CA - TEMECULA: Dairy trucks to carry CHP motorcycle safety message

OFF THE WIRE


http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/temecula/temecula-headlines-index/20120830-temecula-dairy-trucks-to-carry-chp-motorcycle-safety-message.ece
TEMECULA: Dairy trucks to carry CHP motorcycle safety message

Officer Nathan Baer of the Temecula-area CHP office shows off the new "Look Twice, Save a Life" signs that will soon be displayed on 220 Swiss Dairy trucks across Southern California as part of a motorcycle safety awareness campaign.

BY SARAH BURGE 
More than 200 dairy delivery trucks traveling around the Inland area and beyond will now be carrying a safety reminder to look out for motorcyclists.
The California Highway Patrol has enlisted Swiss Dairy’s fleet to help spread the message: “Look Twice, Save a Life.”
“It’s something different,” said Capt. Ernie Sanchez, commander of the Temecula-area CHP office of the dairy truck signs.
Sanchez said he hopes that putting the public safety message in a more unexpected spot will help grab motorists’ attention and encourage drivers to make a habit of looking twice every time they change lanes. With the amount of hours and miles these dairy trucks put on the road, Sanchez said, he thinks they will be an ideal messenger.
“The goal is to save lives and reduce the number of accidents,” he said.
Armando Jimenez, a fleet safety manager for Dean Foods, the parent company of Swiss Dairy, said the signs have already been installed on a quarter of the 220-truck fleet, which cover an area from Oxnard to the U.S.-Mexico border. The company has a large distribution center in Riverside, he said.
Motorcycle safety has been a focus for the Temecula-area CHP office, which had a grant-funded awareness and enforcement campaign targeting the Ortega Highway in 2010 and 2011.
But since that campaign ended, the area has seen an uptick in motorcycle crashes, CHP officials said.
Since the beginning of the year, the Temecula-area CHP office has investigated 79 motorcycle crashes around Southwest Riverside County that resulted in 62 injuries and three fatalities. During the same period last year, there were 63 motorcycle crashes involving 44 injuries and two fatalities, CHP officials said.