Hamilton bike shops, riders issue safety warning as warm weather hits Ontario

The sun is out, and the open road is calling.

With summer-like weather hopefully here to stay, drivers will start to see a lot more motorcyclists on the road.

Some say there is no better feeling than cruising down the highway with the wind blowing through your hair, but unfortunately, too many riders do not make it home.

Provincial police say six people have been killed on Ontario roads already this year.

“It’s one of the best feelings in the world, you don’t really get any other experience like it. The smells, the temperature changes, the wind in your face, it’s sensory overload at some points but it’s amazing, it’s one of the best feelings,” says Aaron Conrad from Sturgess Cycle Ltd. in Hamilton.

But Conrad says enjoying that feeling means being aware of your surroundings and the other drivers on the road.

“We do believe here that every time you go for a ride you want to be defensive, or as defensive as possible. A lot of people get careless with the space and the speed they’re going. It’s not how fast you are going but about how fast you have to stop,” Conrad says.

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Patrick Hamilton has been riding for about a decade now, and says while the majority of motorcyclists follow the rules, the ones that don’t give riders a bad name.

“I’ve been riding my bike on the highway, I’ve seen guys split lanes. It’s dangerous, I wouldn’t advise it and it’s illegal of course. Sometimes they can spoil it a little bit for the rest of us,” says Hamilton.

Up at Kelly’s Cycle Centre on Hamilton Mountain, they are holding a demo day, giving motorcycle riders a chance to hop on a different bike for a ride.

Larry Kelly says while a rider is ultimately responsible for their own safety, drivers need to be aware of the bikers as well.

“As a motorcycle rider I feel the onus is on the rider to be more aware. Drivers are insulated where they are, they’ve got the windows up, they got the stereos going and the air conditioning on,” Kelly says. “They are very isolated from that ride feel, as a motorcyclist we are very in touch, and I think the onus is on us, but at the same time car drivers must be aware.”

Sgt. Kerry Schmidt with the Ontario Provincial Police’s Highway Safety Division says 411 motorcyclists have died in the last 10 years, and six have died this year already.

“One sobering statistic is that of those motorcyclists who died, about a third of them were driving properly. So that tells me it was the other motorist in that situation that caused the collision and ultimately, the death of that motorcyclist,” Schmidt said.

The topic of lane splitting was brought up, and the OPP say it is 100 per cent illegal and extremely dangerous.

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