A Motorcycle Safety Tip from Ted Spaulding

In this video, attorney Ted Spaulding reviews one of his top recommendations for safe motorcycle riding. 

Hi, Ted Spaulding here. Listen, the other day I had the honor and privilege of talking to a real motorcycle safety expert. I like to say I play one on TV, right? I try to do my best to give safety tips that I hear about, know about, have come across in my legal career helping motorcycle injury victims, but I don’t know everything. And certainly most of us out there riding motorcycles don’t know everything. And that was the point of what he said, what I captured out of everything that we talked about, was this overarching theme that he had, which is, don’t rest on your laurels.

Don’t get cocky, don’t think you know everything, you’ve seen everything, you know how to handle every situation. Why? His point was, look, at best, you’re gonna come up on new situations or novel situations once or twice, or maybe three times a year, right? And that’s not a lot of practice. That’s not a lot of experience. You may face it once and then not again for another three to four or five years, you know, a safety hazard that’s unique. A certain situation when you’re coming around a tight curve, right? Maybe a tractor trailer is coming the other way, maybe a car coming over the line. There’s so many things as we know that can happen out there when you’re riding that can be safety issues for you. It’s hard to get all that experience certainly before you ever go out there and start riding after you get your license, but much less in the first 1 to 5, to 10 years. You’re not gonna to hit every single scenario that’s out there, right? Much less you’re gonna do it repeatedly so you become an expert at handling that situation.

So I just really thought that that encapsulated everything that I’m about in trying to educate on safety issues and things. Everything that we talk about in my Facebook group, obviously the Georgia Bikers Unite!, trying to keep the safety issues out there in the forefront, reminding you of things, “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that,” or, “Oh, that’s a good tip.” Right? So he kind of encapsulated that whole thing.

So the theme for today’s video is, “Please don’t rest on your laurels, that you are an amazing motorcycle rider.” I’m sure you probably are, but always be learning. Get refresher courses. I’ve talked about this before. Maybe not every year, but certainly do it every couple of years. Hey, let me go back through a more advanced safety course. If I’ve been riding 10, 20, 30 years, just to get a refresher. Maybe I hear something new, at the very least, you’re gonna get more practice on those, not once in a lifetime, but once every five-year kind of safety issues, right? And you can get on the bike and practice it in a safe environment. So, again, I think it was a super great advice. Wanted to pass it along to you, guys, I think it’s invaluable. If you would, comment to this video below, guys. Let’s engage, let’s talk, let me know any other questions you have, let me know what you think about this safety tip. Love to hear from you in the comments below. Let’s get that going.

Thanks so much for watching this video. Again, Ted Spaulding. I appreciate you very much. Thanks.