The Georgia Department of Public Safety recently issued a new motorcycle Safety Initiative program to help reduce the number of fatalities due to motorcycles in Georgia.

Gordy Wright, the director of Public Information from the Georgia Department of Public Safety, is spreading the word to motorcyclists and automobile drivers throughout Georgia.

“Major Mark McDonough, the Commanding Officer of Georgia State Patrol, instructed us to develop a safety presentation over the next year to several high schools and colleges throughout Georgia and even the military in order to raise awareness of motorcyclists,” he said. “We believe this new program will help as a lot of drivers aren’t aware of motorcyclists due to their size.”

Wright said that their safety presentations “tell motorcyclists not to travel in a driver’s blind spot, to keep their headlights on and to wear a helmet at all times. Cars should constantly check their mirrors and always take a second look before pulling out, which will automatically begin reducing the number of fatalities.”

According to Joan Greenlees, the parking services supervisor from the Department of Parking and Traffic Control, there are 159 registered motorcyclists on Georgia Southern’s campus, and around 90 of those have parking passes.

According to Wright, since Hurricane Katrina drove gas prices up in 2005, the number of motorcycles used worldwide has increased, especially in Georgia. The increase in motorcycles on the road also caused a sharp increase in the number of fatalities each year.

Major Laura McCullough, the assistant director administrative from the Office of Public Safety said there have been accidents on campus in the past.

“In 2005, there was one motorcycle fatality, as well as five accidents in the past three years, two being in 2009,” she said.

The Department of Public Safety in Georgia is attempting to decrease the number of accidents over the next year on high school and college campuses as well as throughout the state of Georgia.

For anyone who is interested in accessing more information on this new safety program, contact the Georgia State Patrol Safety Education Unit at (770) 229-3422. Students can request that a State Patrol Officer come and host a safety presentation at GSU to inform all drivers on motorcycle safety.