Navy Hopes To Reduce Sport Bike Mishaps With Class

SAN DIEGO -- The manufacturers might be different, but the appeal is the same -- power and speed, and more often than not that combination could end in a mishap or even death.

"They tried to negotiate it at 100 mph and that's not going to work," said a U.S. Navy officer.

The officer was talking about a couple who died after losing control on a freeway overpass. The driver was a 26-year-old sailor from Naval Base Coronado.

The Navy already had a motorcycle safety course, but because of an increase in accidents, this course for sport bikes is brand news.

Motorcycle Safety Foundation instructor Mark Howell puts sailors through a series of drills, both in the classroom and out in the field.

"It's not just a skills class. It's more about the risk off-set trying to keep your skills as high as you can but still worrying about the risk or thinking about the risk and the consequences that goes along with it," said Howell.

Consequences of a wrong move on any motorcycle could be severe, but even more so on a sports bike because of its power.

"Well, that's the appeal. I've been tempted a couple of times but I won't do it especially after this class," said sport bike rider Shelton Rice.

The course is mandatory for anyone who rides a sport bike on base. The hope of the course is that what students learn will stay with them when they leave the base.

"Of the motorcycle accidents probably 75 percent of them are on a sport bike," said base safety specialist Paul Palika.

It is a figure the Navy is counting on that this kind of training will help reduce.