The weather was perfect, and the turnout bigger than expected for the run. You can see more than one hundred photos over at the run’s Facebook page, but we’ve included a few of the highlights here. As you can see, support was high for the Chappell family, and they could not have been more grateful to be this year’s recipients. As Megan, Jimmy’s wife, puts it, “Gratitude isn’t even a strong enough word to describe yesterday. For the rest of my life I will never be able to find the words to express what this incredible event meant to me, our kids, and Jimmy.”

Chappell family members including Megan and her four children

FindMyAccident will continue to seek out and provide assistance to causes like these that aid the victims of the unfortunate and tragic accidents we write about on a daily basis. Look for future blog post series highlighting other organizations and nonprofits that we partner with on a regular basis.

A 16-year-old teen came up with a new car safety feature after thinking about the concussion tests he would have to take for his football team. Justin Krell from South Dakota has come up with a way for a vehicle to detect if a person has suffered a concussion in a car accident. Justin created the prototype to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. His invention has been named “The HardHit” will actually monitor how a victim’s head is impacted by a car accident. The sensor on the car head rest can alert emergency responders with the data.

The prototype also registers what type of gravitational force is experienced and has the capability to understand how serious the head injury is. It logs the data on a  removable data card so that doctors will be able to analyze the information from the accident as well. The information will help the medical personnel know how to move forward with  treating the patient upon arrival of the hospital.

Eventually the teen envisions using his invention with a system such as Onstar. Justin has not tested the HardHit in an actual vehicle, but is a finalist in the competition.

On our end, this will include weekly blog and social media postings in addition to videos, Youtube clips, infographics, surveys, and even a Facebook giveaway, so be sure to check back each week as we count down to the run. This week, we’re focusing on a few national motorcycle advocacy groups. With May being Motorcycle Awareness Month, many national organizations are focusing their efforts for the next 30 days on educating two-wheeled and four-wheeled motorists on how to best share the road and keep as many motorists as possible safe and happy on our roadways.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation is one of the biggest and most well known in the motorcycle industry. In addition to their RiderCourse safety classes, which we have discussed in a previous blog post, the MSF also offers the new SMARTrainer software program. A SMARTrainer student is provided with handlebars, footrests, and standard motorcycle controls while operating a multi-level training program in a safe virtual environment on a personal computer. Fifteen different courses, complete with various road hazards, terrains, and fellow vehicles, gives students the opportunity to ride and learn with absolutely no physical risk to themselves or others. There are currently nine locations across the country where a motorcyclist can participate in a SMARTrainer course of study led by a certified instructor.

ABATE, A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments or American Bikers Aimed Towards Education, is also a national motorcycle advocacy group. Each state runs its own chapter with ABATE’s main focus being forming a political action committee, or PAC, to donate funds to motorcycle-friendly causes and legislators. Many of the chapters employ at least one full-time lobbyist to introduce pro-motorcycle legislation on the state level. Several of the state chapters worked together to form the Motorcycle Riders Foundation in 1987 to lobby on a national scale for American motorcyclists.

The American Bus Association reports that more than half of tour bus fatalities from 1999 to 2009 involved carriers operating against the law or with a history of safety violations. The American Bus Associations works as an advocate to protect passengers, however. They recently announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation was cracking down on companies that operated motorcoaches in an unsafe manner.

In order to assist other, legally operating coach operators they have published a DOT hotline where you can anonymously report unsafe carriers at 1-888-DOT-SAFT. It is believed that as many as 200 companies are operating with safety lapses in the United States alone, showing a great need for more strict oversight.

On our end, this will include weekly blog and social media postings in addition to videos, Youtube clips, infographics, surveys, and even a Facebook giveaway, so be sure to check back each week as we count down to the run. This week, we’re focusing on Jimmy Chappell.

Jimmy, or Chappy, Chappell was born and raised in California. At the age of 20, he enlisted in the Army Reserves and served two tours of duty in Iraq. Jimmy was also a correctional officer for the state of California. When he wasn’t working, serving his country, or spending time with his wife Megan and their three children Alexis, Erika, and Lucas, Jimmy loved riding his 2002 Honda CBR600 motorcycle. When he passed away in September 2012, his wife was seven months pregnant with their fourth child Evelyn. Jimmy was known for his warm personality and great smile. Megan sums it up with, “[His] smile changed the world.”

FindMyAccident is proud to have played a role in the Eagle Run’s decision to choose Megan Chappell and her children as the recipients of the proceeds for the seventh annual run. After being contacted by Pastor Denver Cooley of Roadhouse Biker Church, FMA officials were able to provide him with Jimmy’s name and story. We couldn’t think of a more deserving family. Our readers, if so moved, can contribute to the family’s GoFundMe page or register to ride in the Eagle Run.

According to the National Agricultural Tractor Safety Initiative, farm tractors accounted for the deaths of 2,165 people between 1992 and 2001 and were the leading source of fatal occupational injuries in agriculture, forestry, and fishing. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health says there are approximately 250 tractor rollover fatalities each year.

A research team at the University of Missouri is in the process of testing an phone application that will help to not only prevent rollover tractor crashes but also call for help if one occurs. The VRPETERS (Vehicle Rollover Prevention Education Training Emergency Reporting System) application can been downloaded on any smartphone ad uses sensors and the global positioning system to send out an automatic e-mail or phone message after a rollover accident has occurred. This application is also useful for other vehicles such as trucks, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and riding lawnmowers.

VRPETERS is used by attaching the smartphone to the tractor and will calculate the stability the vehicle. Another feature of the application is that it will send a warning to the driver if there is chance of the vehicle rolling over.

There was also another device that can be permanently attached to a vehicle such as ATVs, so that parents can  receive real-time data on how the vehicle is being ridden.  If the vehicle is being improperly used or driven carelessly, parents can intervene before an accident occurs.

VRPETERS is being tested by using a remotely-controlled model tractor. In May, final testing  will be executed with an actual full-size tractor in May at Bradford Research Center near Columbia.

On our end, this will include weekly blog and social media postings in addition to videos, Youtube clips, infographics, surveys, and even a Facebook giveaway, so be sure to check back each week as we count down to the run. This week, we’re focusing on sharing some motorcycle collision statistics from the past several years from a pilot study conducted by Westat and Dynamic Sciences International, Inc. and sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The study, the first government-sponsored motorcycle study in more than 25 years, found that while four-wheeled occupant deaths have decreased from more than 30,000 deaths in 1998 to less than 29,000 deaths in 2007, motorcyclist deaths have increased from 2200 deaths in 1998 to more than 5100 deaths in 2007. In contrast, motorcyclist deaths had been on the decrease from 1993 to 1997. Officials believe several factors account for this increase in fatalities including an increase in the purchase and use of larger-engine motorcycles and an increase in the number of motorcyclists over the age of 40.

The study further explains the fatality rate in motorcyclists ages 40-49 and motorcyclists older than 49 years old has increased by 38 percent between 1998 and 2007 while the fatality rate in all other age groups has decreased. Motorcyclists ages 20-29 still continue to have the highest mortality rate of all the age groups surveyed. Similarly, the increase in the purchase of new larger-engine motorcycles per year has increased 68 percent within the same timeframe. While the general trend of more motorcyclists logging more miles on the country’s roadways continues to influence motorcycle crash statistics, these two new trends were not apparent to officials until this pilot study and subsequent studies were conducted.

We hope this information is beneficial to our motorcycle-riding readers as you begin to ride more often in the coming summer months.

On our end, this will include weekly blog and social media postings in addition to videos, Youtube clips, infographics, surveys, and even a Facebook giveaway, so be sure to check back each week as we count down to the run. This week, we’re focusing on one of the Eagle Run’s sponsors, the Inland Empire chapter of the Black Sheep Harley-Davidsons for Christ.

In 1999, Pastor Marty “Slow Dog” Edwards, the leader of several churches in Riverside County, California, decided to start a motorcycle ministry group in partnership with Quaid Harley-Davidson after one of the dealership’s employees, Michael Butters, died in a motorcycle crash. Pastor Edwards had met Michael the week before the collision, but ignored a tugging on his heart to ask him about his spiritual life. Now that Michael was gone, Pastor Edwards was haunted by the question, “Where was Michael now?”

At the same time that Pastor Edwards began to establish a ministry within the dealership, several of his fellow motorcyclists from the Lamb’s Fellowship began riding together and wanted to establish a group name. Many from within the congregation had often teased the motorcyclists for being the “black sheep” of the group, and the motorcyclists decided this was the perfect name with its strong ties to the Biblical idea of Christians being the “outcasts” of the world at large. The two groups combined, and HDFC has now grown into an international organization with chapters located throughout the United States and Australia, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and New Zealand.

Pastor Edwards (center) receiving award

Unlike other motorcycle ministry groups, HDFC focuses primarily on interacting with and witnessing to Harley-Davidson (and other American-made) motorcycle owners. Pastor Edwards explains it in this way,”H.O.G. [Harley Owners Group) members are a breed unto themselves who often keep to themselves, allowing only other H.O.G. members to speak into their lives… Though we often find ourselves ministering to other riders, outlaws, and those who don’t ride a motorcycle at all, it is to the 1,000,000+ H.O.G. members to whom we have been called.”

Ray Ramirez was acting Vice President of the Inland Empire of the Black Sheep HDFC chapter when he was killed, and the Inland Empire chapter continues to co-sponsor the run in his honor year after year.

On our end, this will include weekly blog and social media postings in addition to videos, Youtube clips, infographics, surveys, and even a Facebook giveaway, so be sure to check back each week as we count down to the run. This week, we’re focusing on one of the Eagle Run’s sponsors, Roadhouse Biker Church.

According to founding and current Pastor Denver Cooley, the idea for Roadhouse Biker Church was born from a small mens’ Bible study amongst a handful of motorcyclists that quickly grew to a group of almost 70 within a year’s time. At that point, Pastor Cooley and his good friend Ray Ramirez began to discuss the idea of founding a local biker-friendly church that would be staffed by motorcyclists and centered around fulfilling their specific needs and desires as both bikers and Christians. Before they could make their vision a reality, however, Mr. Ramirez was killed in a motorcycle accident, and Pastor Cooley believed that their idea would never be anything more than “coffee talk” between friends.

Little did Pastor Cooley know that his dream was about to come true and in a big way and, in a divine twist of fate, through one of Mr. Ramirez’s children. When Amy Ramirez Paulsen came to town to attend her father’s funeral, she asked Pastor Cooley about the biker church she’d heard so much about from her father. It was only with Mrs. Paulsen’s help and encouragement that they began to build Roadhouse Biker Church.

The community didn’t exactly embrace the idea of a church founded and run by bikers. One religious organization told them “we would probably not succeed,” Pastor Cooley relates, “as we were an irregular group.” Another organization told them that they were “very happy to see the subculture of America finally embracing religion.” Pastor Cooley continued with his plans, despite the naysayers, and was determined to start Roadhouse Biker Church with no debt. In seven months, that’s exactly what happened as volunteers completed construction in record time with donated supplies. Pastor Cooley describes it as, “We signed the lease without knowing for sure [if] it would actually work, but we all felt led by Dad to not worry about that part. He would see to it, and He did.”

Pastor Denver Cooley continues to lead Roadhouse Biker Church as it remains a strong presence in the community and a proud sponsor of the Ray “Eagle” Ramirez Benefit Poker Run.

With that many motorcyclists in one place safety is naturally a concern. According to the website Riders Info, the official attendance in 2011 was 416,727 with only four fatal accidents involving riders. This number shows that Sturgis is actually one of the safer places to ride a motorcycle. In 2009 there was only one fatality among the 442,163 attendees.

According to Motorcycleaccidents.org the rate of fatal crashes for motorcycles was 73 deaths per 100,000 registered motorcycle. The increase in safety is likely a result of many motorcyclists watching out for each other. In such a large group everyone knows the dangers of riding motorcycles, so it creates more awareness of those on the road and greater enjoyment for those who attend.