Local corporal for SPD reminds public to be cautious of motorcyclists

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s warming up and people on motorcycles are starting to rev their engines.

Spring is here and it’s time to start doing some spring-like activities like riding motorcycles. If you are the car that is sharing the road with someone on the bike, make sure that you are paying attention to yourself and others on the road.

“The last time I was at work I was on the motorcycle and I was going down Highway 12 there at Louisville and I had the green light to come across Louisville and a driver was holding his phone up in his face and was on a facetime call and pulled out in front of me from Louisville and I had to swerve into the other lane to keep from running into the rear end of him,” said Eguires.

If Robert Eguires wasn’t paying attention he could have been seriously injured or worse.

Corporal Robert Eguires with Starkville Police Department said every day while driving a motorcycle he finds himself having to pay attention to himself and the drivers around him due to lack of attention.

“All too often I come across drivers who aren’t paying attention to the roadway and they are looking at their phones and that causes them to leave their lane of travel and potentially not pay attention to stop signs or red lights and as a result and a motorcyclist on the road I have to be more aware of those types of drivers,” said Eguires.

When drivers aren’t paying attention to their surroundings it can lead to more wrecks and while all wrecks aren’t from distractions most of them are.

“I would say a safe number would be 75% or 80% of the collisions that we are working here are from distracted driving and distracted driving is exactly that they aren’t paying attention to the roadway and they are distracted by their car radio or their phone or things like that,” said Eguires.

Always stay off your phone while driving and be sure to be courteous to others on the road.

“What you need to do is for every 10 miles per hour you are traveling you need to be more than a little more than one car length behind that vehicle so if you are traveling 50 miles per hour you need to be five car lengths or six car lengths behind the car that’s in front of you for one: that’s a law and two: it’s a courtesy,” said Eguires.

If you decide to get on a motorcycle, don’t forget to always wear your helmet for safety.

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