On Thursday, May 1, three members of the Honda GoldWing Road Riders Association (GWRRA) met with Elizabeth City Police Officer G. V. Carter at the home of Alice Redding to help kick off the month of May as "Motorcycle Awareness Month".

The Elizabeth City Chapter of GWRRA, River City Wings, is working with the Elizabeth City Police Department's Community Services Division in a cooperative venture to promote safety and motorcycle awareness by placing yellow signs this month at various locations throughout Elizabeth City that read, "Have you seen a motorcycle today? Look twice, save a life."

Submitted photo (ENLARGE)

From left, Larry Hughes, Bill Aydlett, Wink Foster and Officer Carter with their red, white, and blue GoldWing motorcycles.

Nationally, in April 2004, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution designating May as National Motorcycle Safety & Awareness Month. In September 2007, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration provided the State of North Carolina with a grant of $136,000 for the purpose of advertising and fostering, and increasing motorcycle awareness among the general driving public.

Also, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and GWRRA through its Motorist Awareness Division, both have active, ongoing, permanent programs to promote and increase motorist's awareness of motorcycles on the road.

The three basic tenets of this program are to: Inform the public of an increasing number of motorcycles on our roads; educate other drivers that motorcycles have smaller profiles and are harder to see; and allow motorcycles a full lane width (don't try and share the lane with a motorcycle).

The predominant reason that motorists give when they are involved in an accident with a motorcycle is, "I didn't see it!" We can all help to reduce the number of motorcycle accidents on our roads by taking the advice you will see on the yellow signs: "Look twice, save a life!"