Motorcycle Safety Rally brings riders back to the basics

AMMON, Idaho (KIFI)-The Idaho State Police hosted a Motorcycle Safety Rally for a third year. The rally started with a breakfast in Shelley, then a quick ride to Hillcrest High School where they held the rally. The rally was to help riders and motorists learn how to be safer on the roads.

"To increase awareness, both for the motoring public that there are motorcycles on the road, but also of the motorcyclists, and also to bridge the gap between the motoring public and law enforcement," said Sergeant Andrew Nakishima with Idaho State Police.

Sergeant Nakisima adds that the rally was attended by many state troopers to help instruct riders on the course. "We're really excited about that. It's really cool because one of the main reasons we're here is to show people what their motorcycles are capable of as well as what they can do and hopefully get them interested in taking part in a little more training, either with the Idaho Star Program or some local motorcycle dealerships."

The event allowed many motorcyclists to interact with law enforcement and a chance to learn the rules of the road when on a bike.

"We got a bunch of motor officers from the state police out here just talking to the people on motorcycles, answering questions about traffic laws, rules, the road safety, that kind of thing," said Sergeant Nakisima.

One of the Riders at the event William Daarud says he had learned a lot from the experience. "It's definitely a lot to learn, a lot of a lot of things that you didn't even realize were an issue. Things you didn't know that you had problems with certain skill sets and things. It's a great place to come and just practice, try it out, and do it without getting hurt, hopefully."

He added that the safety skills course that the State Police set up had some deceiving at times. "There are certain aspects of this course that make the skills seem easy. But, there's a lot of things that are a lot harder than I thought they would be. And then there are other things that look hard, but they're actually a lot easier than you think they're going to be," said Daarud.

Something Sergeant Nakishma said was intentional. "The cone pattern that we have set up is the same cone pattern that we use for the basic police motor course, some of them, but they are modified a little bit to accommodate all different skill levels."

Sergeant Nakishma says the Idaho Star Program, a way for new bikers to get their licensing endorsement, was present running an introductory course into riding the motorbike.

The event was well attended and had bikes filling the school parking lot.