Thunder Roads Magazine of Oklahoma/Arkansas August TRMOK _FINAL | Page 31

THE ABATE UPDATE Sperry High School – Drivers Education teacher Jackie Barnett has had us present the program to her last three classes. Our goal is to start drivers early to develop the habit of looking twice for motorcycles. Tulsa Vo-tech, Broken Arrow Campus CDL drivers program – instructor Tony Bottoms runs one of only two vo-tech commercial driver training programs in Oklahoma. This is a perfect application for the truck driver edition of Share the Road. How effective is this training? There is no way to know how many crashes these presentations have prevented, since there is no way of measuring what didn’t happen. We hope that after 3-4 years and thousands of drivers being exposed to motorcycle crash avoidance training, 2-vehicle motorcycle crash statistics will begin declining. You can help speed this safety program’s introduction to the public. If you know someone who can help get us an audience with a decision maker in schools, businesses that have employees in the field such a oil field companies, bus transportation companies, social organizations like Kiwanis, Scouts, trucking companies, churches.... you get the idea, please contact Radar with the information. He will follow up the lead: [phone] or beemer- [email protected]. If you are interested in learning how to participate in ABATE of Oklahoma’s Share the Road program, please contact Radar. A tragic footnote: in approximately 5% of the presentations we have given, someone told us of a loved one, friend, or fellow employee who was killed while riding a motorcycle. In every crash, the motorcyclists’ right of way was violated. Thunder Roads Magazine of OK/AR 31