Idaho setting national example for motorcycle skills training

The Gem State might lead the nation with its motorcycle skills training offered by the Idaho Skills Training Advantage for Riders (STAR) program.

Idaho STAR Director Stacey “Ax” Axmaker has been invited to talk about how Idaho applied new national standards to state motorcycle-training at the 2013 National Summit on Comprehensive Motorcycle Safety Programs, Aug. 23-25, in Kansas City, Mo.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently published the “Model National Standards for Entry-Level Motorcycle Rider Training,” or Model Standards, as guidelines for all novice motorcycle-rider training programs in the U.S.

NHTSA encourages states to work with motorcycle training curriculum developers to include the standards and move beyond them as necessary to address specific crash causes and trends.

“Idaho STAR program staff spent a year reviewing the NHTSA standards and comparing them line by line with Idaho’s,” Axmaker said.

“We had the majority of the proposed standards already in place,” he explained.

“We broke down each bullet point made in the NHTSA standards and made sure it was covered in the STAR program. If a bullet point wasn’t covered, then we made sure it was added.

“As of 2013, the Idaho STAR Program’s Basic 1 Course meets this new national standard,” he said.

NHTSA’s Model Standards represent basic concepts that all entry-level riders should be taught. They are grouped into six categories:

  • motorcycle pre-ride tasks
  • vehicle control skills
  • street strategies
  • roadway management skills
  • tasks related to carrying passengers, cargo, group riding and touring; and
  • factors adversely affecting rider performance

“We believe that we are the first state to successfully apply the standards,” Axmaker said.

As a next step, NHTSA is developing “Model Administrative Standards for Motorcycle Rider Training Programs,” expected to be published later this year.

Those administrative standards include administrative control, authority, instructor qualifications and instructional settings, and “will complement the training standards to help achieve a high-quality, performance-based rider training program,” according to the NHTSA website.

Published 7-12-13