Motorcycle group calling on government to make roads safer
Posted Aug 13, 2013 11:33:54 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The head of a not for profit biker’s society says the past two provincial governments haven’t answered his requests and suggestions to help improve biker safety.
Jimi Swinimer chairs the Biker’s Down Society, a group which promotes bike safety and helps bikers who’ve been injured from a collision. He tells News 95.7 having Motorcycle Awareness Week in May doesn’t make sense since most bikers aren’t riding at that time.
“If we do it in June on a Saturday, all the bikers can attend,” said Swinimer. “We need to make this a major event in our province because right now there are more than 40,000 motorcycle riders that are registered in Nova Scotia.”
Swinimer says although driving defensively does help bikers, more signs notifying drivers of motorcycles on the road would improve safety. Biker’s Down Society has also created an online petition for the province to work on making roads safer.
So far this year, eight motorcyclists have died on the roads. Swinimer says that doesn’t include people who’ve died from their injuries later on.
On Sunday night, 63-year-old Ronald Edward McNeil from Lower Sackville lost control of his bike on Highway 102 and died when he was struck by a tractor trailer.
