COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists
old shot from Bob T.
MOTORCYCLISTS FLEX LOBBYING MUSCLE Michael Kerr’s reflection in the chrome-plated rearview mirror of his Harley-Davidson Electra Glide reveals a modern-day Easy Rider. Bearded and long-haired, the 52-year-old Chicagoan favors jeans or black leather when he straddles his hog, but he’s just as comfortable slipping into a suit and tie to press the flesh with politicians.
“I would debate the president of the United States on motorcycle rights,” Kerr recently told Rex W. Huppke, a staff reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Kerr has ridden motorcycles for 35 years and is head of an Illinois motorcycle group’s political action committee. “We’ve become far more politically astute. People understand that if we don’t stay aware, we could lose our rights.”
“Some scowl at motorcyclists, calling them reckless, risky and noisy,” states Huppke in his May 27 article, “But as summer days beckon bikers to city streets and country roads, riders like Kerr ignore the criticism, ease out the clutch and roll off smiling, knowing their numbers are growing right along with their political muscle.” He goes on to write, in part?
A full-throttle charge by motorcycle activists has weakened helmet laws in 30 states, five since 1997. That’s good news for riders who believe mandatory helmet use violates their personal liberty, but it’s a disturbing trend for safety experts who point to a soaring increase in motorcycle fatalities.
Quick to say they don’t oppose helmets, just helmet laws, activists have seen their clout with lawmakers grow steadily in recent years. Along with tackling the helmet issue, groups in Illinois and across the country have proved skilled at beating other legislation — from emissions standards to rules on handlebar heights — that motorcyclists believe impedes their right to “ride free.”
Based on their success with lawmakers, it’s clear bikers are quick learners.
In the mid-1970s, all but three states–Illinois, California and Utah–required every motorcyclist to wear a helmet. But thanks to groups like ABATE, 27 states have amended their helmet laws so that only young people — normally 21 or younger — are required to wear them. Another 20 states and the District of Columbia still have laws covering all riders, and three states — Illinois, Colorado and Iowa — have no helmet law at all.
Kerr says lawmakers in California, Pennsylvania and Michigan are edging closer to weakening their rules on helmet laws, and other states are also on the bubble.
That’s in large part because advocates such as Kerr — bikers like to call them “legislative warriors” — are busy on the front lines.
While Kerr monitors political movements across the country and occasionally travels to Washington to lobby politicians, other ABATE members operate phone banks and put up election signs during campaigns, supporting politicians who agree to work with motorcyclists.
James “Doc” Reichenbach is a motorcycle activist who in 2000, with the help of 400,000 registered bikers, got Florida’s law changed so that only riders 21 and younger have to don helmets. There is a reason the pendulum has swung in favor of bikers rights, he said.
“We have seminars. We exchange ideas. We work with legislatures,” he said recently at a national motorcyclists’ convention in Milwaukee that drew more than 1,000 bikers. “Politics is really just a game. Well, we learned the game, and now we make the rules.”
Reichenbach is the President of ABATE of Florida, Inc., and serves as Chairman of the Board for the National Coalition of Motorcyclists. NCOM held it?s 18th annual Convention, May 8-10, at the Four Points Sheraton in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
So why do so many motorcyclists prefer not to wear “brain buckets,” while straddling 150-horsepower bikes that can go from zero to 60 m.p.h. in a matter of seconds?
“Individual liberty is the No. 1 issue here,” said H.W. “Sputnik” Strain, 63, a fiery, mohawked activist from Texas who is considered by many to be the Patrick Henry of bikers. “When the legislature tells you to wear a helmet, then they’re telling you that you don’t have the ability to think and reason.”
Strain, who lobbied relentlessly and beat Texas’ helmet law into submission, has never worn a helmet, not even in states that require them. He said he has received plenty of tickets, refuses to pay them and has warrants out for his arrest.
That might sound hard-boiled, but the hundreds of leather-clad, bearded, tattooed, coarse-talking bikers who gathered in Milwaukee — many of them lawyers and university professors — agreed with Strain, who is a respected member of their NCOM Legislative Task Force.
As far as the risk, Jill McDugald of Charleston, S.C., said there are risks in everything. A classically trained pianist, she said she developed carpal tunnel syndrome from countless hours of playing.
“It was my choice to play the piano,” she said, “and it’s my choice to ride a motorcycle.”
Gene Shafer, a biker and emergency-room doctor from Girard, Ill., shares McDugald’s feelings. He says it’s worth any risk to ride without a helmet. “Do I not put an IV into the arm of a person who’s HIV-positive, just because I’m afraid I might get HIV?” he said. “No. That’s my job, it’s my duty. There are risks in all aspects of life.” Shafer is also a member of NCOM?s Legislative Task Force, which boasts numerous legislators as members, including U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, Wisconsin State Senator Dave Zien and South Dakota State Senator Jim ?Putt? Putnam.
Kerr, who is a maintenance mechanic for Snap-On Tools in Crystal Lake, IL, is happy to admit it’s a good time to be a biker. But he’s familiar enough with the changing winds of politics to know a motorcyclist can’t just sit back and enjoy the ride.
“It brings a smile to my face to know that we have the attention and respect of some very important people in the country,” Kerr said. “But while we’re doing great, I know there’s a downside to the curve. And there’s just no way we can rest on our laurels.”
RAVE ACT MAY THREATEN BIKER EVENTS Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Just two months after the RAVE Act was passed by Congress, it has been used by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to intimidate the owners of a Billings, Montana, venue into canceling an event to raise funds to reform marijuana laws.
On the day the fundraiser was set to take place, on May 30, 2003, a Billings-based DEA agent presented the venue owners with a copy of the RAVE Act and warning them that they could face a fine of $250,000 if illicit drugs were found in the premises.
Rather than risk the possibility of enormous fines, the venue decided to cancel the event.
“This blatant intimidation by the DEA was obviously designed to shut down the marijuana reform fundraiser,” stated the Drug Policy Alliance, who has waged a national campaign to stop the RAVE Act because it feared just such abuses to shut down political events. “Unless the American people speak out against this attack on free speech, the DEA will be emboldened to use the law against other events they do not like, such as all-night dance parties, hip hop concerts, hemp festivals, and circuit parties.” Or biker events?
Sponsored by Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), the RAVE Act (also known as the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act) was first introduced last year, but proved so controversial that two of its original co-sponsors withdrew their support because they feared it would send innocent business owners to jail. Business owners collected over 20,000 signatures in opposition to the bill. Protests against it were held around the country and tens of thousands of voters urged their elected officials to oppose it. Controversy over the bill stalled it last year, but Senator Biden attached it to the popular “Amber Alert” bill without public debate or a vote of Congress earlier this year, and snuck it into law.
The RAVE Act expands federal law to make it easier to jail and imprison event organizers and property owners who fail to stop drug offenses from occurring on their property — even in cases when they take serious steps to reduce drug offenses. It applies to “any place”, including bars and nightclubs, hotels, apartment buildings, and homes. Legal experts warn that the law is so broad that it could be used to shut down not only raves and electronic music events, but also Hip Hop, rock, and country music concerts, sporting events, political protests, and any other event federal agents do not like. Such as biker events?
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NAACP FILES DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT OVER BLACK BIKE WEEK On May 20th, the NAACP and a group of 25 black motorcycle riders have filed suit against the city of Myrtle Beach, S.C., various businesses and law enforcement, accusing them of discrimination during Black Bike Week, the biggest African-American biker rally in the country.
Plaintiffs say the event, held in South Carolina each Memorial Day weekend, has been marred by excessive police force, intrusive traffic laws and a hostility that flows from the shell-encrusted fringes of the Atlantic Ocean to the doors of the local Denny’s.
“I’ve seen it myself,” said Craig Williams, a Baltimore police detective who is a rider. “When the white bikers come to Myrtle Beach, the town rolls out the red carpet. When the black riders come, they roll it right up.”
Each spring, Myrtle Beach plays host to two huge biker rallies, back to back; the predominantly white bike week, which has been going on for 63 years, is called Harley-Davidson Week, while the mostly black event is called the Atlantic Beach Bike Fest, or Black Bike Week, which began 20 years ago.
The gist of the legal action, filed in federal court in South Carolina, is that Myrtle Beach treats the two events differently.
The city’s response: they are different.
“Black Bike Week is rowdier, younger and much more crowded,” said Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride, who has been an outspoken critic, frequently advocating the elimination of the event, but openly supporting “Harley Week.”
City officials say Black Bike Week is nearly twice the size of Harley Week (375,000 people compared with 200,000 last year). That is why, they say, they change the streets to a one-way system and employ 550 police officers, compared with 300 for Harley Week.
Dennis Hayes, NAACP General Counsel, said: “The conduct of these public and private institutions that close down or implement one-time restrictive and oppressive rules simply because most of the visitors in Myrtle Beach over the Memorial Day Weekend are black cannot be tolerated. It is tragic and disheartening to see this type of blatant discrimination in the year 2003, nearly fifty years after the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in Brown vs. Board of Education and nearly forty years after Congress outlawed race discrimination in places of public accommodations.”
NEW TENNESSEE LAW ALLOWS RIDERS TO RUN LIGHTS Beginning July 1, Tennessee motorcyclists can legally run red lights — if they stop first and “exercise due care” — under a bill signed into law by Governor Phil Bredesen.Motorcyclists had complained they were forced to wait excessive periods of time at stop lights because sensors that control the lights did not recognize motorcycles, which are now made mostly of aluminum and fiberglass, not metal.
For Nashville area resident and motorcyclist Steve Lundwall, the law can’t begin too soon.
“Sometimes, I put down the kickstand and just wait (at a stoplight),” said Lundwall, a business analyst in Nashville and state director of Concerned Motorcyclists of Tennessee.
His group helped push the bill through the Legislature.
Lundwall also serves on the board of directors for the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), representing the southeast region of the country.
But the new law isn’t as popular with the state’s law enforcement and transportation community, who say it will be difficult to enforce.
“It almost takes it out of our hands to write a ticket for motorcycles running a red light,” said Lt. Bob Lyons of Nashville’s Traffic Division. “How do we know if he’s been sitting there or not?”
Sgt. Jeff Keeter, a motorcycle officer in Nashville for six years, said he’s felt the frustration of being stuck at red lights but thinks the law may cause accidents. “We’ll have motorcycles trying to cross six lanes. … Working traffic collisions, I don’t have much confidence in drivers or riders. I can’t believe this was even considered.”
The governor signed the bill because “ultimately, the research did not show an increased safety risk,” Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker said. Senator Bill Clabough, R-Maryville, sponsored the legislation.
At least one other state, Minnesota, has passed a similar law, the model for Tennessee’s statute, said Wayne Shaub of Brentwood, legislative chairman for Concerned Motorcyclists of Tennessee.
Bill Moore, chief engineer with the Tennessee Department of Transportation, earlier told a Senate committee there could be safety concerns. The Senate passed the bill 28-1 last month. But the Tennessee Department of Transportation did not take an official position on the bill and has not done in-depth research on it, TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely said.
Some senators, concerned the measure would give motorcyclists license to run red lights, added an amendment to tighten the law. It says bikers cannot use the law as a defense to run any red light they want by saying they believed the light was controlled by sensors that did not recognize their motorcycles.
NEBRASKA HELMET REPEAL PUT ON HOLD Motorcyclists who want to ride without a helmet will have to wait until at least next year, as Nebraska lawmakers decided to delay debate until January on a bill to remove the helmet requirement.
Bill sponsor Senator Adrian Smith said he wanted to get on to other issues before lawmakers. Opponents had been dragging out debate on Smith’s bill, and time was running short in the Legislature as they entered the 81st day of their 90-day session.
Under the bill, motorcycle riders age 21 and over would no longer have to wear helmets. Riders would have to attend a two-day training class in order to ride without a helmet. The bill will remain in the second of three rounds of debate.
Governor Mike Johanns has said he would sign the bill into law should it pass.
MASSACHUSETTS PROMOTES RIDER SAFETY The Massachusetts Motorcycle Association (MMA) has brokered a deal with Massachusetts Turnpike Authority officials and the RMV, to put signs on toll booths at four major interchanges, “When changing lanes, check twice – save a life, motorcycles are everywhere.”
“What this means folks,” explains MMA Legislative Director Paul Cote, “is that every vehicle, car, truck, motorcycle, etc., that travels the Mass Pike through those four major interchanges will see the signs promoting motorcycle safety awareness… it’s estimated that one million travelers will see this message; and hopefully will promote more safety out the roadways!”
Also, neon signs will flash the same safety message on major highways, such as 93, 495, 128, and rte 1.
“The Massachusetts Highway and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority didn?t just wake up one day last week and decide to publicize motorcycle safety and awareness,” says MMA Chairman Jimi Ricci, who also serves on the NCOM Board of Directors. “For the last 4 or 5 years, members of the MMA have been busting our butts trying to get these agencies to help us to try to promote motorcycle safety and awareness. One of our main goals in the last 5 years has been to try to reduce the number of accidents involving motorcycles here in Mass., and everywhere for that matter .We feel that this motorcycle safety and awareness program is finally starting to pay off for us riders.”
Ricci also advises riders to get involved in motorcycle safety by joining their local motorcyclists rights organization. “Now is the time to spend what amounts to the price of a T-shirt and help us save lives,” he says.
SWISS BIKERS PROTEST SPEED LIMITS Thousands of bikers converged on the Swiss capital, Bern, to protest plans to limit bike speeds to 80kmh on the motorways. The country’s biggest motorcyclist association, Pro Moto, organized the mass demonstration outside the government building.
Although the demonstration took place without bikes, the procession of bikers, making their way into Bern – at 80kmh – brought traffic around the city to a standstill. It was reported that over 35,000 motorcyclists came from all over the country to protest proposals from the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (BFU) to reduce the number of deaths on the country’s roads.
But the bikers argue than the plan would introduce technical alterations making it impossible to go any faster than 80kmh, would be discriminatory and make them the laughing stock abroad. They say they are not against moves to reduce the number of deaths on the road, which number 600 a year, 100 of which are motorcyclists, but Pro Moto says the country’s 500,000 bikers just want to be granted the same treatment as other road users.
Pius Bruelhart, a bike enthusiast, said if the measures go through, motorcycles could become an obstacle to other road users.
“Vision Zero would slow bikers down to the speed limit of a truck on the road and it’s known that trucks are always about ten per cent over the limit, which would mean a truck would overtake a bike on the motorway,” he said.
Other proposals causing concern are raising the age limit to 18 for motor scooters, tightening drunk-driving laws and reducing the speed limit on major roads to 70kmh.
Pro Moto has already handed in a petition with more than 200,000 signatures urging the government to rethink Vision Zero, and some biker groups will be involved in the consultation process before the government reveals some firm proposals by the end of the year.
WEIRD NEWS OF THE MONTH A naked motorcyclist wearing just a scarf, sunglasses and a pair of sandals crashed his bike after he was stung on the inner thigh by a bee. The 36-year-old, who had been driving to the swimming area at a German nudist colony, lost control of the bike as he swatted the insect away.
He fell on to the road, but escaped with just a shoulder injury and minor cuts and bruises. Police said they are considering pressing charges after the incident — as the man was not wearing a crash helmet.
QUOTABLE QUOTES: “The more corrupt the State the more numerous the laws.”Cornelius Tacitus, Roman historian & politician (55 AD – 117 AD)
