The Motorcycle Safety Course lost it’s location due to recent base improvements. However, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and base officials came to the rescue with this newsite.

“This training is the difference between life and death,” said Kevin L. Frantum, traffic safety manager, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and former combat motorcycle instructor. “Every motorcycle fatality this year has been an untrained rider.” 

The relocation is expected to certify an additional 144 riders a week and provide convenient classroom-to-range travel from the nearby Motorcycle Safety Office, said base safety officials.

“We lost more Marines last year in motorcycle accidents than we did in Iraq,” said Ron D. Hudson, motorcycle safety course instructor with Motorcycle Safety Foundation and former Marine sergeant. “You have to draw the line somewhere and that line begins with small unit leadership and command support.” 

All motorcycle riders on base are required to complete initial safety training within 120 days of obtaining a license, according to Marine Administrative Message 707/08. Headquarters Marine Corps is requiring that Camp Pendleton certify 100 percent of its estimated 1,275 riders by Oct. 30.

“We are doing everything we can to train every one of our riders,” said Frantum, retired Marine staff sergeant. “In the civilian world you might get lucky to see only 10 percent throughout the state and 30 percent nationwide with any kind of formal education or rider type training.” 

Pendleton’s increased motorcycle safety efforts is believed to have reduced local servicemember fatalities from 10 last year to three this year, said Charles E. Roberts, base safety director, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

The new location is only the beginning of other upgrades to the motorcycle safety course. 

Camp Pendleton’s Base Safety Office recently submitted a design concept, to the Headquarters Marine Corps Executive Safety Board, to build three motorcycle training areas as part of a new comprehensive motorcycle training facility on base.

One of the course's instructors personally understands the importance of a good motorcyle safety program.

Former Marine sergeant and motorcycle enthusiast, Ron D. Hudson, got into a serious motorcycle accident earlier this year. He disregarded safety precautions encouraged by base safety and slammed into a concrete culvert on his motorcycle.

"The doctors said wearing a helmet saved my life," said Hudson. "If you ride, get the proper training and wear your safety gear, it saved my life," he added."

Hudson was hospitalized and placed in the Intensive Care Unit with a list of injuries including a collapsed lung, shattered nasal cavity and a crushed eye socket.

He is now a motorcycle safety advocate and teaches Pendleton’s servicemembers proper motorcycle safety. 

Know what your Marines are doing and get them the proper training, Frantum said, who has spent the past 10 years with Camp Pendleton’s motorcycle program. Together we can prevent unnecessary motorcycle fatalities, he added.

For additional safety information contact Camp Pendleton’s Motorcycle Safety Office at (760) 725-2897 or visit www.ca-msp.org to register for available courses.