Navy Region Northwest offered its first sport motorcycle safety course June 18 at Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) Keyport
to help increase safety awareness on motorcycles due to an increasing number of motorcycle fatalities Navy-wide.
The course was designed for military-sport-bike riders by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) and covers
advanced maneuvering and evasive techniques specifically designed for sport motorcycles during classroom and
actual ride instruction.
“This course is a totally revamped program from the basic rider course and the experienced rider course,” said Dudley
McNutt, Navy Region Northwest MSF chief rider coach trainer Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. “It’s designed strictly
for sport-bike riders. We do a higher speed evolution, higher speed evasive maneuvers and cornering exercises.”
The goal of this program is to teach riders how to handle higher performance motorcycles. According to the Naval Safety
Center, this past year the Navy and Marine Corps has seen a total of 32 motorcycle related fatalities 30 of which were
on high-performance sport-motorcycles.
“We are putting these guys through a lot more extreme handling maneuvers than the Basic Rider Course (BRC),” said
Todd Greenwood, Navy Region Northwest traffic safety coordinator, said of the six participants. “The goal is to make the
riders a lot more confident and competent while riding their motorcycles. Most injuries and accidents occur when a rider
is cornering and they are going into it too fast or too slow and they are not using proper technique.”
Greenwood also said safety is their main concern and if they feel a rider can’t complete the course safely they will ask the
rider to go back and take either the BRC or the Experienced Rider Course (ERC) and come back to the Military Sport Bike
Course (MSBC) at a later date.
“I think this is a very good course,” said Chief Machinist’s Mate Barry Woodson, USS Nevada (SSBN 733). “It goes back to
some of the basic stuff that’s required in order to maintain proficiency on the street dealing with evasive maneuvering and
stopping. It brings back a lot of key elements that are needed on the street.”
“I’m getting a lot more experience on the bike,” said Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Luke Gossard, also of USS Nevada.
“I haven’t been riding very long so any experience I can get is helpful. I learned a lot more about control and braking;
the more I can control the bike, the better.”
Right now the course is only open to military sport-bike riders, but there are hopes to bring it to Department of Defense
civilians as soon as possible. For more information contact the Navy Region Northwest Safety Office at 396-6104 or visit
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/ashore/motorvehicle/motorcycle{{PERIOD}}