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According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, fatal motorcycle accidents have seen a 12% increase in 2020, over the previous year’s numbers. In an effort to help fight this disturbing trend, CDOT has teamed up with Denver based oil change and automotive maintenance chain, Grease Monkey, on a new safety campaign that started this month.
On all of the vehicles that come into one of the 64 Grease Monkey locations in Colorado for an oil change, a safety sticker will be placed on the windshields reminding drivers to “Look Twice. Save Lives”. The plan is to distribute 60,000 of these stickers throughout the next two months.
Another part of the new safety campaign is the debut of a new wrap on one of CDOT’s fleet vehicles. The wrap shows what appears to be a motorcycle rider going headfirst through the back passenger side window of the vehicle, after being thrown off of a motorcycle. There is also text reminding drivers to “Look twice before turning left. You could save a rider’s life.”
There will also be motorcycle safety information distributed throughout the states, along with digital social media and radio marketing campaigns.
100 Motorcycle Fatalities so Far This Year. El Paso has the Most of Any other County
This campaign is being rolled out shortly after Colorado recorded it’s 100th motorcycle accident fatality this year, compared to 89 in the same time frame of 2019. Of those 100 fatalities, 17 have happened in El Paso County alone, almost double the rate for any other county in the state.
According to CDOT, of all of the fatal traffic accidents that happen on Colorado roads each year, fatal motorcycle accidents constitute 23% of them. And that is despite the fact that motorcycles only make up about 3% of the vehicles on the road in Colorado.
This motorcycle public safety campaign falls under CDOT’s larger safety campaign, “Whole System – Whole Safety”, which seeks to “improve the safety of Colorado’s transportation network by reducing the rate and severity of crashes, and improving the safety of all transportation modes” to help try and ensure that everyone gets home safely in Colorado.
CDOT’s Safety Recommendations
CDOT makes a number of recommendations in this campaign that can help drivers avoid a tragic accident with a motorcycle, including:
- Making sure you check your blind spots.
- Always looking twice anytime you make any kind of traffic change, such as a turn onto another street or a merge into another lane.
- Making sure to give motorcyclists plenty of room, and not following them too closely.
- Not driving while distracted.
- Making sure to use extra caution when turning left, as that is a common factor in many motorcycle accidents.
Further Reading: Denver Named as one of 25 Worst Cities to Drive in
Contact Our Colorado Springs Car Accident Lawyers Today
Have you or a loved one been injured by the negligent actions of a driver? Are you concerned you won’t have the money to pay medical bills and lost expenses? If so, you need an experienced Colorado Springs motorcycle accident lawyer on your side to help you fight for justice.
Contact the experienced attorneys at the Green Law Firm, P.C. today by calling (719) 694-8515, or by filling out the contact form on this website, to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation and discuss your case.