By ALLEN MCQUISTON 
Jemez Insurance Agency
Serving Los Alamos Since 1963

May rolls around, the roads warm up, and suddenly the bikes are out again. You hear them before you see them — that low rumble coming up behind you, or weaving through traffic on a Saturday afternoon. It’s a good sound. It means spring is here.

May is also Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. Most of the attention goes to riders, and rightly so. But if you drive a car, this month is just as much for you — maybe more so. 

Here’s why:

The Math Isn’t What Most People Think 

Most motorcycle crashes involving a car are caused by the car driver, not the rider. That’s not blame, it’s just how it works out. Bikes are small, they move differently than cars, and our brains aren’t wired to track them well. We’re trained to look for things the size of a sedan. A motorcycle simply doesn’t register the same way.

That gap between what’s there and what we notice is where most of the trouble happens.

Where the Trouble Actually Happens

A few situations cause the bulk of car-versus-bike crashes. Knowing them changes how you drive.

• Left turns across traffic. This is the big one. A driver waiting to turn left misjudges the speed of an oncoming bike — or doesn’t see it at all — and turns into its path. If you’re turning left and you see a single headlight coming, wait an extra beat. Bikes are almost always closer and moving faster than they look.
• Lane changes. A motorcycle can disappear into a blind spot in the time it takes to glance at your mirror. Check, signal, check again, then move. The second check is the one that saves lives.
• Following too close. Bikes can stop faster than cars. Tailgating one is genuinely dangerous, and there’s no reason to do it.
• Pulling out from a side street or driveway. Same problem as left turns — small profile, hard to judge speed. When in doubt, wait.

The Quiet Stuff That Matters

Most of what makes a driver safer around motorcycles isn’t dramatic. It’s the small habits.

Give a bike a full lane. Don’t crowd it, even if there’s technically room to share. When you’re passing one, give it the same space you’d give a car. If you see a rider signal or shift position in their lane, they’re probably reacting to something you can’t see yet — a pothole, gravel, a gust of wind. Hang back.

And put the phone down. This one shouldn’t need saying anymore, but it does.

Mountain Roads Deserve Extra Care

Around here, a lot of the best riding is also the most challenging driving. The road up to the ski hill, the route through Bandelier, the back way to Chimayó — beautiful drives, but full of blind curves, gravel patches, and wildlife. Bikes lean into curves and need clean pavement to do it safely. If you’re coming around a corner and drifting wide, that’s the lane a rider is counting on. Stay in your lane, take the curves at a reasonable speed, and assume there’s something around the bend.

A Few Things to Remember

The people on those bikes are someone’s family. Most of them are careful, experienced riders who’ve earned their seat. What they can’t do is account for a driver who didn’t see them.

Motorcycle Safety Month isn’t really a campaign. It’s a reminder that the cost of a missed glance is a lot higher than it feels in the moment. A few extra seconds of attention, especially at left turns and lane changes, is what keeps everyone going home at the end of the day.