05-04-2025
Brush up on road safety as motorcycle season begins
DES MOINES, Iowa — As of April 4, there have been 52 deaths on the road this year in Iowa, and two of them have been motorcyclists.
Last year there were 63 total, which is almost 18% of traffic fatalities in the state.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motorcyclists are four times more likely to be injured in an accident.
While the Des Moines Police Department says the numbers have gone down here in the city the last few years, they always want to remind people that when it starts getting warm, pay even more attention on the road.
'It's time to start sharing the road. Need to get ourselves in that mindset of looking a little bit closer because those motorcycles much lower profile than a car,' DMPD Sgt. Paul Parizek said. 'We also tell the motorcyclists that it's going to take a minute before they realize, hey, motorcycles are back on the streets. They also need to make sure that they keep their speed and their driving behaviors in a safe fashion, because a lot of these crashes that we see with motorcycles, excessive speed is a major contributor.'
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Patrick Martindale is a seasoned rider and instructor at DMACC who looks forward to the warm weather every year.
'You find excuses to get out and ride and relax. It's very therapeutic,' he said. 'We do try to emphasize proper technique because you are on two wheels and it's harder to see you. So a lot of defensive driving, awareness, a huge emphasis on safety, both for the rider and other vehicles.'
Martindale says he actually ride his motorcycle probably 10 months out of the year, but even he refreshes on safety protocols.
'We tell people in our basic rider course we're teaching you the basics. When you get done, it's not like driver's ed., when you get done, you still need to continue to practice those techniques to become better. Every year if I hadn't ridden for months, I go out to the parking lot and I practice as well because it's very easy to forget what it feels like,' he said.
Meanwhile, DMPD is trying to keep the roads safe. There have been no motorcycle deaths this year in the city.
'So far this year, you know, we've had some really good stretches of nice weather and we've had a handful of motorcycle crashes, but fortunately, they've all been very minor injuries. One positive piece that we've seen is over the past couple of years, the number of fatal motorcycle crashes have actually trended down in Des Moines,' Parizek said. 'We don't want to get everybody celebrating just yet because we've also seen the number of serious injury crashes kind of stay the same spot over the past few years. So the risk is still out there. We're just getting great medical care and we just need to make sure we kind of keep our eyes open for motorcycles.'
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