders ride in tandem to her resting ground. I saw first hand the pain and agony that gripped many of her friends and close ones. Let us all pray for her and her family.

Without losing momentum, I am going to speak with a few folks who have the experience and insight at organizing an event of this scale, and also a better understanding of how to mobilize the rally. Then we should start by getting a committee together. Please hang on until then. I shall keep the forum posted.

 

[Arun_in_TO]

And the result of that would be about half of the pictures and descriptions pointing to crashes where the motorcycle rider was at fault and may even have been the only vehicle present.

The problem is that too many here are focusing on cars and tru..........

Yes, the cars and trucks need to take more care to be aware of smaller vulnerable users sharing the road with them, whether it be motorcycles, bicycles, or ebikes. But riders also need to take some responsibility for their own well-being too, and not ride like they're auditioning to become organ donor of the year.

Throw that complete message out there, and back it up with strong peer pressure, and then you might have an effect on rider safety.

yeap turbodish, it is shared responsibility and that is why i suggested right at the start that we should get riders to also pledge that they will put a conscious effort to ride safe and not endanger their own life or other road users. The rally is meant to raise awareness and highlight the carnage in the recent months.

Everyone knows what they are expected to do. They still need regular mindful reminders to deliver on safe riding and driving; and the rally should do just that.

 

[Arun_in_TO]

Some really good thoughts in here.

Here are some builds for you:

- Timing feels off. Most people are worried about vacations and celebrating in July not road awareness.
- Would recommend tying it in with Motorcycle Awareness month in May.
- Would be wasting time presenting anything to a ministry official. They don't initiate anything unless they are told. Need to leverage politicians. We have this little thing called a provincial election coming up....might be a good opportunity. If you walked into every local candidates debate with a string of bikers demanding reform during the Q&A period you're at least going to get some attention.
- Need to get an advocate at a high level of government or a loudmouth MPP like McTeig who knows how to get press on his side.
- How can you leverage celebrity to gain attention with this? Can you get someone famous who rides to help support the cause? (totally out there...but Dan Akroyd rides...could you convince him to speak on your behalf?)
- Need stats to back up how bad things have gottent this year. It feels like it's worse, is it really?
- Think about PR opportunities for petition signing. e.g. Can you get Harper's wife to sign the petition? She rides around Ottawa all the time. Good PR play for the PM, good exposure for the cause.
- Need to leverage local clubs that already have big memberships. Can you get them to participate? I know everyone on this forum hates Harley riders, but the Milton HOG chapter has over 200 members who show up to stuff. They're in this with us as well.

Failing that Keith gets it. The message needs to be stark, it needs to be loud and quite frankly it needs to piss some people off.

Oh and unless you get >1000 bikers out to support your event? No one is going to care.

There's a lot of rambling in here, I'm at work and only half paying attention.

Thanks. Great suggestions.. keep them coming Myztyk.

 

[rideitlikeyoustoleit]

I think you're missing the point of a protest/demonstration. This isn't a charity ride for Dad. This is to make a stone cold point.

No, I'm not missing the point. I don't get what you point was with your reply.

 

[turbodish]

Something like this in June/July is pointless. Something like this in April isn't. It acts as a reminder to drivers to watch out for bikes at the start of the season even if it takes shutting down the busiest road in NA for 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon. We are trying to make a point, not make friends with the cagers who already hate us.

I do see your point though, another traffic jam might get lost on the average 401 user in Toronto.

Do you have any ideas yourself or are you just gonna dump on everyone's creativity?

The majority of drivers out there are already mindful and respectful of motorcycles and other vulnerable road users, and don't need to be held hostage in your attempt to somehow get through through to the minority, and it is a minority, who do need to be better educated.

If you want the "bad drivers" to be more aware of vulnerable road users, you need to educate them with a sustained campaign, not piss them off together with the already-mindful majority by creating a pointless and major disruption to their drives.

 

[Alvito]

Make it mandatory for everyone to get their M1 license along with their G1.

 

[rideitlikeyoustoleit]

Make it mandatory for everyone to get their M1 license along with their G1.

Just wondering how that's going to raise awareness. Not everyone plans to learn how to ride a bike or own one. They just talk like they do. Not everyone is also going to want to study 2 books just so they can drive. Also, it would be a waste of money since the M1 expires 3 months later. Just my 2 cents.

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