MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Sheriff Clarke issued a traffic alert Monday, August 26th in an effort to prevent serious injuries and fatalities due to the large number of motorcyclists descending into the Milwaukee area for Harley-Davidson’s 110th anniversary celebration.
Motorcyclists are not as readily visible as motor vehicles are, and can be harder to pick up in a car driver’s line of sight, especially at intersections. Bikers appear “bladed” on city streets because of the narrow width of a motorcycle. Our eyes are trained to pick up wider objects that sit up higher in our spatial environment while driving a car. This causes car drivers to miss seeing them until it is too late.
Sheriff Clarke says their goal is to get through the event with no motorcycle crashes caused by the inattentiveness of car drivers. To achieve this goal Sheriff Clarke is ordering car drivers to do the following.
1. Pay attention to your blind spots. Do NOT depend solely on your mirrors! Motorcyclists can oftentimes be hidden in your blind spot.
2. Motorcyclists are entitled to the entire traffic lane.
3. Do not crowd them either on their side or from behind.
4. Car drivers must signal their intent to change lanes. This will give bikers advance warning of the car driver’s intent to change lanes and a chance to back off.
Motorcyclists have an obligation as well; they should not be weaving in and out of traffic or driving down the middle of a traffic lane between cars to get around traffic congestion.
ALL motorists have a duty to drive sober!