Police ask drivers to keep lookout for motorcycles

Police in Arkansas went public last week with a request to the motoring public to keep a proper lookout for motorcycles after there were two motorcycle accidents last week where the motorcycle riders were seriously injured when cars made left hand turns in the motorcycles to enter a driveway or a side street.  In both cases, the motorcycle rider was determined to be not at fault after the car drivers said that they simply did not see the motorcycles.

One of the common causes of motorcycle crashes is the failure of car drivers to see motorcycles and yield the right-of-way.  This results in drivers making left hand turns in front of motorcycles or pulling out from driveways or side streets in front of them.

With the return of warm weather to the Chicago area, we can expect more of these motorcycle accidents to occur as more motorcycles return to the roads and drivers fail to include them in their visual search patterns when making decisions about turning their vehicles.