The Iowa Department of Transportation reports registration is now open for the 10th Anniversary Motorcycle Safety Forum. The rider-focused event is facilitated by Iowa’s motorcycle safety team, a diverse partnership of motorcycle safety advocates, the Iowa Department of Transportation and Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, and, motorcycle trainers, dealers and riders. The event is being held Friday, April 26th, at the Varied Industries Building on the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. To register, log on to http://www.iowadot.gov/mvd/ods/motorcycle.

A change in venue for the forum will allow much more space for vendor exhibits and provide motorcycle enthusiasts ample parking for a “ride in.” Also planned for this year’s event is a photo booth where participants can have their photo taken with their bike (weather permitting). Last year’s forum was a sold-out event, so don’t wait too long to register. Registration is only $15 and includes a continental breakfast, lunch, breaks and an opportunity to enter a drawing for an Aluma motorcycle trailer.

Once again this year, all paid forum participants will be provided a free coupon (value up to $245) that can be used to register for a Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s (MSF) Basic Rider Course I or II. Both courses are part of the Iowa DOT’s Rider Education Program and taught by Iowa-licensed, MSF-certified rider coaches. The coupons can be redeemed at any of the approved sites, which are located throughout the state.

The one-day, interactive forum will feature several presentations, safety displays, rider training, an exhibitor tradeshow, and other motorcycle-related exhibits. Presentations include:

• Vicki Sanfelipo, Conspicuity Inc.®, “6=0”
• Wayne Wierson, ABATE of Iowa, “MRF A&E 3R’s: I don’t want to ride in your funeral procession!”
• Karen Sprattler, Sprattler Group, “Impaired Riding”
• Dr. Nicholas Ward, Montana State University, “Motorcycle Riding Impairment and Different BAC Levels”

Participants are asked to be prepared to share ideas and thoughts with forum committee members and other riders throughout the day.

Iowans who are parents of newborns are encouraged to take their tots in for a free eye exam as part of a national effort. Dr. Melissa Billings, an optometrist in Urbandale, recommends children have their eyes checked when they’re still very young — between the ages of six and 12 months. Dr. Billings says, “We’ve found that if we can catch early problems, we can get them treated early and that way the patient doesn’t have to deal with a lifetime of visual problems, whether that would be a lazy eye, where one eye doesn’t see as well as the other, an eye that turns, poor depth perception.”

While it might sound like it would be pretty tough to check the eyesight of an infant, she says the test is tailored just for the very young. “We do a lot of things such as preferential looking to see if they’re looking at specific targets,” Billings says. “We always check their eye motility to make sure the six muscles in each eye are working fully and properly. We can also test their prescription without them saying anything at all by doing a technique called retinoscopy.”

The typical Infant exam has the baby seated on the parent’s lap and the doctor will use lights and other hand-held objects, similar to finger puppets, to evaluate how the baby’s eyes are working together. She says most eye doctors are taking part in the free program. “If you go to the website www.infantsee.org, that will pull up the InfantSEE website and give you a list of providers,” Billings says. “I have a feeling though that if anybody talks to their hometown provider, their provider is probably an InfantSEE provider.”

She says early intervention in a child’s first 12 months is crucial to successful and cost-effective treatment because an infant’s visual system develops very rapidly and it’s important to treat any problem that could hinder proper vision.

(Radio Iowa)