Risk Management Magazine

Depending on where you live, the winter months can range from a minor drop in daytime highs to 5 feet of snow and temperatures in the single digits. As a result, preparing to ride a motorcycle during the winter can be as simple as throwing on an extra base layer of clothing or as difficult as negotiating ice on the roadway.

While working as an assistant trainmaster for the Union Pacific Railroad, my job as a manager required me to be on call should any problems arise in my area, which ran from Kansas City, Missouri, to McAlester, Oklahoma. On a warm mid-summer evening, I got a call that would remind me just how precious life is and how we should never take it for granted.

This accident was my fault. I was driving too fast for my level of experience and traffic conditions. I was passing on a blind curve — a very dangerous thing — and thought I knew how to ride when, in reality, I didn’t.