• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Contact
  • Advertising

Colorado Rider News

Colorado Powersports

 

 

  • Meta_032320
  • RiderJustice032320
  • BikerDown
  • Meta_032320
  • RiderJustice032320
  • BikerDown
  • Current Issue
  • Events
    • Submit Event
  • B.O.B.
    • BOB – Submit Your Business
  • Colorado Riders Care
    • Business Directory
    • Submit Your Business to CRC
    • Event Changes & Cancellations
    • #2Wheels4Meals – Media

BikerDown Colorado

Motorcycle Awareness – 9th Annual Look Twice Save a Life

April 5, 2021 By Laurie Montoya Leave a Comment

By Laurie Montoya

It is a well-known fact that the public does not watch for motorcycles no matter how many billboards CDOT puts up or lighted signs that are only up a few days in May or in August during Sturgis.  It is a well-known fact that most motorcycle accidents involve a car and/or some sort of distracted driving.  Distracted Driving comes in many forms including texting/driving, use of handheld mobile devices while driving, putting your makeup on while the vehicle is moving, looking in the back seat at your kids, eating while driving to changing the radio station.

Our riding community continues to be the victim of irresponsible drivers who are out driving with no driver’s license and little to no insurance and driver’s leaving accident victims on the ground and leaving the scene.  Driver’s change lanes without looking and run stop signs/lights, hit the biker and keep on going.

BikerDown Foundation received a Proclamation in 2015 from then Governor Hickenlooper proclaiming May17th as Colorado Motorcycle Awareness Day.  This was quite an honor to be recognized by the state of Colorado for the good work that BikerDown has done for the motorcycle community.

On May 15th, BikerDown will again host the only motorcycle awareness ride on the front range, called the Look Twice Save a Life ride.  We are going to repeat the theme of last year with Can YOU SEE me NOW.  These awareness shirts were a tremendous hit with riders no matter what you rode.

Riders will need to pre-register for the ride to guarantee themselves 1 of our motorcycle awareness t shirts.  T-shirts will be available the day of the event in limited sizes.  Registration is $25.00 per rider.  Each rider who pre-registers will get 1 free month of motorcycle roadside assistance sponsored by Motorcycle Towing Services.

Our ride will start and end this year at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse in Golden with kickstands up at 10-10:30 am.  The Look Twice ride is known for great rides routes and safety is always key for this event.  Dirty Dogs will have some great entertainment for our event, and our sponsors and biker community always donates great raffles and 50/50 drawings prizes.

Our sponsor for the ride is again Rider Justice.  For over 8 years, Scott O’Sullivan from RiderJustice.com has supported this event as well as BikerDown Foundation to ensure that injured motorcycle riders have a resource to go when they go down.

Pre-Register to get your Can YOU See me NOW event tshirt

This is BikerDown Colorado’s primary fundraiser that will enable us to continue the mission of helping injured riders until the end of the year!

You can register for our event by clicking here to be guaranteed your own Can YOU SEE me NOW t-shirt.  If you cannot make the event, please register and BikerDown will ship your shirt to you.  100% of your donation goes into the Colorado BikerDown Accident Fund to help injured riders.

Remember to Ride Safe and SAVE THE DATE!

Filed Under: BikerDown, Community, Events, Laurie Montoya, Magazine, Non-Profit Tagged With: BikerDown, BikerDown Colorado, Can you See me Now, Charity Ride, Look Twice Save a Life, motorcycle events

Letter from the Publisher – Spring is in the Air

March 10, 2021 By Laurie Montoya Leave a Comment

Laurie is Publisher and Editor of Colorado Rider News

March is here and with the warmer temperatures here, its hard to not start looking forward to spring rides, events and trying to get back to normal.  Today it was in the news that the governors of Texas and Mississippi both announced that TODAY they would be lifting their states’ mask mandates and rolling back many of their Covid-19 health mandates, just one day after the CDC warned against complacency in the face of emerging coronavirus variants.

The future of our motorcycle events in Colorado are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and more events are being added to our Event Calendar in the hopes that restrictions will continue to loosen up. 

In this issue we will share with our readers The Colorado Motorcycle Swap Meet held at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse in February.  This was a combined effort of the Motorcycle Expo, Dirty Dogs Roadhouse, Rider Justice and Colorado Rider News whose only goal was helping our local biker owned business get thru these winter months due to the official Expo being postponed to 2022.

Colorado Riders News is proud to work with charities, riding groups and biker businesses to help promote your event.  Please visit our website and submit your event on our calendar and we will make sure it gets on the calendar at no-charge.

On a safety note, please ride safe out there, even with the beautiful weather, there is sand in the mountains and on the roads.  Watch the conditions of possible black ice in the shade.

As always enjoy the ride, let us know what we can do better and BE SAFE OUT THERE

Laurie Montoya, Publisher

Colorado Rider News

info@coloradoridernews.com

Publisher, Colorado Rider News

Filed Under: Biker Owned Business, From the Publisher, Laurie Montoya, Magazine Tagged With: Biker Owned Business, BikerDown Colorado, colorado rider news, Laurie Montoya

100 Motorcycle Fatalities in Colorado

October 1, 2020 By Laurie Montoya Leave a Comment

CDOT posted an article on the 18th of this month giving some year-to-date totals and the one that popped out to me was that our community has lost 100 motorcycle riders and is on track to surpass last year’s number of 103 fatalities.

Laurie Montoya, Publisher

As many of you know I am also the President and Founder of BikerDown Foundation and help injured motorcycle riders after an accident and/or fatality.  I decided this month to take this forum on CRN to try again to ask this motorcycle community to put in place some offensive measures, so that in the event of a motorcycle accident or fatality, you have the services you need to recover.

For years, CRN and BikerDown have put into this publication articles about increasing your motorcycle insurance to include at least 250k under or un-insured motorist coverage.   This coverage is absolutely the MOST IMPORTANT item you can have on your bike when you ride. 

Due to COVID-19, loss of work or just being down right irresponsible, at least 50% of all drivers out there are now driving without vehicle insurance.  So when (and I mean when) that driver hits you, if YOU do not have under or un-insured motorist coverage, you are literally screwed.  This will leave all the medical costs, and out-of-pocket recovery expenses UP TO YOU! 

If you have full coverage on your bike, please understand THAT ONLY COVER YOUR BIKE (maybe).  Full coverage does not mean your medical bills will be covered; it does not mean that your lost wages will be covered.  It means that you might get enough from the insurance company to fix or pay off your loan on your bike.

As the Biker Advocate for BikerDown who calls these riders or family members daily to see how BD can help them, one of the questions I routinely ask is what type of insurance did the driver have? And this week alone 3 injured riders family member told me that the driver had NO LICENSE and NO INSURANCE.

This publication has attempted since the inception to gently nudge riders thru advertising and articles to educate and give you the resources to make changes to your personal bike coverages, but I feel WE are LOSING the battle out in this biker community.  IT IS NOW TIME, TO BEG YOU and HOUND YOU to call your insurance company today and add at least $250k under or un-insured motorist.

There is still a lot of riding in 2020, and before you get on your bike in October, please MAKE A PLEDGE TODAY, to at least call your bike or vehicle insurance and CONFIRM, VERIFY and have them send you something that shows that you have under or un-insured motorist coverage.

If you do not want to do it for YOU, please do it for your FAMILY, your wife/husband, your children, your mother, or father and EVEN YOUR FRIENDS.  These are the people who will be the ones struggling to keep you going while you are recovering in the hospital.

Please forgive me this month for such an abrasive Letter from the Publisher, but we are in an epidemic of motorcycle injuries and fatalities and THE TIME IS NOW to at least have the coverages you need, so you can recover in peace.

As always enjoy the ride, let us know what we can do better and BE SAFE OUT THERE

~ Laurie Montoya, Publisher

info@coloradoridernews.com

Filed Under: BikerDown, From the Publisher, Magazine Tagged With: 10/20, BikerDown Colorado, CDOT

Colorado records its 100th Motorcycle Death for 2020

October 1, 2020 By coridernews Leave a Comment

2020 has been a difficult year, even for motorcyclists on Colorado roadways. With fatal motorcycle crashes up 12% over last year, a new partnership between the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Grease Monkey is addressing this concerning trend by reminding motorists to watch for motorcyclists.

“Since January Colorado has seen a startling increase in motorcyclist fatalities and the state is expected to exceed the number of fatalities from last year,” said Darrell Lingk, CDOT Director of the Office of Transportation Safety. “With the fall riding season approaching and many riders currently enjoying the warm weather, we are urging drivers to use caution and be aware of motorcyclists. Drivers, please remember to look twice and save a life.”

As a reminder to watch for motorcycles, Grease Monkey will be placing safety stickers on vehicles receiving oil changes at 64 Grease Monkey locations throughout Colorado. There will be 60,000 window stickers distributed over the next two months to all drivers getting their oil changed.

“Grease Monkey hopes getting this message out will help save a life,” said Wes Stephenson, president and chief operations officer for Grease Monkey. “As a motorcyclist myself, safety on Colorado’s roadways is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone needs to do their part to make the roads a safe place to drive and ride.”

With the launch of the new campaign also comes the debut of a CDOT vehicle wrapped with a safety message. The eye-catching visual depicts a motorcycle crash in which the motorcyclists is thrown from his bike.  The CDOT fleet car will be seen driving throughout the Denver metro area over the next two months.

CDOT reminds drivers to be more aware of motorcycles and suggest drivers:

Check your blind spots

Check blind spots.

Since motorcycles are much smaller than cars, it is easy for them to get lost in blind spots. Before making any lane changes, thoroughly check all blind spots and use traffic signals.

Look twice.

When making lane changes, turns, merging and other traffic changes, check twice to save a life. 

Use extra caution when turning left.

Motorcycles are smaller which makes it hard for drivers to determine their speed accurately. When making left turns, look carefully for motorcyclists as the eye is not trained to detect them, then take the time to more accurately gauge their speed before entering the intersection.

Never follow motorcyclists too closely.

Motorcycles and their riders can slow down quicker than cars. Giving riders more space than a car ensures that drivers have enough time to slow or stop.

50% of drivers say they have driven distracted

Eliminate distractions while driving.

Being mindful and aware of driving situations, changes on the roadways and other unexpected incidents increases the safety for drivers and motorcyclists.

“My son, Nick, was killed by a driver who made a left turn in front of my son on his bike,” said Debby Uberecken-Standard, who lost her son in 2014. “As a mother, driver and Colorado resident, please always look twice. Motorcyclists are not as protected as drivers and can be hard to spot. Look twice and save someone’s life.”

Facts and Statistics:

  • To date there have been 100 motorcycle fatalities in 2020. This is up 12% from 89 at the same time last year.
  • In 2019 there was a total of 103 motorcycle fatalities.
  • Motorcyclists make up 23% of all deaths on Colorado roadways yet represent just 3% of the vehicles.
  • Of the 100 motorcyclist deaths in 2020, the following counties are noteworthy:    
  • The top three counties with the most motorcycle deaths are El Paso (17 fatalities), Adams (nine fatalities), and Jefferson (nine fatalities).
  • Northern Colorado – Larimer and Weld Counties have both had seven fatalities each.
  • Southern Colorado – El Paso has had 17 fatalities and Pueblo has had seven fatalities.
  • Western Slope – Mesa County has had six fatalities. Delta, Garfield, Gunnison, Montrose and Rio Blanco have each had one fatality.   

In addition to the window decals and CDOT fleet vehicle, Grease Monkey will also be placing motorcycle information in stores across the state while CDOT will be posting on social channels and running radio ads across Colorado to spread the message.

CDOT motorcycle safety efforts are part of CDOT’s Whole System – Whole Safety campaign which aims to reduce fatalities and injuries and “Bring everyone home safely.”

Filed Under: BikerDown, Breaking, Community, Magazine, Perspective, Safety Tagged With: 10/20, BikerDown Colorado, CDOT

Primary Sidebar

Colorado Riders Care Initiative

Article Categories

Magazine Articles

Motorcycle Safety Car Game Rider Up!

Where Do Most Motorcycle Accidents Occur?

It’s April! Already, warm days have peeked into our tumultuous Colorado weather, … [Read More...] about Where Do Most Motorcycle Accidents Occur?

Motorcycle Riders Will Be Forever #BikerStrong

1 year ago, we were all living in a different space with COVID shutting all our … [Read More...] about Motorcycle Riders Will Be Forever #BikerStrong

Calendar of Event – April 2021

… [Read More...] about Calendar of Event – April 2021

Morning Stretch

Morning Stretch – Cancel Culture

By Stretch McClure Cancel Culture and Effect!  These acts of public … [Read More...] about Morning Stretch – Cancel Culture

Motorcycle Awareness – 9th Annual Look Twice Save a Life

By Laurie Montoya It is a well-known fact that the public does not watch … [Read More...] about Motorcycle Awareness – 9th Annual Look Twice Save a Life

BadGirlsBling – Biker Owned Business

BadGirlsBling is an independent women’s business that’s focus is finding women’s … [Read More...] about BadGirlsBling – Biker Owned Business

April 11th is the last Motorcycle Expo Swap for 2021

UPDATE: The 2nd swap meet hosted by The Colorado Motorcycle Expo and Dirty Dogs … [Read More...] about April 11th is the last Motorcycle Expo Swap for 2021

Save the Date – May 1st is International Female Ride Day

Colorado Rider News in conjunction with Audrey Paulas from Cool Biker Lunch … [Read More...] about Save the Date – May 1st is International Female Ride Day

Help Us Help the Children in our Community

By: Bikers for Justice For those of you who do not know, April is the … [Read More...] about Help Us Help the Children in our Community

Belt Drive Betty Ride Canada

Canada – April is Child Abuse Awareness Month

By: Belt Drive Betty Here in Canada, we have several motorcycle organizations … [Read More...] about Canada – April is Child Abuse Awareness Month

Biker Owned Business Directory – April 2021

Need a service and not sure where to go? Take a moment to view our Colorado … [Read More...] about Biker Owned Business Directory – April 2021

  • RiderJustice.com
  • March 2021 Cover
  • Letter from the Publisher – Spring is in the Air

More Posts from this Category

Business Supporters

Rider Justice Motorcycle Lawyers

 

Follow Us Online

  • Facebook

Footer

Colorado Rider News

  • Current Issue
  • Events
    • Submit Event
  • B.O.B.
    • BOB – Submit Your Business
  • Colorado Riders Care
    • Business Directory
    • Submit Your Business to CRC
    • Event Changes & Cancellations
    • #2Wheels4Meals – Media

About Us

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Advertising

Terms & Conditions

Copyright © 2021 Colorado Rider News