Road Safety BC

 

July 18, 2016                                                                                Reference No.  516977

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

This letter is to verify that RoadSafetyBC has been working with Denise Lodge on the development and delivery of the Coalition of Riders Educating Youth (C.O.R.E.Y) presentation for schools.

 

There were 8 presentations that took place in Kitimat, Terrace and Prince Rupert in February 2016, sharing the information with approximately 920 students.

 

 

I would like to thank Denise for her continued contribution in keeping British Columbia’s roads safe.

 

 

 

Yours sincerely,


 

 

Steven Roberts

Deputy Superintendent of Motor Vehicles

 

 


Ministry of               RoadSafetyBC                      PO Box 9254 Stn Prov Gov   Telephone: (250) 387-7747

Public Safety and  www.gov.be.e<1/RoadSafetyBC   Victoria BC VSW 9J2             Facsimile: (250) 356-5577

Solicitor General

MOUNT ELIZABETH MIDDLE SECONDARY SCHOOL

 


School District #82 (Coast Mountains)

                       MOUNT ELIZABETH MIDDLE SECONDARY SCHOOL

 1491 Kingfisher Avenue    Kitimat, B.C.  V8C 1E9          Tel. (250)632-6174     Fax 1-888-539-4732

 

 

July 27, 2016

To whom it may concern,

Corey was a former student of Mt. Elizabeth and after he graduated he moved to Vancouver Island.  This is where he purchased his first motorcycle.  Unfortunately Corey was in a tragic accident which took his life.  Corey’s mother, Denise Lodge, has been working diligently on a presentation to share Corey’s story to help the youth of our communities.   She is currently sharing this story with schools in Northwest BC and would like to share it with the rest of the province through our schools.  The more information our youth have about safety of motorcycles the better, even if it saves one life, this presentation is worth viewing.

This past school year (2015-2016) our school hosted the C.O.R.E.Y. Drive and Ride Safe presentation.  The presentation is well worth the time for young adolescents to see, it is informative and well-done that keeps the students’ attention for the whole hour.

Yours truly,

 

Dan Striker

Vice Principal

Mount Elizabeth Middle Secondary School

Kitimat, BC

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

                                  Security Classification/Designation

                                   Non-sensitive

 

Staff Sergeant James McLaren Detachment Commander RCMP

888 Lahakas Blvd                                                                                                                Your File

Kitimat BC V8C 2H9                                                                                                            Our File

 

2016-07-27

 

 

To Whom It May Concern,

C.O.R.E.Y Ride and Drive Safe Motorcycle Safety Presentation

 

I am writing this letter in support of the C.O.R.E.Y Ride and Drive Safe presentation designed and presented by Denise Lodge of Kitimat, BC.

 

Ms. Lodge has done this presentation to two high schools in Kitimat. In preparation for the presentation she has partnered with the Government of BC and the RCMP.  The information contained in the presentation informative, relevant and powerful.  The presentation itself is captivating and dynamic.  In the Kitimat schools, it was very well received.

 

In working with Denise Lodge, her professionalism and dedication to the C.0.R.E.Y. program is unquestionable. Kitimat Detachment fully supports the continuance and if possible expansion of C.0.R.E.Y Ride and Drive Safe program.  I look forward to working with Ms. Lodge in the future.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 250-632-7111.

 

 

 

 

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Canada

 

 

 

Coast Mountains Board of Education

 

August 25, 2016

 

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter as a recommendation for and an endorsement of the C.O.R.E.Y. Ride & Drive Safe Program.

Coast Mountains School District 82 hosted this program in our Middle/Secondary Schools as part of our social and emotional life skills program.   Health and well-being as well as safety are an important part of this program and the presentation by Ms. Lodge addressed the area or road and driving safety in a way that really “struck home” for our students.

Ms. Lodge’s presentation is particularly effective in that it is a B.C. story told by a mother who was directly affected by the loss of her son in a vehicle accident.  The story could be one from any family, the mother anyone’s mother, and the students could identify with the victim in that he was an average young man with friends, an interest in sports, and a promising future ahead of him.

It is with no hesitation that I recommend this program for any group of adolescent students.  It carries an important message for our young people in a way that they can identify with.  The safety of our young people is everyone’s responsibility.

 

Regards,

Agnes Casgrain

Director of Instruction

Coast Mountains SD 82

 

Students Learn More About Motorcycle Safety

By Walter McFarlane

CoreySafe Event-Terrace1

The Coalition of Riders Educating Youth is traveling across the North West giving presentations to schools on Motorcycle Safety. This project was started by Denise Lodge, who lost her son Corey Lodge, who was 21, in an accident 11 years ago.

On Tuesday, January 16th, they were in Terrace, on January 17th, they were in Kitimat and on January 18th, they were in Prince Rupert.

“[We are presenting] motorcycle safety for C.O.R.E.Y.,” said Lodge. “On March 2nd, 2005 [Corey] wrote his learners test, March 2nd, he bought his super sport bike, March 3rd, less than 24 hours later, he died on the highway. Just so you can go and write a learners test doesn’t mean you can go out and be able to navigate well.”

Corey grew up in Kitimat so the Northern BC has been selected as the pilot project for these presentations. Lodge stated she hopes to take this message to the rest of the schools.

Standing with her at the podium in Kitimat were Corey Bewness from Road Safety BC and Constable M. Clarabut from the RCMP who presented on different aspects of motorcycle safety. She stressed that having the right training and the right gear to ride a motorcycle were important, and riding a motorcycle is not easy as it looks.

During the presentation, students were asked to provide their thoughts on how riding a motorcycle is different than driving a car. They were told there were many different ways a person on a motorcycle could lose control and they would have to be ready for them if they wished to ride.

The five key points of the presentation have been reproduced below:

1: Take Training from an ICBC-licensed school

2: Wear protective gear

3: Wear high – visibility clothes, included a light coloured or neon helmet with reflective tape

4: Don’t ride a model of motorcycle that is powerful beyond your skills

5: Never drive with any drugs or alcohol in your system

Each of the students was given a bracelet, which were donated by Save on Foods.

“Since Corey’s accident, we have been with the government for the last 11 years trying to get a graduated licensing program into place,” said Lodge. “We did back in 2012 with Shirley Bond, get a standardized helmet laws passed and we also got the foot pegs and high speed fines set up for that. We’re still working at getting a graduated licensing program in place.”

Lodge has been working with the government to bring about a graduated license program.

The Goal of the presentation is to ensure the students know how important it is to obtain the skills to ride a motorcycle, the proper equipment they need to have, the consequences of their choices and what makes or breaks a ride.

“Since Corey’s death in 2005 over a 6-year span to 2011, the Motorcycle injuries and fatalities in British Columbia alone, over those 6 years, had been 294 fatal victims and 3,852 seriously injured victims in motorcycle collisions. These did not have to happen,” said Lodge by email after the presentation.

She hopes: “We can touch one heart and save one life.”

CoreySafe Event - Terrace2

 

Culled from Kitimat Daily Online February 21, 2016

C.O.R.E.Y. aims to educate young drivers and riders on road safety

By Daniela Bizama/The Northern View

 

 

ICoreySafe Event Prince Rupertt has been nearly 11 years since her son died in a motorcycle accident but Denise Lodge still continues her mission to prevent the same tragedy from affecting other families’ lives.

With the help of Save On Foods, Lodge’s message of education and hope will be coming to Prince Rupert in the 2016-2017 school year.

At the end of the day all we want is for you to come home safe.” Lodge said in an emotional plea during a recent presentation in Kitimat.

In 2005, her two boys were living on Vancouver Island. Her oldest son, Corey, was 21 years old at the time, when he purchased his Super Sport street bike with a 1000cc engine. Less than 24 hours after receiving his Learner’s Motorcycle Driver’s Licence and purchasing his new Super Sport bike with after-market enhancements, he took it on the Malahat Highway and lost control of the bike, crashing into a rock wall.

“I’ll never forget watching the news that day.” Lodge said.

She had no idea that he had purchased a motorcycle nor did Corey’s girlfriend, with whom he was saving money to buy a house, and who was in the hospital for an operation, when the accident happened.

After his death she organized the C.O.R.E.Y (Coalition of Riders Education Youth) to bring awareness to rider and driver safety. Lodge is also lobbying the B.C. government to introduce better safety regulations. A new law came into effect in June 2012 making motorcycle riders and passengers wear helmets that met specific industry standards. Skull caps and other novelty helmets would not meet the regulation code. New seating requirements were also issued with increased fines for reckless driver behaviour.

In B.C., three per cent of insured vehicles are motorcycles, which account for 11 per cent of road fatalities. Over a short five-year span, motorcycles were involved in 10,900 crash incidents, and 7,200 injured victims and 163 fatal deaths — that is 18,263 people who were involved in motorcycle accidents.

Lodge is also pushing for graduated licencing for motorcycles that is along the same lines as the graduated licencing program for a car. In the current system, if you hold a licence to drive a car, it will only take that driver to write the motorcycle test and in 30 days have a full licence.  You are not required to get any training. So with no skills you are riding on the streets with all the other traffic.

“Just because you have your driver’s licence doesn’t give you the qualifications to fly a plane.”

A car and a motorcycle are two very different means of transportation, which require very different and specialized skills.

Her request for a new licencing system made its way to the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond. In 2012, Bond stated that the province intended to move forward with a graduated licencing program GLP-M, but it still hasn’t come into fruition.

“We’ve been waiting 11 years for the government to go forward with this and every year more people die,” she said. “I keep getting that same letter from the government, that it is one of their priorities.

“Well, that priority list that we are on, as it sits, has already cost more than 400 deaths.

“That’s why we have taken this route and doing presentations for the high school students grades 9-12. To give them an introduction to Safer Motorcycling and to Ride and Drive Safe.  So they know the risks and things they can do to minimize those risks. As well as to empower them to make the right choices.

At the presentation to be made in Prince Rupert, Lodge will be telling the story of her son but, as importantly, joining with law enforcement officials to offer tips on the best ways for riders and passengers to protect themselves, such as wearing abrasion resistant clothing and purchasing a bright coloured helmet over a solid black one for higher visibility.

At the end of the recent presentation in Kitimat, Lodge played a song one of Corey’s friends recorded for him. The line: “I miss you man, I never got to say goodbye” drives her message home into the hearts of anyone listening just a little deeper.

An important message and an eye-opener for any parent of a young driver or any new motorcyclist.

From June 29 to July 3, visit the Prince Rupert Save-On Foods to learn how you can win points and help drive Lodge’s message to young riders and drivers home.

 

Culled from The Northern View June 28, 2016

 

Dillon Adey golf tournament takes on a second cause

By Mark NIELSEN

An organization a Kitimat woman launched in memory of a son who died in a motorcycle crash will be front and centre this Saturday at the Dillon Adey Memorial golf tournament.

In memory of Corey Lodge, his mother, Denise Lodge, has organized the Coalition of Riders Educating Youth to raise awareness among young people about safe riding on motorcycles and about safe driving around them.

Corey was 21 years old when, in March 2005, he died in a crash while trying to go around a corner on the Malahat Highway on Vancouver Island. He was riding a “super sport” motorcycle with a 1,000 cubic centimetre engine and after-market enhancements and had obtained his learner’s licence for motorcycles less than 24 hours before.

The centrepiece of Lodge’s effort is a presentation she’s been fine tuning and has taken to high schools in northwest B.C. as part of a larger version that includes representatives from RoadSafetyBC and RCMP.

Lodge’s role is to bring a human face to the message before a RoadSafetyBC representative steps in to deliver the advice.

“How to protect yourself,” Lodge said. “Things that are a nuisance to a car are deadly to a motorcyclist…the gusting winds, the air streams.”

Driver etiquette around motorcycles is also a part.

“It hits on both keys,” Lodge said.

Then an RCMP officer speaks about the consequences of getting a criminal record for driving – and riding – while impaired.

“They’ll say ‘do you like going to Hawaii and Mexico on holidays?’ Everybody’s like ‘yeah, yeah, yeah.’ Well, guess what, you won’t be going anywhere if you get charged with a DUI…there are so many you assumed they know but they don’t,” Lodge said.

It ends with Lodge giving a recap on the safety, training and proper gear for riding.

Lodge wants to reach out to more young drivers and riders starting in the 2016-17 school year and, in the meantime, is raising funds to pay for administration, travel and the thousands of wrist bands she plans to hand out at the end of the presentations.

“I have 10,000 on order right now,” Lodge said. “I need way more than that, I need hundreds of thousands to do all of B.C.”

Corey’s story is remarkably similar to Dillon Adey’s. Like Corey, Dillon was 21, was holding a motorcycle learner’s licence and was riding a high-powered motorcycle when he died.

In June 2009, he had decided to sell the machine but decided to take it out for one last ride. He ran into the back of an SUV near his home on Tabor Blvd. Speed was a factor in the fatal collision, RCMP have said.

When Dillon’s parents, Perry and Cindy, learned of Corey’s story they got in contact with Denise and now sit on the COREY board of directors.

The golf tournament’s primary goal is to raise money for an endowment bursary fund for financially-strapped students at College of New Caledonia but helping Lodge raise funds for COREY is also on the agenda during the awards banquet Saturday evening at Treasure Cove Casino.

More information on COREY can be found at coreysafe.com.

Culled from the Prince George Citizen
© Copyright 2016 Prince George Citizen – See more at: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/news/local-news/dillon-adey-golf-tournament-takes-on-a-second-cause-1.2281577#sthash.EIINgH8d.dpuf

 

Safety fundraiser at Save-on-Foods

C.O.R.E.Y. educating youth

 

 

By Devyn Ens

Save-on-Foods will be hosting a month long fundraiser for the C.O.R.E.Y. Ride and Drive Safe motorcycle safety initiative.

C.O.R.E.Y., which stands for Coalition of Riders Educating Youth, was started by Denise Lodge, after her son Corey died in a motorcycle crash less than 24 hours after receiving his learners license and purchasing a motorcycle.

Lodge has made it her mission to properly educate people about motorcycle safety, and has developed a powerpoint presentation with Road Safety BC, which is an introduction to safer motorcycling. She has given it to schools in Kitimat, Terrace, and Prince Rupert.

“Many other provinces have mandatory training so you can’t go on the road until you have some training”, Lodge explained.

She’s hoping to raise enough money that the presentation can be given in schools across the north.

“There is no training involved (in getting a motorcycle learners license). You can just go write your exam….and then you can hop on your bike as long as you have a supervisor, and all that person has to do is see you,” she said.

“There’s no communication between you and the bike rider.”

Save-on-Foods will be holding a raffle from June 1 to 30, with the chance to win 50,000 More Rewards points, with a donation to the fundraiser. The draw date will be July 1.

The store will also be having an event on June 11 and 12 from 11 a.m. to 4p.m., with food, musicians, a cartoonist, and a walk-through of the presentation.

 

Culled from Northern Sentinel Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Vol 62 No. 23

For the love of Corey

 

By Shannon Lough – The Northern View

Denise Lodge at Mount Elizabeth Theater, Kitimat BC
Denise Lodge at Mount Elizabeth Theater, Kitimat BC

It has been nearly 11 years since Kitimat’s Denise Lodge’s son died in a motorcycle accident but she is still advocating to prevent the same tragedy from affecting other families’ lives.

 

In February, Lodge made stops in Kitimat, Terrace and Prince Rupert to deliver her message to high school students, asking them to take the story to the streets.

“At the end of the day, all we want is for you to come home safe,” Lodge said with apparent emotion.

It was 2005, she was living in Kitimat and her two boys had moved to Vancouver Island for work after they finished high school. Her oldest, Corey, was 21-years-old at the time in 2005 when he upgraded from a sport bike with a 250CC engine to a super sport bike with a 1000CC engine.

Less than 24 hours of receiving his learner’s motorcycle driver’s licence he took his new bike, with after-market enhancements, out on the Mallahat Highway and lost control of the bike crashing into a rock wall.

“I’ll never forget watching the news that day,” Lodge said who was on the North Coast at the time. She had no idea that he had purchased a new motorcycle. Neither did Corey’s girlfriend, who were both saving money to buy a house, and who was in the hospital for an operation when the accident happened.

Lodge’s youngest son, Jeremy, was living with his older brother in Victoria at the time. He flew home immediately to be with his family after he heard the news. He wanted to be with them when the RCMP paid that terrible visit and spoke the official words that left a permanent mark on all of their lives.

After his death, she organized the C.O.R.E.Y. (Coalition of Riders Educating Youth) to bring rider and driver safety knowledge to other youth.

Lodge has also called on the B.C. government to introduce better safety regulations. A new law came into effect in June 2012 making motorcycle riders and passengers wear helmets that met specific industry standards. Skull caps and other novelty helmets would not meet the regulation code. New seating requirements were also issued with increased fines for reckless driving behaviour.

The province estimates that three per cent of insured vehicles are motorcycles, but account for 10 per cent of road fatalities. Between 2008 to 2012 there were 5,172 injured and 203 motorcycle accident related deaths.

Lodge has also pushed for graduated licensing for motorcycles that is along the same lines as the graduated licensing program for a car.

In the current system, a driver could receive their motorcycle learner’s licence and 30 days later they could have a full licence, driving on the highway on a high speed bike.

“Just because you have your driver’s licence doesn’t give you the qualifications to fly a plane, so why is a motorcycle the same,” Dodge said.

Her request for a new licensing system made its way to the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond.

In 2012, Bond stated that the province intended to move forward with a graduated licencing program with power restrictions but it still hasn’t come into fruition.

“We have been waiting 11 years for the government to go forward with this and every year more people die,” she said. “I keep getting the letter that it’s one of the high priorities but that’s not saving any more lives in the time frame. That’s why we started to think we’re going to start going this route and doing presentations for the high school students.”

At the presentation Lodge first tells the story of her son then she gives the floor over to Corey Bowness from Road Safety B.C. who highlighted the added risks to being on a motorcycle. He also offers tips on the best ways for riders and passengers to protect themselves, such as wearing abrasion resistant clothing and purchasing a white helmet over a black one for higher visibility.

RCMP officers also took a turn to lay out the fines and penalties a motorcyclist could face if they break the rules and engage in dangerous activities, such as street racing.

At the end of the presentation, Lodge played a song one of Corey’s friends recorded for him.

The line: “I miss you man, I never got to say goodbye” drives her message home into the hearts of anyone listening just a little deeper.