Man rides across America, promotes motorcycle safety

One man is travelling cross country in order to raise awareness for motorcycle safety.

Nate Hudson, a 36-year-old motorcyclist, has partnered with Allstate Insurance and is hitting all 50 state capitals to ask each state’s Department of Motor Vehicles to incorporate motorcycle safety into the driving tests. Hudson, with a friend, Viet Nguyen, rode into Carson City Friday to meet with the Nevada DMV at the state capital.

“Our purpose is to ask and urge DMVs to add motor questions to the drivers test,” Hudson said. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, three motorcyclists are killed at multi-vehicle crashes each day.

Because Nevada has motorcycle safety questions on their driving test, Hudson said he wanted to thank officials for looking out for motorists. David Fiero of the DMV and Peter Vander Aa of the Nevada Riders Motorcycle Safety Program were there to greet Hudson and Nguyen at the state capital.

The California native began his journey on May 12 and has ridden more than 11,000 miles since then. Carson City was the 32nd state on his tour.

“It’s been a life changing, crazy, fun adventure,” Hudson said.

The recent weather made for a difficult ride into town for Hudson and Nguyen, the flooding and mud made some roads almost impassible and they were accosted by hail and rain the last 30 miles into Carson City.

“The hail was like rocks, I thought it was going to break my visor,” Hudson said. “It was crazy.”

The two will stay in the area the next two nights camping, then from there they will go to San Francisco up to Washington and then take a ferry to Alaska and come back down through Montana.

For Hudson, he said the best part of the trip has been the people he’s gotten to meet along the way. He has kept a wallet full of Polaroid photos of his adventure so far.

“It has been fun to meet these new people,” Hudson said. “Being able to document this trip and share it with everyone that I meet has been the coolest part.”

Hudson said he wants to make sure everyone knows one important piece of advice with motorcycle safety:

“Make sure you are looking out for us (motorcyclists),” Hudson said. “Share the road with us, and make sure you are always aware of your surroundings, never assume that a car can see you. Always be ready to avoid an accident.”