Untitled Document

Motorcycle safety coalition gearing up
for statewide awareness campaign

To Brent Jennings

Thanks for the note. It's good to hear from you. Things are indeed going well. I picked up the first of the motorcycle awareness postcards and have distributed 3,000 in just two days. We have barely begun. The response has been excellent. No one has said they would not mail out at least a few, and many folks wanted 10 to 20. We will be making them available at our 25th anniversary Motorcycle Awareness Rally on May 1st and hope to pass out 3,000 or so. Others are getting them spread out around the state.

The ICMS (Idaho Coalition for Motorcycle Safety) and STAR have been very impressed with Cecilia Arritola from your office (Office of Highway Operations and Safety). She has been very helpful and more than cooperative on our issues. She is a valuable asset to our ISHSP committee. We have exchanged countless e-mails and met in person on numerous occasions to discuss all aspects of motorcycle safety. The partnership of our organizations has grown to an unsurpassed level due to her willingness to work with us.

It may sound like I am gushing, but I really can't say enough about the good work she has been doing. She was recently interviewed by Channel 2 (KBOI-TV) news along with Ax from STAR and me for a piece about motorcycle safety in Idaho.

There was so much information from us that the station has decided to do a four-part series, starting April 28 and finishing on May 1st after the rally. Please check that out. (Arritola) is also working on a press release for the rallies statewide to all of the media. It is our hope that the creditability of the Transportation Department will encourage a high level of media coverage. It takes coverage to get our message of motorist awareness of motorcycles out to the public.

Ax, Sgt. Christenson, and I are about to get in gear for our latest campaign against impaired riding through the committee. We have compiled a list of most of the riding organizations within the state and plan to visit their leaders to promote a "Riders Helping Riders" program. This program was produced by NHTSA and offers a peer-to-peer approach to impaired riding. It will be interesting to see what kind of reception we will get from the various types of riding groups. We are hopeful.

Cecilia, Ax, and I are also looking at data. We are brainstorming ways to better collect and analyze pertinent data to hopefully find key areas that we can focus on to improve safety.

I, along with two other ICMS board members will be attending this week's ITD safety summit. We look forward to rubbing elbows with others that have our same concern for highway safety. We hope to build relationships and gain valuable knowledge for the work that we have yet to do.

I can speak for the entire board of the ICMS when I say that we are grateful for the opportunity to work with your department on the issues that affect motorcycles in Idaho.

Sincerely,
Lane Triplett
Chairman,
Idaho Coalition for Motorcycle Safety