May is National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month. With the warmer weather, more motorcycles will be out on the roads, and so it’s a good time to go over some safety reminders.

Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams reminds motorists to take extra precautions, especially at intersections and encountering other possible obstructions where motorcycles could be approaching.

“Just make sure that you are looking in both directions more than once. Motorcycles can come out of the middle of nowhere. Most of them just have one headlight facing to the front and sometimes it’s hard to see them in bushes, mailboxes and that kind of stuff can hide motorcycles. So just make sure you’re looking in both directions twice to make sure there’s not a motorcycle coming.”

He adds that motorcycles can also hide in blindspots of another vehicle’s mirror, due to them being a lower-profile vehicle. Williams points out that even though it’s not a law in Iowa, he recommends motorcyclists to wear a helmet.

“If you do get into an accident, it helps save your head so there’s less chance of injury as far as that would be debilitating.”

Williams reminds motorcyclists to wear protective clothing such as leather jackets and gloves in case you get in an accident, you have a better chance to avoid injury.