PUBLICATIONS Inside Illinois Vol. 24, No. 9, Nov. 4, 2004

On the job: Gil Heitka

By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
217-244-1072; slforres@uiuc.edu

Click photo to enlarge Photo by Kwame Ross Gil Heitka is a motorcycle safety specialist in the department of community health.

While at some households the towels may be monogrammed “his” and “hers,” at the Heitka household it’s the motorcycles. Gil Heitka, a motorcycle safety specialist in the department of community health, and his wife are part-time instructors with the UI Motorcycle Rider Program. Between them, they have two Honda Goldwings and four other motorcycles “and are looking for more,” Heitka said. Heitka became a part-time instructor with the program in 1987 while stationed at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul. After retiring from the Air Force, he joined the program full time in 1998. Heitka has taught more than 4,500 students and garnered numerous awards, including the Illinois Department of Transportations’ Packey Rush Outstanding Achievement Award in 2001 and the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Instructor Achievement Award in 1991.

Tell me about the program.
We’re a free motorcycle rider program that’s funded through motorcycle registrations paid to the Illinois Secretary of State. The state is divided into four regions and there are four universities that handle motorcycle rider programs: UI and Illinois State, Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois at Carbondale universities. The UI has from Cook County south to Danville and Champaign-Urbana. We have the smallest region geographically but the largest in population. We have 17 different locations: 13 in Cook County plus Joliet, Kankakee, Danville and Champaign-Urbana.

Typically, we use 100-110 part-time instructors each year. We run approximately 3,000 people through each year in about 300 basic courses and 28 courses for experienced riders. We start courses in early April and run toward late October.

We have classes Monday through Friday in the mornings, in the evenings and a lot of weekends. If riders age 18 or older pass our test, the Illinois Secretary of State waives the written and riding tests for a motorcycle drivers license endorsement, which is a big plus for a lot of people.

Being an instructor is just a small part of what I do. My main job is registering students and assigning instructors to classes. I taught about 30 classes this year. I’ve been trying to cut back and enjoy my riding a little more.

What makes and models of cycles do you use for the classes?
In the beginner course, the students use our motorcycles. We have in the neighborhood of 300 cycles: 125 ccs, 250 ccs, street and cruiser styles. Students in the experienced-rider course use their own bikes, which makes it a lot different.

What do riders learn in the basic and advanced courses?
The basic course consists of eight hours of classroom work and 12 hours’ riding, learning skills such as starting, stopping, cornering. The experienced-rider program is for people who already have licenses; it’s a one-day, eight-hour class. They learn things such as emergency braking, swerving and limited-space maneuvers. A lot of people take the course a second or third time.

What’s the most challenging part about teaching?
In a lot of cases, teaching people who have never operated a stick-shift car how to operate a motorcycle. And they’re learning all the advanced skills in just 20 hours, which isn’t a long time. People want to learn it all in just eight hours, but they don’t realize how much is involved in riding a motorcycle. It’s not as easy as it looks. It takes practice to do maneuvers. Anyone can ride in a straight line, but you don’t ride in a straight line all the time.

When did you start riding motorcycles?
In 1971 when I was in the Air Force stationed in the Philippines. I took the experienced-rider course in 1983 when I had a bike with 33,000 miles on it. I thought I was pretty good at the time but after taking the class I thought, can I really be this bad? I took the basic course several times, and I sure felt a lot more confident. Most of riding is mental: being aware of what is around you and using a street strategy so you don’t get yourself in a bind.

Where do you go when you ride for pleasure?
Last year and again this August, my wife and I went down to Charlotte, N.C., and to “The Dragon,” which is U.S. Highway 129 (the Cherohala Skyway, a 36-mile highway that connects Robbinsville, N.C., with Tellico Plains, Tenn.). They advertise it as 11 miles and 318 curves. My wife only counted 178 curves.

I want to go to Alaska, but my wife doesn’t have enough time. We’re going to go to Bismarck, N.D., for a conference, so we’ll probably go up through Minneapolis and to the Mall of America.

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