THE AIM/NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE is brought to you by Aid to InjuredMotorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), andis sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester. For more information, callus at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at <
NCOM NEWS BYTES 0805
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists
HIGHWAY BILL FINALLY ENACTED: MOTORCYCLISTS’ CONCERNS ADDRESSED Following tendeadline extensions dating back to September 2003, the 109th Congress voted onJuly 29th to enact HR 3, the sweeping $286.4 billion highway bill thatreauthorizes federal transportation spending through September 2009, andPresident Bush signed the measure into public law on August 10th.
The final version of the massive 1,681-page document contains numerousmotorcycle provisions lobbied for over the past several years by national, stateand local motorcycle rights organizations and concerned individual riders.
In addition to providing much-needed federal funding to rejuvenate our nation’scrumbling infrastructure, the bill also makes available $25 million in grantmoney for motorcycle safety training and awareness programs to individualstates. The bill also provides for the formation of a motorcyclists advisorycouncil to advise the Federal Highway Administrator regarding how motorcyclesmust be included when designing future Intelligent Transportation systems.
HR 3 also includes nearly $3 million for a new scientific study of motorcyclecrashes to be conducted by the Oklahoma Transportation Center, located atOklahoma State University. This marks the first comprehensive research intomotorcycle crashes since the Hurt Report was completed in the late 1970s.The reauthorization measure also stipulates that motorcycles will continue to beallowed to use High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, and continues to prohibitlocal governments from excluding motorcycles on roads maintained with federalfunding.Lastly, for off-road riders, the legislation earmarks $370 million from gasolinetaxes to fund the Recreational Trails Program.
MOTORCYCLE FATALITIES CONTINUE TO CLIMB Motorcycle fatalities nationwide havesurged to their highest levels since 1987, even as overall highway deathscontinue to decline.
In 2004, 4,008 motorcycle riders were killed in highway accidents, up 7.9% from2003 and 89% higher than in 1997, according to a new National Highway TrafficSafety Administration report. Meanwhile, passenger car deaths dropped 3.2% to19,091 last year.
NHTSA cites as possible causes: a sharp rise in motorcycle ownership, anincrease in inexperienced bikers riding powerful machines, and rollback ofmandatory helmet laws in several states.
Americans bought an estimated 734,000 new on-highway motorcycles last year, upfrom 230,000 in 1995, according to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.
Motorcycle groups opposed to helmet laws point to the changing face of bikers,reports USA Today. Jeff Rabe, lobbyist for the Modified Motorcycle Association(MMA) of California and member of the board of directors for the NationalCoalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), said more “middle-aged executives” are ridingpowerful machines without training. “There’s a huge group of people ages 35 to50 who have purchased motorcycles,” Rabe said. “But they’re still beginning riders.”
INVENTOR PROMOTES CAR HELMETS FOR KIDS Michael Fleming, an amateur inventor andfull-time Houston attorney, has filed a patent application for a new safetydevice for kids. It’s called the Automobile Helmet. “The time has come for ahelmet that protects children in autos,” Fleming told the Chicago Tribune.
Fleming cited government statistics that 2,500 children are killed and 294,000injured annually in vehicle accidents.
But how do parents convince their kids to not only belt up, but helmet up as well?
Fleming thinks he has the answer: loading the helmet with electronics. “Bybuilding a helmet that allows a child to listen to music, watch a DVD movie orplay a handheld game, I’m hoping they?ll want to wear a helmet without complaint.”
NEW YORK AMENDS HANDLEBAR HEIGHT LAW Governor George E. Pataki has signed intolaw a handlebar height bill that will allow motorcyclists to adjust the heightof their handlebars up to shoulder level, eliminating the 15″ above the seatstandard that has been the law since the late sixties.
ONCE RIVALS, BIKE CLUBS NOW WORKING TOGETHER Once-notorious outlaw-bikerrivals, the Pagans and Warlocks are working together to raise funds to fightdiscrimination, fresh from helping to repeal laws regarding motorcycle helmetsand high handlebars, reports the Philadelphia Daily News.
What’s more, these clubs have joined with non-outlaw bikers to fight againstdiscrimination and police harassment in a political and legal forum, and threwtheir first annual Summer Sizzler, a biker family picnic, on August 21st, at theNevlin Grist Mill Park, in Glen Mills, Delaware County.This was the first major fund-raiser for the Confederation of Clubs of EasternPennsylvania, founded in April 1999. The confederation represents more than1,000 members, with an average age of 42, from 23 clubs. Members include 1percenters, Bikers Against Child Abuse, Christian bikers, and Clean and Soberbikers.It’s one of 55 confederations in North America, the fastest-growing part of thenational bikers- rights movement, with annual national conventions and a Website: www.aimncom.com/coc/.
The confederations’ aim is to stop police harassment of bikers and civil-rightsdiscrimination in housing, bars and other areas, and to solve mutual problems,not settle scores among clubs, according to its local president, a Warlock.
“We’re all bikers,” said Kenny Plank, of Longriders, in Chester County. “There’sno reason to be fighting each other.”
Not all bikers in the local confederation are outlaws and not all outlaw bikersare gangsters. They are nurses, firemen, company owners, salesmen, judges andlawyers.
As confederation treasurer, “Patches” said his job was to “make sure all thecommittees are doing the right thing.” That is, keeping within a $5,000 partybudget. After paying for expenses, said Patches, a member of the MessengersMotorcycle Club, known as a “clean and sober” club, “We’ll have the legal meansto protect ourselves.”
“We’re serious about bikers rights,” he said. The confederation is “neutral ground.”
At regular meetings at which two representatives per club have one vote,Norristown attorney Boyd Spencer regularly updates them about state and federallegislation, including the Patriot Act. Spencer said the law “targets three ormore people with a common handshake, common purpose and common attire.”
Spencer is a member of the national network of biker-rights lawyers in Aid toInjured Motorcyclists, or AIM, founded in 1982 by California attorney Richard M.Lester, who started the national confederation and similar groups.
On legislative issues, the local confederation supports the Alliance of BikersAimed Toward Education (ABATE) of Pennsylvania, the main biker lobby; andPennsylvania Coalition of Motorcyclists (PCOM), which monitors legislation.
The confederation supported member Warlocks and the Bikers Against Child Abuse(BACA), both of whom sued police for allegedly harassing bikers in separate Toysfor Tots Runs in Philadelphia and Delaware County in 2002. The Warlocks obtaineda consent decree from the Philly cops and BACA, an out-of-court settlement fromDarby Borough.
“Everybody is getting along together as a group and becoming more political,”said “Rabbit,” of Men of Honor. “It’s good to see as many [clubs] agree on onething.”
At their latest confederation meeting, held in the middle of the summer whenmost organizations don’t meet, the confederation drew more than 40 members.
Amid the banter, the president introduced “Q” as a nurse and a minister: “He canbury ya and marry ya.”
For $200, which would go to the confederation, he added, bikers could getmarried or renew their vows at the Summer Sizzler.
“Boyd will do the divorce,” joked the president, referring to AIM lawyer BoydSpencer.
Later, Q identified himself as Steve Stoyke, 54, a member of Association ofRecovering Motorcyclists, or ARM, who rode five hours on his Harley fromFrederick, Md., to support the confederation. “To do a wedding, we line bikes upon either side,” said Stoyke. “You can do a traditional wedding, or we can readfrom the Harley Repair Manual.”
The minister asks the groom: “Do you promise to keep her cables greased andtires balanced?”
And he asks the bride: “Do you promise to keep his gas filter cleared, changehis oil and bring him in for maintenance?”
“This is America’s last subculture,” added Stoyke. “That’s what keeps ourcountry great.”
WEIRD NEWS: HARLEY HELPS BLIND TO SEE A student at Penn State Behrend Collegein Erie, PA has developed a process that may help the blind to “see” digitalphotographs. Using a process developed by Harley-Davidson called “rapidprototyping,” 27-year old Jason Donnell hopes to produce 3-D images that a blindperson could run their fingers across and “feel” the image, in much the samemanner as Braille is used to read.
“With a Word document, you output to a printer,” explains Donnell. “With rapidprototyping, the output is to a machine that uses a special type of paper, waxor plastic. So, for example, if Harley-Davidson has something they want toinclude on a bike, but is not too sure about, they can input the information andit will produce an exact size copy of the item.”
After a lot of hours writing and re-writing, Donnell has his program, but theresults so far have been mixed. Because of the short time frame of the collegeproject, he was only able to produce and test three examples.
“The test on a simple picture of a playing card were pretty good,” Donnell toldthe Valley News Dispatch, “but the pictures of a tree and a ghost town were verytough and showed the need for more work.”
QUOTABLE QUOTES: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whetherit exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”Sir Ernest Benn (1875-1954), publisher and public speaker
AND THAT’S ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS!
