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6 • June 15, 2015 • Powersports Business NEWS www.PowersportsBusiness.com said. "In true Harley fashion, it was a party with free food, soda, water and $1 beers." The fes- tivities included a live band and a prize wheel where every contestant won something. The dealership also offered a motorcycle simulator and a contest to give away a 25-hour riding class. Johnny says that Myers-Duren has the only Harley-Davidson Riding Academy in Oklahoma. "It offers a new rider's course to help riders make their dreams of riding a motorcycle come true," he added. "This course provides training with lifesaving skills in order to make riding a motorcycle the most serious fun available." In addition to celebrating its history, Myers- Duren also hosts multiple events per year to stay involved in the community and give back to local charities. The Fall Bike Show and the Spring Bike Show have been annual staples for more than 15 years, growing bigger and better each year. "One of our larger fundraisers is for Make-A-Wish. We have a 'Rumble and Roll' that we have sponsored for 14 years and raised over $170,000 for the foundation," Johnny said. Myers-Duren also makes a point of pro- viding donations to local organizations such as Downed Bikers, Bikers Against Child Abuse and veterans clubs. As the area around it has changed, Myers- Duren has grown and continued to thrive, with the last four years' finances being record breaking. "The Street Glide is sell- ing best right now," he said. "It is selling well because it offers the comfort of touring along with the great custom look of a cus- tom Harley-Davidson." The types of people who come in to the dealership have also seen growth. Johnny says that there has been a large increase in female bike owners, which "showcases the growth of lady riders in our community." Owner Reba McClanahan, being a female rider herself, enjoys seeing this change and encourages them to continue riding. So what is the secret to keeping its doors open for 100 years? "It has truly been because of the dedication of our employees in every department that causes customers to turn to us over the years and keep coming back," said Johnny. "Their enthusiasm and passion for riding and the desire to help others enjoy what they know about motorcycling has kept Myers- Duren a premier place that people look to for inspiration to stay on the road." PSB MYERS-DUREN CONTINUED FROM COVER divisions, so that's nice. That hasn't been done at my tenure here, at least at this level. There's been other branding efforts, where we've high- lighted all the different products the company makes, but a campaign effort like this is new," said Edmunds, who has been with Honda for more than two decades. Collaboration has been a big push since Takuji Yamada came on board as president of Honda North America, Inc. The president is seeking new ways to highlight all of Honda's capabilities. In addition to the currently avail- able products, Honda Dream Garage showed future products, such as the U3-X one-wheeled vehicle and the ASIMO robot. As far as TV ads, Honda produced about seven, and three featured powersports prod- ucts in the forefront, while all had Honda's many products shown in the background of the garage. "Our products, they got a lot of love, so that was nice," Edmunds said. Honda also provided POP and promotional materials to its dealers, many of which used the campaign to create their own events. "Most of our dealers are pretty good busi- nessmen, so I think they saw that opportunity, and we maybe pushed it a little bit with some offers and some POP, but I think the deal- ers deserve a lot of credit for the promotions that they've done. And they've done different things in their stores, so it's a pretty big variety," Edmunds said. Excitement has been plentiful, since the marketing team began sharing news about the promotion. "[The sales reps] got really excited, and they have spread that enthusiasm to the dealers, and we have received good feedback from the deal- ers as well, so that's been good," Edmunds said. In addition to creating sales, the Dream Garage promotion also brought awareness of the Honda brand and its wide variety of offer- ings to consumers. "I've run into people, and I'm on a Honda motorcycle, and I've had people that have no idea Honda made motorcycles. Their whole experience has been cars, and so it's kind of fun to tell them the story that it actually started with motorcycles. And so I think a campaign like that does kind of break down some of those barriers," Edmunds said. The promotion has also shown potential consumers that among its various divisions, Honda has products for a wide variety of ages and demographics. "Basically, you can introduce somebody to the brand at a really young age with something like a CRF50F, and we have products that will suit somebody at every stage of their life pretty much," Edmunds said. Because the promotion was successful in not only marketing Honda but also in bringing the OEM's divisions together, it's likely this is just the first of many partnerships among them. "I think there will be more collaboration on different things," Edmunds reported. "Even internally it helped kind of opened some peo- ple's eyes to the possibilities of the synergy between the products." PSB HONDA CONTINUED FROM COVER The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) is projecting that motorcyclist fatalities decreased for the second straight year in 2014, based on preliminary state data. However, this latest Spotlight on Highway Safety report also notes that there is much more work to do: Motorcyclist fatalities are 26 percent higher than a decade ago, while other motor vehicle fatalities are 28 percent lower. GHSA has produced motorcyclist fatality trend reports annually since 2010, which pro- vide an early look at current data and develop- ing issues. Adjusting the numbers to account for underreporting, GHSA projects the final motorcyclist fatality total for 2014 will be 4,584 — about 1.8 percent fewer than the 4,668 recorded in '13. This will be the second straight year in which this number has decreased and only the third decrease since 1997. All 50 states and the District of Colum- bia provided preliminary motorcyclist fatal- ity counts for the first nine months of 2014. Compared with the first nine months of 2013, motorcyclist fatalities decreased in 27 states, increased in 19 states and remained the same in four states plus the District of Columbia. The report was authored by Dr. Allan Willams, former chief scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. While the projected decline in motorcyclist fatalities is good news, ]motorcycle safety prog- ress lags behind that of other motor vehicles. For example, in 2013, the rate of motorcyclist fatalities per registered vehicle was about the same as in 1997, whereas during that time period the rate of fatalities per passenger vehicle dropped 66 percent. Safety improvements to passenger vehicles, such as structural improve- ments to vehicle design, increases in seat belt use, electronic stability controls and policies such as graduated driver licensing, account for a large portion of the decline in passenger vehicles but do not impact motorcyclists. There is little evidence that risk factors for motorcyclists have been reduced in recent years, and fluctuations in motorcyclist fatalities are likely to have more to do with economic factors and weather patterns affecting exposure. "We are glad to see a continued decrease in motorcyclist fatalities, but the number of motorcyclist deaths on our roadways is still unacceptable," said Kendell Poole, GHSA chairman and director of the Tennessee Office of Highway Safety. "While we support technol- ogy advances such as antilock brake systems and traction control, state laws and behavioral changes are critical to saving more motorcy- clist lives." Poole emphasized the importance of all states adopting universal helmet laws and notes, "By far, helmets are the single most effec- tive way to prevent serious injury and death in the event of a motorcycle crash." Currently, only 19 states and D.C. require all riders be helmeted. Another 28 mandate helmet use by riders younger than age 18 or 21, and three have no requirement. Accord- ing to a 2014 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study, the use rate of helmets in universal law states was 89 percent, compared with 48 percent in all other states. In addition to increasing helmet use, the report also recommends that states focus on motorcycle safety programs that: Reduce alcohol impairment. In 2013, 28 percent of fatally injured riders had a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit of 0.08. Reduce speeding. According to the most recent data, 34 percent of riders involved in fatal crashes were speeding, compared with 21 percent for passenger vehicle drivers. Ensure motorcyclists are properly licensed. In 2013, 25 percent of motorcycle riders involved in fatal crashes did not have a valid motorcycle license, compared to 13 percent of passenger vehicle drivers involved in fatal crashes. Encourage all drivers to share the road with motorcyclists. According to NHTSA, when motorcycles crash with other vehicles, the other driver is often at fault. Many states conduct "share the road" campaigns to increase awareness of motorcyclists. States conduct much of their motorcycle safety programming through federal safety grants administered by NHTSA. Currently, Congress restricts state programs by permit- ting them to address only motorcyclist training and programs that encourage drivers to share the road with motorcyclists. GHSA has been a strong advocate for broadening these param- eters to give states more flexibility to fund effective approaches to addressing motorcyclist safety, such as efforts to increase helmet use and reduce drunk riding. All 2014 data in the report is preliminary. The report presents data through September 2014. PSB Governors association projects fewer motorcycle deaths in '14 Myers-Duren Harley Davidson, established in 1914, offers the only Harley-Davidson Riding Academy in Oklahoma. Honda's powersports, automotive and power products divisions partnered on a first-of-its-kind promotion.