HARRISBURG — PennDOT held a Live Free Ride Alive Motorcycle Safety Day at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg May 11. This free community event featured a variety of activities with a focus on safety, designed to challenge riders’ skills on and off their motorcycles.

Administered by PennDOT, the Pennsylvania Motorcycle Safety Program (PAMSP) offers five motorcycle safety courses free of charge to Pennsylvania class M permit and motorcycle license holders. These courses teach and reinforce the knowledge and skills needed to safely operate a motorcycle.

The Pennsylvania State Police and PennDOT provided riding and braking demonstrations, as well as a demonstration of one of PAMSP’s valued training tools, the SKIDBIKETM. Riders couldalso observe live training as students took the Intermediate Riding Clinic.

“Riders can help keep motorcycle fatalities and injuries low by sharing the road, staying aware,obeying speed limits and always riding sober,” said PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards. “Taking a training course with a trained instructor also goes a long way in reducing the likelihood of a crash.”

All training clinics are conducted by certified instructors and are held at many locations throughout the state. Available training clinics include the four-hour Introduction to Riding Clinic (ITR), the 16-hour Beginner Riding Clinic (BRC), the eight-hour Intermediate Riding Clinic (IRC), the eight-hour 3-Wheel Riding Clinic (3WRC), and the one-day (nine-hour) Advanced Riding Clinic (ARC). Three of the clinics – the BRC, the IRC, and the 3WRC — offer a pathway to earning a motorcycle license.

For more information or to enroll in a free course, visit www.pamsp.com, or call 1-800-845-9533 Monday through Friday between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM.

Potential riders can download PennDOT’s free PA Motorcycle Practice test app as well as a copy of the Motorcycle Operators Manual dmv.pa.gov.

In conjunction with the national observance, Governor Tom Wolf has proclaimed May Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month in Pennsylvania.