Motorcyclist deaths are on the rise.
According to the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, motorcycle riders account for 1 out of every 10 U.S. road deaths each year, with motorcyclist deaths from traffic crashes rising over the last eight years.
At Jacksonville Motorcycle Safety Training, motorcycle students are going through exercises practicing slow turns, stopping at intersections, swerving to avoid an obstacle changing gears and learning how to share the road with other drivers.
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“They need to see them out on the road. They need to pay attention to the motorcyclist,” said Michael Dobbs, the owner and president of Jacksonville Motorcycle Safety Training.
A lot of these exercises are helping them avoid a dangerous crash.
Back in April, Action News Jax covered a deadly motorcycle crash that shut down a portion of Philips Highway for hours on Southside Boulevard.
A 31-year-old man was killed in that crash.
In Duval County, there have been more than 160 motorcycle crashes so far this year. 15 of them have been deadly.
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In all of 2020, Duval County had 19 deaths related to motorcycles, according to crash data from the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
Schools like Jacksonville Motorcycle Safety Training are trying to prevent tragedies like those from happening.
“There is a lot of rise in a lot of accidents because a lot of people are self-taught, you know their uncle, their brother, someone taught them how to ride, but now they’re coming out here and they’re going to learn the correct way to make them a much safer rider,” Dobbs said.
Jacksonville Motorcycle Safety Training teaches experienced riders and those who have never been on a bike.
Right now classes are booked three weeks out.
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