Ivan Karsten takes a ride nearly Badlands Harley-Davidson on Monday, May 16, 2022. May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chris Brown

Motorcycle fatalities up since 2019

Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month: Safety starts with every road user

May 16, 2022 | 4:50 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The weather is warming up and the motorcycle engines are revving up.

What’s also up is the number of motorcycle fatalities, according to statistics gathered by the Alberta Motorcycle Safety Society.

“Definitely the worst that we’ve seen in the seven years that we have been doing what we’re doing,” says AMSS president Liane Langlois.

Langlois says there were just 11 motorcycle fatalities in the province in 2019 and the next year that shot up to 21. There were 20 last year and already have been two in 2022.

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She hopes to see that number start to come down with training schools back at capacity following two years of being restricted due to COVID. According to Langlois, the statistics show about 70 per cent of the collisions and fatalities over the past two years were allegedly due to rider error.

But Langlois says everyone has a part to play in getting the number of fatalities trending down again, she says.

“Traffic safety starts with each individual road-user whether its two wheels all the way up to 18. For motorcycle riders specifically, we have a responsibility to take responsibility for ourselves,” she says.

She adds other people on the road may be responsible for a collision, “but what could you have done to prevent that to keep yourself in a safe space.”

“So making sure that you always have an exit plan, that you’re approaching intersections in the city carefully, always scanning,” Langlois says.

Motorists also need to take a close look before changing lanes and turning at intersections. She suggests turning the old punch buggy game into spotting motorcycles as a simple way to start the habit of looking for motorcycles early.

Another way riders have to take responsibility for themselves is by wearing the right gear.

“Get a proper helmet, proper jacket proper gloves, proper pants,” she says. “A lot of people think denim is fine. You got down in denim that rips to shreds really quickly. You go down with kevlar denim that protects you a lot more.”

Ivan Karsten, general manager at Badlands Harley Davidson, had been riding for more than 40 years when he was in a collision in 2016 after someone ran a stop sign.

“The lady didn’t see me and pulled right out in front of me and I T-boned her, flew right over top of her car and landed on the other side,” he recalls.

He suffered a cracked pelvis and cracked ribs and other injuries

“I was wearing full gear and really, helmet did its job, riding jacket did its job. So everything, all my riding gear did what it was supposed to do,” he says.

Both Karsten and Langlois say riding is a great way to travel, but you need to know the risks.

She says anyone getting into riding should understand the full cost and not skimp on gear to afford a course or vice versa.

“I love it I encourage everybody who wants to even go try it to go riding. But do it the right way so that you make sure you get home to your loved ones in one piece.”

The Alberta Motorcycle Safety Society website has a variety of resources and will point you in the right direction for anything you can’t find there.