MOTORCYCLE SAFETY FOUNDATION AT 50

On A Mission With A Vision For The Next 50 Years!

Mission: Motorcycle Safety Foundation is the country’s leading safety resource and advocate for motorcyclists. We create world-class education and training systems for riders of every experience level. We raise public awareness of motorcycling to promote a safe riding environment. There is also the MSF vision of how to achieve its mission to help motorcycle riders realize their full potential, elevating awareness of motorcycling safety in order to save lives. As the Motorcycle Safety Foundation celebrates its 50th anniversary, its online presence has improved with an updated website.

“Our goal with updating the MSF website was to create a site that is as friendly as possible for people looking to learn about rider education,” explains Corey Eastman, MSF director of rider education expansion. “We moved the available courses as forward as possible, organizing them in our 360 Rider platform with easy steps for starting, improving, and advancing one’s riding journey.”

Eastman wrote about the new website as part of his own story, featured in a new online section devoted to 50 stories from a number of riders across the country who have benefited from formal rider training. See Corey’s story here: msf-usa.org/msf-news/making-discovery-morediscoverable/

“As we celebrate 50 years of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and the millions upon millions of riders who have taken MSF courses, it really is about the discovery of something new,” Eastman writes. “The empowerment of riding a motorcycle and all the social and physiological benefits it brings. Whether you’re 8 years old or 80, you’re a badass. You rode a motorcycle.” However not everyone rides a motorcycle… yet.

“How do we connect those looking to try, and those who already ride, with rider education? That is the question,” concedes Corey.

“Today, a lot of discovery starts digitally, so we updated MSF-USA.org to help everyone — from those curious about riding to experienced riders — find relevant rider training more easily.”

Answering that question has become Eastman’s full-time job as MSF director of rider education expansion. “The position appealed to me because, as a motorcycle enthusiast my whole life, I have always loved helping people discover new things — especially on two wheels.” He believes the first 50 years is a good start, but it is time to get more riders riding more!

“Core to this is the 360 Rider Training page, with options to Start, Improve, or Advance your riding skills,” he notes. “This offers relevant options no matter how much riding experience you have.”

Key courses revolve around helping people earn a street motorcycle license, but as we all know, rider training is not a one-and-done affair. Riders can always practice, improve, and gain new skills. Through the 360 Rider Training page, one can find current course offerings and new offerings as they become available, as well as connect with training in their area.”

“Additionally, you can enjoy weekly stories from a wide range of people sharing what MSF helped them discover. You can also connect with live experiences, such as our RIDE Day program that helps local training sites offer demo experiences. These elements and more give us the foundational tools needed to help millions more people connect with rider education and training. We want to inspire and encourage everyone: Ride Your Best!”

And when you are ready to ride your best in the great outdoors, Corey is already charting a course for ADV riders as an extension of the MSF DirtBike curriculum. See the teaser here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEgFIrRnGug

RiderCourses

Forty-five states and all branches of the U.S. military use the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Basic RiderCourse (BRC) curriculum for their motorcycle safety and education programs. The BRC is MSF’s primary learn-to-ride curriculum for traditional two-wheel and three-wheel motorcycles, involving approximately 3 hours of online instruction, 5 hours of classroom activities, and 10 hours of hands-on skills development on a paved lot. More than 8 million motorcyclists have enrolled in MSF RiderCourses since 1974. More than 400,000 students now take the course annually, at nearly 2,700 sites, with 9,900 MSFcertified RiderCoaches available to guide them.

Course graduates are often eligible for insurance discounts and incentives from motorcycle distributors for course tuition or fees. In many cases, they can obtain a waiver for the riding skill test and/or written knowledge test portion of their state’s license exam requirements.

All 24 MSF RiderCourses are developed using a sequential “interactive and intergroup” process, ensuring that the final program has undergone extensive field-testing before being released to the public. This ensures the proper application of contemporary learning principles and practices, and verifies the effectiveness and efficiency of the program. As the scientific community yields rigorous research results that lead to better methods to facilitate learning, and as the motorcycling community embraces improved ways to achieve safety and enjoyment from riding experiences, the MSF will continuously assess and refine its programs.

Another aspect of RETS involves ensuring that courses are facilitated according to MSF’s standards. MSF offers a unique Quality Assurance Specialist certification to top-level RiderCoaches and RiderCoach Trainers who wish to make themselves available to monitor and evaluate their peers and develop program and curriculum delivery improvement plans.

Get the complete MSF story here: msf-usa.org/about