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Risk Hierarchy: Information - Rider Ed - Driver Ed - Conspicuity - Bike Defect - Ultra-Defensive Riding - Crash Avoidance - Injury Mitigation - Crash Scene

        

MSF Rider Course in Memphis, TN - The People

The organization behind motorcycle safety training in Memphis is typical of training nationwide, although some courses are offered by community colleges instead of private organizations.

The franchise is owned by Harry and Vickye Cunningham. Harry is a retired Memphis motorcycle officer and Vickye is a retired nurse. Harry and Vickye have been involved with the program as trainers since the early 1990s and they bought the operation from the former owners in 2004.

Between them, Harry and Vickye own two 1980s vintage BMWs, a couple of Gold Wings, a Harley Davidson Sportster 1200, a Kawasaki K1000 police bike and an ancient Triumph 650. They love to ride.

The training operation is supervised by Tennessee Department of Safety, who train the Rider Coaches, and oversee all aspects of ranges, personnel and equipment. The state motorcycle safety operation is run by John Milliken, a lifetime motorcycle police officer and a very experienced rider.

Vickye and Harry rent facilities, including a classroom and the range space, from Southwest  Tennessee Community College, and have operated on other sites belonging to SouthWest in the past.

The Cunninghams own 28 training bikes, they use eight bikes owned by the state, and have an additional six bikes loaned by their commercial sponsors, for a total f 42.

Their site has more information about their sponsors and resources.

The Rider Coaches

Vickye and Harry employ eleven Rider Coaches. Each coach has a minimum of three weekends, or about 45 hours, of instruction from State trainers, who are employees of the Tennessee Department of Safety. As with all teachers, formal training time and student-facing time is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to time spent.

Rider Coaches are paid an amount per student per weekend that varies by pay grade. This means that about a third of class fees are directly spent on labor and payroll taxes. There are three pay grade which are related to training level and experience.

The rider coaches this weekend were Kevin Kelley and Debbie Trimmer.

Kevin is a 24-year old former military helicopter pilot, Fed Ex ramp employee, student aircraft mechanic, skydiver and keen biker. He owns six bikes, including a 600 cc sports bike, a 250cc Ninja, a Honda Rebel, and two 1970's era Honda superbikes. Although he is young, he has taught more than 50 BRC classes and he has a natural talent for teaching. He is the senior of the two instructors, and, despite his tender years, he has no trouble managing the classroom or the range.

Debbie is a postal worker and stepmother of two children. She rides a VTX 1300 and has been teaching this course for a couple of years. Her teaching is very competent, and it's not her fault that she is operating in the shadow of Kevin's stellar performance.

Kevin presided over the Friday evening classroom session and Debbie on the Saturday afternoon classroom session. Both trainers worked the Saturday and Sunday range training, although technically, for six students, only one was required by state regulations. Vickye said that the range is so large that one person would have to do a lot of running around to keep tabs on everything, and this is typical of the safety consciousness everyone displayed throughout the weekend.

The MSF role.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation is the national organization which developed and distributes course material, including video and manuals. They enforce standards at a high level but don't usually intervene in day-to-day operations, which would more of a state function. MSF also provides Rider Coach training materials, training aids and other material. More about MSF here.

Photos: From top, Vickye Cunningham, Harry Cunningham, Kevin Kelley with Debbie Trimmer.