It's easy to feel safe sitting behind George Fetty as he expertly maneuvers around a large, cream-colored vehicle that has just whirled around a corner without braking.

"If your gonna get hit, at least it's by a Rolls," Fetty shouts from under his helmet.

For a passenger on the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the view is restricted to the red, white and black lines on Fetty's helmet. But Fetty, the owner of Valley V-Twin American Motorcycle Sales in Cathedral City, keeps his eyes scanning everything within at least two blocks ahead of him.

"Who's going to pull out of a driveway? Who's going to suddenly open a car door? Where is the couch that falls off that truck going to land?" he thinks to himself.

Fetty pulls to the intersection of Perez Road and Cathedral Canyon, hammers the clutch on the open lanes and lets the warm desert air splash on his face through the window of his helmet. On the right, moments before a large distribution truck pulls out in front of his bike without caution, Fetty passes the Civic Center, where he and his wife, Halle, are planning a huge motorcycle event on Saturday.

As the Cathedral City City Council and the valley's legislative delegation have issued a decree recognizing May as Motorcycle Awareness Month in California, the Fettys and American Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education, or ABATE, Local 36 of Palm Springs are hosting "Vroom With a View."

The free biker event will feature bike competitions, raffles, three live bands, a barbecue and plenty of information about motorcycle safety.

With sometimes bare shoulders zipping along only a few feet above the hard road surface, it's easy to understand why motorcyclists make safety a priority. Through the event, the Fettys and ABATE hope that not only bikers but also drivers of other vehicles will become aware that those who are hardest to see on the road are also the most vulnerable out there.

"At every intersection there's a little skull and bones out there that says `death,' " said Richard "Splatt" Hall, president of the Palm Springs ABATE local. "I know you don't see me; I'm the invisible man out there."

According to 2001 data from the Federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the most recent numbers available, motorcycles were involved in more than 73,000 crashes that year. In those crashes, more than 60,000 bikers were injured, and 3,181 died, the bureau's Web site says.

Explaining the intricacies of maneuvering safely, Hall and the Fettys said the biggest hazard on the road is cars.

"You're going to get squished, and you're going to lose," Hall said.

"It's constantly expecting stupidity," Halle Fetty said.

That became all too true for the Fettys when their 23-year-old son collided with a car and his head went under the wheel of a truck. For a full week, the Fettys didn't know if their son would live or die. When he pulled through, they took up the cause of teaching safety and pushing everyone they know and everyone who buys a bike from their shop to attend safety training.

"After the course, you're humbled," Halle Fetty said. "You've been exposed mentally, anyway, to the dangers facing you."

"Speaking as a woman, it's more (of) the emotional feeling of power," Halle Fetty said. "On the road, I'm truly the mistress of my own destiny with every decision I make. And it's a little bit of the ego that I'm a chick on a bike."

Glance: MOTORCYCLE AWARENESS MONTH
VROOM WITH A VIEW: Valley V-Twin American Motorcycle Sales in Cathedral City and American Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education, or ABATE, Local 36 are hosting a free biker event from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Center in front of Mary Pickford Theater in Cathedral City.
Entertainment will include food booths, live bands, raffles and motorcycle competitions in 18 categories.
For more information, visit www.valleyvtwin.com.

MOTORCYCLE SAFETY TRAINING: For safety training in the Coachella Valley, call Coachella Valley Motorcycle Training at 564-0154.