On the Arrive Alive website we strive to share safety information with a variety of road users. It is not only our motorists and passengers in need of road safety education, but also our most vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and bikers.
We have in recent years seen a sharp increase in numbers of bikers/ motorcyclists sharing our roads.
This increase has unfortunately also resulted in more reports of bike crashes.
There is a need to create more awareness of motorcycle/ bike safety for the novice rider and also to provide some information to "refresh" safety for the experienced bikers! We acknowledge that we need to do this in consultation with the motorcycle safety experts.
What are the skills required to be safer on the roads? We believe that the Motorcycle Skills Institute can guide us to the answer!
About MSI – The Motorcycle Skills Institute
MSI-Motorcycle Skills Institute is the brainchild of Hein Jonker, created to be more focused on rider education, road safety for motorcyclists and motorcycle skills development. You will not find a more equipping source with such a focus on motorcycle operating skills on this green earth. Here at MSI we strongly believe that Skill is required to achieve Safety!
Hein promises to post regular articles to keep you informed and fine-tuned for that next trip on 2-wheels. Please note that every single article has copy right and may not be copied or distributed without the consent of the editor or author.
MSI will become the standard for Motorcycle Safety in South Africa, so stay connected to this source as your life, and that of your friends and family, depends on it.
The MSI Goal
Through the MSI WordPress website, Hein will release ALL his Motorcycle Safety & Skills articles he has written during the past 9 years of Bike Talk. This is a “free” source of life saving information on Motorcycle Road Safety & Skill. Our main goal is to educate and coach the South African motorcycle operator on a national level focussed specifically on the Urban Rider.
Hein will undertake a Training Tour early 2015, conducting safety talks and presenting the SRC in major centres throughout South Africa. From Durban starting in Nelspruit and working his way down through Pretoria, Johannesburg, Vereeniging, Bloemfontein, Cape Town and then back up the East Coast to Port Elizabeth and ending in Durban.
The Course
The SRC is a very rewarding course, designed for experienced riders, who truly want to learn how to control their motorcycles in limited or confined spaces with skill and confidence. Proper clutch and throttle control will be instilled in you, for effective completion of these exercises. This is a highly underestimated course not taught by any other person in South Africa, but yet the foundation for all USA Motor Cops – the Ride like a Pro way!
About Hein Jonker
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Hein has been riding motorcycles, on and off, for the last 31+ years since the age of 14. Starting off on a mining community, learning from a friend, stupidly riding around in the bush without helmet or gear exploring and hunting. His first introduction to training was in Rhundu, during his military service in 1987-1988, when certain officers were issued with Honda XL350R motorcycles. That’s where it really started. Since then he has made every effort to stay in touch with learning and developing new skills whenever he had the chance, and sharing what he learned with friends. Officially he only started training other riders in 2004, and then on a more permanent basis when he founded Bike Talk in January 2006.
Hein Jonker is the Chief Instructor and Editor at Bike Talk, and a renowned Motorcycle Skills Instructor and an Expert in Motorcycle Manipulation, a skill he learned from the master Donnie Williams; a Motor Cop Instructor and Competition Rider from Texas, USA. Over the years Hein has trained well over 2500 riders, in South Africa both locally and from all over the world, on all aspects of motorcycle skills coaching them to ride with skill and confidence.
He has written and compiled many Course Training Manuals used in South Africa and abroad to train and develop skill among motorcycle operators.
Hein is also the Motorcycle Safety Expert for Arrive Alive South Africa, and writes frequent articles on the matters Road Safety matters involving Motorcycles.
Hein is an extremely focused individual, committed to the growth and development of people riding and operating motorcycles, no matter skin colour or motorcycle type.
Safety & Training
Hein has been invited a number of times for talks or presentations on motorcycle safety, and in some cases after a club or group has lost a member in an accident. Most riders are very quick to blame the other road user or road condition, so the very first question I ask is “What speed was the rider travelling at?” or “Has he or she had any training?” At this very point I see faces turning grim, not wanting to acknowledge the truth in these types of questions. I would have to say speed is the biggest contributing factor to most accidents, along with rider error failing to respond or avoid such an accident at the speed he or she was travelling at due to a lack in skill. A common discussion among “bikers” is how fast their bikes can go, and when asked how fast he or she can come to a safe stop at that speed, a facial expression nothing short of a jaw-dropping “Huh?” explains why we have so many motorcycle fatalities on our roads today.
Skill is possible, training is immanent, practiced by many but only acquired by a committed few.
Learning something from a book or video is one thing but will never top the practical guidance from the eye of an expert. I always suggest to riders that they need to do a refresher course, on an advanced level, each time he or she buys a new bike or at the very least once a year and most certainly after an accident or incident. Even an instructor should submit himself to frequent training workshops, learning and developing new skills and methods of instructing. You are never too old to learn, learning new and honing existing skills increases confidence, making you a clear thinking and safer rider. Life cover is not enough, training is more important; why claim it if you can avoid it.
Hein is available for talks and presentations on Motorcycle Skill & Safety:-
Cell: 083 7937975
Tel: 086 1245382
Email: hein@biketalk.co.za
MSI Website: http://www.biketalk.co.za/wp/
Also view:
Sharing the Road with Bikers – How do we avoid the Rage
Motorcycle Safety and Riding in Bad Weather
Motorbike safety through the Eyes of the Instructor
Learner Motorcyclist – Do we Test effectively?
Motorcycle Safety and Children as Pillion
Lane Splitting Advice and Guidelines from the Experts