THE AIM/NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE is brought to you by Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), and is sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester. If you’ve been involved in any kind of accident, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit www.ON-A-BIKE.com.NCOM BIKER NEWSBYTES
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY WELCOMES BAN ON GAS POWERED VEHICLES
The Motorcycle Industry Association (U.K.) has welcomed reports of a ban on new fossil fuel-powered vehicles starting 2040, saying it will be a “tremendous stimulus” for bike makers.
The Government is due to announce a ban on the sale of new petrol (gasoline) and diesel vehicles from 2040 as part of an effort to tackle air pollution, according to several national newspapers. The measure is expected to include a ban on new hybrid vehicles and “could mark the beginning of the end of the prevalence of the internal combustion engine in automotive transport,” reports www.BritishDealerNews.co.uk.
The announcement will be in line with a similar commitment already made by France.
Steve Kenward, CEO of the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA), pointed out that no specific mention had been made of motorcycles but added: “I think there’s a great opportunity.”
“For all the congestion-busting abilities of motorcycles and the abilities to make electric bikes I think it’s a tremendous stimulus for the motorcycle industry,” Kenward predicts. “It’s a tremendous commercial trigger to push on with electric motorcycles.”
INDIA BECOMES WORLD’S LARGEST MOTORCYCLE MANUFACTURER
India has dethroned China from a long reign as the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, having already overtaken China to become the largest domestic motorcycle market three years ago. The growth curve is continuing, as India’s growing domestic market and partnerships with English and European bike builders have put the country at the forefront of worldwide two-wheeled production.
While overall new motorcycle sales in the U.S. have been about 500,000 a year, and around 125,000 are sold in the United Kingdom, the total sales of machines made in India for the last financial year came to 17.6 million – more every three days than are sold in the UK in a year; more every 11 days than are sold annually in America.
Meanwhile, China’s domestic motorcycle market has been in decline for five years as government policy has incentivized electric bicycle sales and denied motorcycles access to city centers across China.
Conversely, the relentless growth of motorcycle sales in India is beginning to reshape the global marketplace. According to New Atlas, sales within India grew 6.9% last year, thanks to a fast-growing 1.32 billion domestic population that is quickly urbanizing and emerging from poverty — India has the fastest GDP growth of any major country. A massive India-wide road construction program is also fueling car and bike sales, just as it did in America a century ago.
Currently India’s domestic motorcycle marketplace is dominated by sub-125cc scooters and motorcycles, but larger capacity “luxury” classes are taking an increasing share as the market matures. Royal Enfield, built in India for the past 62 years, sold more than 700,000 motorcycles last year, a figure nearly equal to the combined worldwide sales of Harley-Davidson, KTM, BMW, Triumph, and Ducati, and their production target for this fiscal year is 900,000.
MILLIONS OF LICENSED MOTORCYCLISTS DON’T RIDE
Nearly 8 million Americans have a motorcycle license, but don’t own a bike. These phantom riders, referred to as “Sleeping License Holders,” have come to the attention of motorcycle manufacturers seeking new customers as baby boomers age out of riding; wanting to wake them up.
Many of these ‘sleepers’ were active motorcyclists who had things happen in their life that caused them to quit riding: marriage, kids, financial pressures, a job that demands most of their time or simply a change in interests. Others completed rider training, got their license, but never bought a bike.
All of which has led Harley-Davidson, Indian and other bike makers to devise new marketing strategies.
Harley has set a goal of attracting 2 million new U.S. riders in the next decade and says it’s committed to introducing 100 new motorcycles over the next 10 years, including an electric bike, and that effort is expected to bring some sleeping license holders into bike ownership.
Indian Motorcycle Co. is also digging into why the sleepers aren’t taking that next step to become motorcycle owners. “I think, collectively as an industry, we need to answer that,” said Kevin Reilly, vice president of motorcycle marketing for Indian.
‘E-DUI’ LAW TARGETS DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTRONICS
Washington state has enacted a new ‘E-DUI’ law that imposes stiff penalties for driving under the influence… of electronic devices. Under their new distracted driving law, referred to as “E-DUI,” drivers in the Evergreen State will no longer be able to use a cell phone or any electronic device while driving, even when stopped at a traffic light. The bill was drafted in response to a 32% increase in deaths from distracted driving from 2014 to 2015.
“Put the cell phones down, preserve life,” Gov. Jay Inslee said on the steps of the Capitol in Olympia, according to Q13 Fox News. Inslee says the bill is called “electronic driving while impaired” for a reason. “When you are driving with a cell phone, you are a more dangerous driver than if you are driving drunk with a .08 blood alcohol level,” he said.
The first citation will cost drivers $136, nearly doubling for a second offense within five years. Tickets issued for driving while using hand-held electronics will go on a motorist’s record and reported to their insurance provider, says a website set up by the state explaining the new law.
In addition, according to the new law, drivers can also get a $99 ticket for other types of distractions like grooming, smoking, eating or reading if it interferes with safe driving and you are pulled over for another traffic offense.
NATIONWIDE ENFORCEMENT CAMPAIGN TO CURB DRINKING AND RIDING
A nationwide campaign to crack down on motorcyclists driving drunk or impaired is underway until Labor Day, with local police and Highway Patrol out in force until after the holiday weekend.
The end of the summer is universally celebrated by millions of Americans on Labor Day weekend, and for many motorcyclists the weekend is a chance to close down summer with that last long ride.
So ride aware that this high-visibility national enforcement campaign, “Ride Sober or Get Pulled Over,” runs from August 18 through September 4, 2017. During this period, local law enforcement will show zero tolerance for alcohol or drug impaired riding. Increased state and national messages about the dangers of riding impaired, coupled with enforcement and increased officers on the road, aim to drastically reduce death and injuries on our nation’s roadways.
STURGIS-BOUND BIKE-RIDING MUSIC EXECS BECOME HIGHWAY HEROES
A group of Music Row power brokers bound for Sturgis from Nashville helped yank 10 people from their cars and trucks Aug. 4, 2017, just before fire raced through the scene of a crash in southern Illinois.
A semi-truck had plowed full speed into cars that had stopped for construction on the highway, explains a newspaper article appearing in The Tennessean, causing a chain-reaction eight-car pileup. Just in front of that pileup: A 10-person crew of music industry executives riding bikes from Nashville to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.
Two of the bikers, brothers from a talent agency who were paramedics for 10 years in San Diego, got in touch with 911 operators and immediately began organizing bystanders, while the amateur rescuers went quickly vehicle by vehicle pulling victims to safety: First, a family of six with children ages 6 to 11; then, a couple of guys in a pick-up truck, one with a bad head wound; finally, a woman, screaming, stuck in a car that looked like a crushed beer can.
The Nashvillians couldn’t get her out of the car, so they got about 10 guys together and dragged the entire car, 3 feet at a time, across the highway into a grassy median away from the fire. And like in the movies they did so just before flames ripped through three vehicles that already had been emptied of passengers.
“It was a trip. I’m still tripped out by it,” one of the highway saints was quoted as saying in USA Today. “There’s no doubt, had we not sprung into action like we did, there would’ve been fatalities.”
ROLLING ADS PROMOTE MOTORCYCLE AWARENESS ACROSS NEBRASKA
Eight delivery trucks will carry a motorcycle awareness message for 10 weeks this summer while traversing the Cornhusker State as part of a Nebraska Highway Safety Council campaign.
Signs on the delivery trucks’ panels warn motorists to “watch for motorcycles everywhere,” by checking mirrors and looking both ways when at intersections and changing lanes.
The state Department of Transportation, law enforcement and motorcycle safety groups created the campaign to counter a spate of fatal accidents.
Nebraska Highway Safety Administrator Fred Zwonechek said similar campaigns funded by federal motorcycle safety grants have been used in the past to push awareness. “You want to reach drivers, and this is a way to do it,” Zwonechek told the Journal Star newspaper.
HARLEY-DAVIDSON POLLUTION FINE REDUCED
The U.S. Justice Department has rescinded a requirement that Harley-Davidson Inc spend $3 million on a project to reduce air pollution as part of a $15 million fine the Obama administration levied last year for selling illegal tuning kits that cause its vehicles to emit too much pollution.
Under direction from the Trump administration, however, the Justice Dept. has determined that the $3 million to retrofit wood-fired stoves was not appropriate, saying: “The original consent decree would have required defendants to pay a non-governmental third-party organization to carry out the mitigation project. Questions exist as to whether this mitigation project is consistent with the new policy.”
The move followed a recent decision by Attorney General Jeff Sessions to halt a longstanding practice under which polluters could be compelled to pay for environmental or community projects, in addition to fines and direct compensation to victims.
OVER A QUARTER OF DRIVERS FEEL “BIKER ENVY”
If you’ve ever come across one of those drivers who seem determined to prevent you from passing on your bike, you may feel a sense of satisfaction in knowing that they’re probably just jealous… and it’s going to take them some time to calm down after they arrive late for work.
A recent survey has found that 27.8% of drivers experienced ‘biker envy’ when motorcyclists passed them in traffic and it took them an average of 34.2 minutes to feel calm and in control again after getting to work late.
The survey of 2,000 commuters by British motorcycle insurer Devitt Insurance also found that employees lose on average 29.6 minutes of work a week because of heavy traffic, costing the U.K. economy £203,846,153 ($261,351,152 USD).
QUOTABLE QUOTE:
“We have but one flag, one country; let us stand together. We may differ in color, but not in sentiment…and I assure you that I am with you in heart and in hand.”
~ Lt. General Nathan Bedford Forrest C.S.A., in a Fourth of July speech in Memphis in 1875; today his statue is targeted for removal.
–Vintage Photos from the Bob T. Collection–
