The Springfield Police Department is offering free one-day safety courses for motorcyclists.
Last year, there were 157 crashes involving motorcycles in Springfield. Of those, 117 were injury crashes, and seven were fatal. So far this year, there have been 14 crashes involving motorcycles in Springfield with 11 injuries and one fatality.
SPD corporal, Ken Hall, said the leading causes of accidents were bikers going too fast and failure to yield by those in other vehicles. In crashes where just the motorcycle was involved, Hall said the main cause was that the rider didn’t have the skills to get the bike upright.
He hopes the safety courses will prevent crashes.
"It'll improve their techniques on how to operate a motorcycle," said Hall. "We teach advance techniques, threshold braking so, when you do have that instance where a vehicle pulls out in front of you, you know how to use every bit of brake that you have."
What the motorcycle safety courses cover
The courses begin with an inspection of the bikes to make sure they're safe.
"And then we go over basic stuff like clutch control, throttle control and then...we start off with slow cone courses to improve their abilities and then, in the afternoon, we'll start doing faster courses where we teach special braking to show them the difference between front brake only, rear brake only and using all the brakes that the motorcycle has," said Hall, "and then we also go over braking in a curve because that is a possible thing. A lot of guys don't realize that they can do that, but we show how to do it and do it properly, and those things alone will help avoid most crashes."
Who is eligible
The courses are open to motorcycle riders with a valid driver's license and motorcycle insurance, motorcycles that are 250 cc or larger and with a manual transmission, and riders must have a Department of Transportation compliant helmet.
The safety courses are generally offered about four times a year and have room for 30 participants each. Classes will be held April 2 and 30 and September 10.
How to apply
To fill out an application or to find out more, go to the police department’s website or email sharetheroad@springfieldmo.gov. An interest application must be received at least four days prior to the course start date. Applications are being accepted now for all three dates the course is being offered.