President's Perspective

In 1974, responding to the high number of collisions, deaths and injuries involving motorcycles, Transport Canada provided seed funding for the Canada Safety Council to implement a national program to train beginning motorcyclists, the first of its kind in the world.

Today, 70 per cent of all newly licensed motorcyclists in Canada take Gearing Up - Canada's Motorcycle Skills Course. The motorcycle industry sponsors the course, and a reasonable course fee makes the program self-sufficient. Most importantly, the number of motorcycle crashes has dropped dramatically.

Gearing Up will celebrate its 25^th anniversary next year. Former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (an avid motorcyclist) presented certificates to some of the first graduates. In 1997, over 17,000 riders took the course, and 1,165 certified instructors, most of them volunteers, delivered the program across Canada.

A conference in Toronto from January 22 to 24, 1999 will celebrate 25 years of motorcycle training in Canada, and will look at motorcycling in North America today and in the future.

Emile-J. Therien

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