After receiving over $490,000 from the Illinois Department of Transportation, NIU’s Motorcycle Safety Project will be better funded to teach student cyclists operating, riding and street skills.

This award will be used for an ongoing project to train more than 2,200 eligible NIU students in over 80 free motorcycle rider courses. The project will benefit both experienced riders and beginners.

Robin Carson, coordinator of NIU’s Motorcycle Safety Project, said the program “will emphasize and encourage the use of safety equipment, such as helmets.”

Motorcycle license plate sticker fees collected through IDOT will pay for the free safety programs, Carson said. “Although the courses are free, motorcyclists and not taxpayers are in fact paying for it through their $30 sticker fees,” he said.

In the past, IDOT contributed $4 from every $30 sticker fee to the Motorcycle Safety Project, Carson said. IDOT raised the safety fund contribution to $6 early this year, he said.

Beginners can take a twenty-hour training course where basic skills and knowledge are taught and bikes are provided, he said. Experienced motorcyclists can take a more advanced eight-hour training course and are required to bring their own bike, Carson said.

“Half of the training course takes place in the classroom and the other half is hands-on training,” Carson said. The courses are offered at certain state universities, community colleges and military installations throughout Illinois.

Carson noted most other states charge up to $200 for a motorcycle training course.