Evergreen Safety Council
Meet the New Motorcycle Program Manager, Michael
Davis
When friends ask Evergreen Safety Council’s new motorcycle
program manager Michael Davis why he became an MSF instructor he gives them a
statistic: "Ninety-two percent of all motorcyclists involved in accidents were
self-taught or taught by a friend". Those numbers are impossible to ignore, and
are just one finding in a landmark motorcycle accident study done by researchers
at the University of Southern California in the 1980’s that provides the basis
for most of the motorcycle safety training being administered throughout the
country. "Every person we train in our program leaves with a tremendous
advantage over their untrained fellow riders. We (instructors) know we are
making a huge impact on people’s lives."
The long and winding road leading to his current position
has not always been traveled by motorcycle, though at least one has been in his
garage for the past 15 years. Growing up in South Louisiana presented more
opportunities for wrestling alligators than riding motorcycles, and it wasn’t
until he was in his late teens that he finally picked up his first bike from a
friend that was moving out of state and couldn’t transport the bike to his new
home. "After that I was never without a motorcycle" he reports. In the early
90’s Michael served as a regional account manager for a legal-document imaging
and reprographics company serving Washington D.C., Maryland and Virginia. The
heavy traffic and non-existent parking left mass transit or motorcycle as the
only real transportation options in the area.
 As his career progressed Michael found himself traversing
the country "living out of a suitcase" as his company and role expanded. Within
the span of a single year he found himself living in San Francisco, Chicago, New
York and even Rhode Island as new offices opened and new opportunities presented
themselves. It was during a 1996 motorcycle trip with a friend from Seattle that
he decided it was time to make a change. "The sights, sounds and smells of the
open road sent me a clear message that I didn’t belong in a suit and tie working
in a cubicle with a phone glued to my ear. I decided to get off the corporate
merry-go-round and go back to college." he says "SPU (Seattle Pacific
University) looked like the right school in the right area to settle down and
reinvent my life." After seven years and countless late-night study sessions
Michael graduated with degrees in Psychology and Business this past June.
It was during his time at SPU that Michael decided to sign
up for an Evergreen Safety Council motorcycle training course. His instructors,
Kernan Bagley and Carey Fujii, encouraged him to consider becoming an instructor
himself and passed his name along to then program manager David Wendell. "Dave
was and still is a tremendous mentor. There’s very little of what I know about
being an instructor that I didn’t learn from Dave."
Working up the ranks to become a certified Mentor
instructor taught Michael quite a few things about what it takes to run a
successful training program. "It’s a constant and very delicate balancing act.
Everybody is a partner, and every partner is critical to the long-term success
of the program." The thought of trying to manage a program run for years by an
industry icon (Wendell) was "probably the most intimidating thing I could think
of. The good news is that a lot of people believe very strongly in the program’s
success and are willing to work hard to keep it viable for years to come."
As for the future of the program Michael is understandably
optimistic. "The demand for motorcycle safety training is stronger than ever.
With long waiting lists and legislative support we are only going to get busier
as we expand to offer more training opportunities to get the wait down to weeks
instead of months." As for what the program will need to continue to thrive, for
Michael the answer comes easy: "Instructors and Asphalt. Those are the critical
elements to any motorcycle training program. We are constantly on the lookout
for quality people to put through the instructor training program and are always
looking for big, flat open parking lots that can be used for training."
Seattle and the Evergreen Safety Council are a long way
from the small town in southern Louisiana that Michael Davis called home for the
first 18 years of his life. But if his early successes as ESC’s motorcycle
program manager are any indication it won’t be long before even the folks on the
bayou are thinking of ESC when they want the best in motorcycle safety training
and information. SR!
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