Lots of folks ride motorcycles when they are in their 20s and 30s. Then life happens and schedules, budgets, and lifestyles change to the point that many trade life on two wheels for a vehicle better suited for shuffling family around. As time passes and the kids grow up and incomes stabilize, many of those former 20- and 30-something motorcycle riders who are now 60-something, renew an interest in bikes. National statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show that in the early 1980s the proportion of people killed in motorcycle crashes who were 50 and older started to increase, rising from 3 percent of all rider deaths in 1982 to 13 percent in 1997 and 36 percent in 2016. In 2016, 91 percent of motorcyclists killed were male.  

What to do if you’re thinking about riding later in life.

The key to riding safely in the latter stages of life relies on your understanding that things have changed, both in our own physical abilities and in the equipment. Be realistic about your own body. It’s natural that as we age, reaction times are slower and our equilibrium may not be as stable as it used to be, making balancing on a bike more challenging.  Changes in strength and flexibility may influence your ability to handle a 500-pound machine. “The first thing I would advise someone to do who wants to renew riding after some time off is to take a rider safety course,” said Kala Shipley, the Iowa Department of Transportation’s motorcycle safety program coordinator. “These courses are designed to help you assess your skills, learn new things, and help you test your riding limits in a more controlled environment.”

There’s always something new to learn. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation offers two levels of courses, the Basic Rider Course and the Advanced Rider Course. In the basic rider course, you’ll receive both classroom and controlled riding experiences. This course level is a great refresher, even if you rode quite a lot in your younger years. Laws have changed and so has the equipment available to motorcyclists. The advanced rider course is just a half-day and will help you hone your riding skills and assess your mental readiness to ride in traffic.

For more information on rider courses – https://iowadot.gov/mvd/motorcycle/motorcycle-rider-education

About six-thousand students who’ve been living in University of Iowa dorms are moving out this week and an effort is underway to keep them from filling the dumpsters with perfectly good stuff. Beth MacKenzie, the U-I’s recycling coordinator, says she’s urging students to think of the environment and the less fortunate before they start tossing everything out, from clothes to furniture to food. MacKenzie says, “I’ve been talking to students and there’s some who just don’t want it anymore, some want to take it with them but just don’t have the room, and some are traveling for the summer or they’re moving into a small apartment and they’re having to downsize.”

The 9th annual effort is called “Don’t Dump, Donate,” and last year collected 25-thousand pounds of items from students as they departed the Iowa City campus. “We’re working with Goodwill as well as the Salvation Army and they’re taking household goods,” MacKenzie says. “We’re also working with Johnson County Crisis Center and they’re taking food donations as well as toiletry items and cleaning products.” There’s also a Bike Library taking bicycles students no longer want and yet another program to “recycle” clothes. “Students this year started up a program called the Clothing Closet where they collect business clothing for students in need of clothing for interviews, so we’ll be collecting donations for that,” MacKenzie says, “as well as textbooks and a little bit of food for our student food pantry.”

Donation trucks from the various agencies will be staged through tomorrow (Saturday) at four dorms: Burge, Catlett, Hillcrest and Mayflower. A similar effort is underway at Iowa State University, partnering with Goodwill Industries of Central Iowa, the United Way of Story County and Student Wellness. Also, U-N-I’s Panther Pickup is working with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity to recycle and reuse.

(Radio Iowa)

Sheriff’s deputies in Page County, Thursday, arrested a man on Burglary and Theft charges. 27-year old Keith James Land, who is formerly of Clarinda, was taken into custody following a brief foot pursuit that began after a search warrant was executed at 3160 Oak Avenue in rural Page County, or about 3 miles east of Braddyville.  Land was arrested on District Court warrants for Felony Burglary in the 3^rd Degree and Felony Theft in the 2^nd Degree. He was transported to the Page County Jail and held on a $5,000 cash only bond. Additional charges are pending.

Keith James Land