SEptember 18, 2005
By Bandit |
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 BIKERS HELP HURRICANE VICTIMS Bikers have big hearts and a willingness to helpthe less fortunate, and this generosity is particularly evident in the aftermathof Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged the Gulf Coast on August 29th leavinghundreds dead and thousands homeless in the costliest natural disaster ever tostrike American soil. ABATE of Louisiana and ABATE of Mississippi have set up disaster relief funds toaid bikers who are victims of the storm. ABATE of Oklahoma recently donated $500to each of those organizations to assist in their efforts, and many othermotorcycle clubs and organizations are also contributing. ABATE of Florida setup a 3-acre shelter in the panhandle for those forced from their homes by thefloodwaters and damage. Rolling Thunder members from their Mississippi chapter went into flooded areasand helped direct distribution of donated necessities to disabled and displacedveterans. The Christian Motorcycle Association rendered aid to Katrina refugees by servingcoffee and offering essential needs in their time of distress. American Honda announced that the company would make Personal Watercraft, AllTerrain Vehicles and off-road motorcycles available to local agencies providingemergency relief efforts in the affected areas. To ensure the quickest possibleassistance preparations have been made to supply units through local Hondadealerships in the vicinity. Harley-Davidson announced that it is making a $1 million donation to theAmerican Red Cross Hurricane 2005 Relief Fund for the victims of HurricaneKatrina and will also donate a 2006 touring motorcycle to be used as afund-raiser on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Celebrity guests will autographthe motorcycle, which will then be placed up for bid on eBay. A similar “TonightShow” fund-raiser to benefit tsunami relief efforts raised $810,000 earlier thisyear. Boston Harley-Davidson teamed up with defending World Series champion Boston RedSox players in hope of raising $1 million through the Rally for Fellow Americansin Need. Two Harleys, one bought by the team and the other donated by the Harleydealership, were auctioned off. Sox teammates Keith Foulke, John Damon, KevinMillar and Gabe Kapler all ride Harleys and participated in the fundraisingeffort. “This is our country and there’s a serious tragedy in New Orleans and ifeverybody contributes something, somehow, I think it can work,” said firstbaseman Millar. GAS HIKES BOOST INTEREST IN TWO-WHEELERS Motorists tired of paying an arm and aleg for fuel are giving up their gas-guzzling SUVs and cars in favor of a moreeconomical, and more fun, mode of transportation: motorcycles and scooters. NADAguides.com, a leading vehicle information website, today announced thatduring the past three months, more people researched scooter and motorcyclepricing and specifications at its website than at any other time during itsfive-year history. Experts for the company cite high gas prices as a leadingcause for the boost in its online motorcycle traffic, saying car, truck and SUVowners are realizing they can dramatically reduce their monthly gas budgets byowning a motorized two-wheel vehicle as an alternate means of travel. “The motorcycle and scooter market is red hot right now,” said Lenny Sims,Managing Editor at NADAguides.com. “On average, it takes about $60 to fill anSUV with a tank of gas and about $15 to fill a motorcycle when you considertoday’s gas prices. With numbers like these, it’s easy to see why people aremaking the switch to a more economical approach to driving.” Sims goes on to saythat motorcycles and scooters offer a convenient mode of travel as well.”Economics aside, they’re convenient in traffic and easy to park. If you live ina crowded urban area — or a fast-growing suburb for that matter — they offer aquick and easy way to get around town.” During the months of June, July and August 2005, traffic to the motorcyclesection of the NADAguides.com website reached 810,901 visitors, an increase of31% compared to the same timeframe a year ago. So what were the most commonly researched motorcycles at NADA guides.com duringJune, July and August of this year? According to the website, five makes andmodels zoomed past the competition: 1. Harley-Davidson XL1200C 2. YamahaYZFR65/C YZF-R6 3. Honda VT750C4 Shadow 4. Honda CBR600F411 5. Honda CBR600RR3.Following are the top three most researched scooters: 1. Honda Silverwing 2.Suzuki Burgman 3. Vespa ET4. Tokyo-based Honda said the airbags will reduce injuries in head-on collisions. The airbag opens in front of the riders and reduces the speed at which they getthrown off the motorcycle, lessening injuries when they hit the road or anothervehicle, said Honda. MASSACHUSETTS BIKERS HARASSED OVER HELMETS A group of about two dozenMassachusetts motorcyclists riding in the Yankee Homecoming parade on Sunday,August 7th were ordered by police to don their helmets. When one of them refusedto obey, citing a newly enacted law excluding motorcyclists participating inpublic parades from the state?s helmet law, he was pulled from the parade by police. Motorcyclists are now accusing police of being ignorant of the law, and some ofthem are so angry about their confrontation with police that they are callingfor another boycott of the city of Newburyport, similar to one three years agowhen motorcyclists felt they were being unfairly targeted by police in acrackdown on loud pipes and told to stay out of town. Their participation in theparade, at the invitation of the city, was meant as an “olive branch” to showthat relations between the city and the riders had improved. “There’s just this negativity toward motorcyclists,” said Paul Cote, legislativedirector for the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association. “The more things change,the more they stay the same.” “I am the law,” the officer said, according to Cote, the biker who was kickedout of the parade for refusing to put on his helmet. But the law was changed in February 2004, allowing an exception to therequirement that motorcyclists wear helmets for a “properly permitted publicparade.” Helmets are otherwise required at all times on roads in Massachusetts.Some of the riders challenged by police on Sunday were the very same ones whospent five years lobbying for that change in the helmet law, Cote said. The reasoning was that most parades travel at very slow speeds, and the wholepoint of being in a parade is so spectators can see them, something that is hardto do when faces are covered by helmets, Cote said. Helmets can also be very hotduring a parade when the temperatures hit 90 degrees, as they did on thatSunday, he added. Police later admitted they were wrong, acknowledging that the law now allowsmotorcyclists to take off their helmets during parades, but have refused toissue an apology. PHILIPPINE CITY BANS HELMETS While most governments around the world push forlaws requiring motorcycle riders to wear helmets, Pagadian City in thePhilippines has barred motorcyclists from donning helmets. The reason? Toprevent crime. Mayor Samuel Co implemented executive order number 72 for a three-month trialperiod, after which the city council will decide if they will pass a permanentordinance banning the wearing of helmets while driving along city roads. Referring to a local study, Co pointed out that 95 percent of the crimesinvolving carjackings and shootings were committed by suspects aboardmotorcycles complete with either helmets or bonnets to conceal their identity.With the use of helmets now banned, it would be easy to identify suspects whopass along major routes in the city, Co said. Hidden cameras will be set up tocapture images of the motorcyclists for easy identification. In neighboring Dipolog City, local officials are also contemplating a similarordinance following complaints from residents that most of the robberies andtraffic related crimes were committed by suspects wearing helmets and other headgear. MOTORCYCLIST APPOINTED TO VIRGINIA TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD Long timemotorcycle rights lawyer and founder of the Virginia Coalition of Motorcyclists,Tom McGrath, has been appointed by the Governor of Virginia to serve a four yearterm on the Commonwealth Transportation Safety Board. He is the firstmotorcyclist to be appointed to the Board. Among his accomplishments, McGrath led the successful effort to allowmotorcyclists access to the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lanes and convinced theGeneral Assembly to pass legislation guaranteeing motorcyclists the right to usethese lanes. He spearheaded efforts to increase funding for the Virginia Motorcycle RiderSafety Training Program and worked to enact legislation to preserve the funding. McGrath was also instrumental in having legislation passed requiring theteaching of motorcycle awareness as part driver education in high schools. McGrath is the Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (AIM) Attorney for Virginia, and wasawarded the Silver Spoke Award for his legal and legislative accomplishments bythe National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM). The Board of Transportation Safety seeks to identify the elements of acomprehensive safety program for all transport modes, the identification ofunique safety needs of each particular mode of transportation, theidentification of the common elements of accident situations and the allocationof grant funds made available to the Department of Motor Vehicles. WIERD NEWS: GEMINIS WORST DRIVERS What’s your sign? Please don’t shoot themessenger, but Suncorp Metway, Ltd., a multi-faceted Australian FinancialService, ranked car accident claimants by their Sun sign in a study of 160,000accident claims over the previous three-year period. This is what they found out: The number one worst drivers were Geminis; “typically described as restless,easily bored and frustrated by things moving slowly,” explained Warren Duke,Suncorp’s national manager of personal insurance. “They had more car accidentsthan any other sign.” No astrologer would argue with that description of the sign of the Twins andprobably this isn’t very surprising news. But what about the other Zodiac signs? Second and third place holders for this dubious honor are Taurus and Pisces.”Taureans were thought to be obstinate and inflexible, “said Duke,” whilePisceans could be risk-takers and daredevils.” Capricorns, who came last on the list, are typically described as patient andcareful, and therefore the safest drivers with the fewest accidents. The great middle ground of this survey is held by Sun signs in this order, fromworst accident records to the best: 4-Virgo; 5-Cancer; 6-Aquarius; 7-Aries;8-Leo; 9-Libra; 10-Sagittarius; 11-Scorpio Duke said the study was carried out as part of Suncorp’s annual review ofclaims. “We always look for trends in claims to see if there are ways to reduceour pricing, but there is no intention to introduce astrology as a rating factorfor motor insurance,” he said. QUOTABLE QUOTE: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) Indian spiritual & political leader 
September 6, 2005
By Bandit |
For a number of days prior to writing this article, I wrestled with the content, as so much has been rattling ?round in my head. Normally this space would be more about legislation, but this time around it?s going to be heavy on commentary.
Lately, I?ve read an unusually serious load of e-mail content from around the country, much of it about motorcyclists being killed or injured and the subsequent calls for mandatory helmet laws; the ?statistics? and percentage increases, people writing in to their local newspapers expressing their outrage about the so-called ?public burden? of motorcyclists and how they are paying riders? medical and rehabilitation bills, how motorcyclists have a ?death wish? riding high-powered machines over which they have little control, condemning the forthcoming motorcycle crash causation study as essentially a foregone conclusion and sham to benefit the motorcyclist, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
First of all, what I perceive going on in this new round of media coverage is a concerted effort by the so-called ?safety advocates? organized in each of the states, in cooperation with our old ?friends? at NHTSA, to stir up the public emotions and bring more legislative pressure to bear.
It is true that motorcycling fatalities have gone up, way up to 4000 last year.
What has also gone up, way up ? are the sales and registrations of motorcycles. The logic dictates that as more motorcycles are on the roads, more incidents are going to occur. This is true with any mass of vehicles; 42,000 car/truck/SUV fatalities are the recent nationwide norm per year (ten times more than bikes), and it?s holding steady. This is also a national tragedy, in spite of the fact that these vehicles have integrated ?safety systems? and equipment.
So how about the numbers of ?accidents? (four wheels or more) involving injury, or property damage? Has this statistic held level or increased? Where?s the stats? I would suggest that they have increased enormously. As far as fatalities, stats are based not only upon the number of vehicles using the roads (registrations) but includes another necessary component ? annual Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT?s.)
Various states report their VMT?s to the Federal Highway Administration (or not) and then this data is used to calculate the incidence of fatalities, based upon miles traveled, by way of the Fatality Reporting Analysis System (FARS). There?s a problem though. States don?t consistently report VMT?s for a number of years, therefore how can the un-included motorcycle miles traveled give rise to accurate data to calculate fatalities per million miles traveled? A recent news release from our friends at the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (
We need to remember that fatality numbers proffered to the public are meant as ?shock value? and so they elicit public concern.
For comparison?s sake, here?s another example of a national tragedy: 100,000 deaths annually caused by ?medical mistakes?! That?s 25-times the deaths of motorcyclists. Somehow, this seems to be more readily tolerated among the public psyche. Where?s the outrage on this?
The cry for mandatory helmet use is again the misguided cure for reducing fatalities for motorcyclists and supposedly will take care of everything that happens to/for/against the rider. Not correct. Because, every accident involving a motorcycle where no helmet is worn must, by the nature of just being on a bike, include a head injury ? right? And because we ride a motorcycle, too many times we are classified as also being malingerers. We ride recklessly with no insurance and cause all of our own troubles. If we ?go down? due to a myriad of possibilities (right-of-way violation by a car driver, maybe? Some 85 percent of all bike accidents are the cause of motorists.) and require medical attention, are we a ?public? and ?social burden.? To hear what complaining people have to say, you?d think we are literally reaching into their pockets and removing their cash.
Well, the truth is this: motorcyclists have jobs, homes, and families; pay bills, and taxes like anyone else, including paying into health and vehicle insurance plans at an average percentage level higher than the general public.
Income tax is a public burden, so is fuel tax, property tax, sales tax, and any other tax. Insurance premiums, Social Security, Medicaid ? Medicare, unemployment and a Welfare state are public burdens.
How many more burdens can you think of? How many classes of recipients of the public largesse could be singled out as being ?burdens?? Another truth is that the higher cost of everything is borne by everyone. When ?safety advocates? start to place particular blame for costs on a certain segment of road users, they are deliberately placing fault and therefore causing divisiveness, by design, to achieve their own regulatory agenda. I could almost laugh at the irony, when I hear medical professionals offer up testimony on the costs to society of medical procedures and treatment, and at the same time it is their field that establishes the prices!
Of late, it?s been reported over and over again how the demographic of the motorcycle rider has changed due to increasing average age, and therefore likely as a less-skilled operator. It?s been stated that the older rider is involved in a disproportionate share of accidents. While there may be truth to this, the correlation has yet to be validated as fact. In addition, it?s also being stated that lack of control over high-powered machines is a contributing factor. Motorcycles are not exclusive to this – there is hardly a vehicle on the roads today that does not have the available power and potential to well exceed maximum posted speed limits anywhere. Speed and power control is a function of throttle control by the operator, for any vehicle. The machine doesn?t drive itself.
Possession (or the lack) of experience, education, skills, and training run the entire gamut of the age of riders, the same as it does for all vehicle operators. No one outside of motorcyclists cares more about safety than motorcyclists themselves ? this is why we continue to train and educate ourselves at all age levels. We can and do, improve ourselves. Compared to the majority of the motorists who obtain a license once upon a time, don?t volunteer themselves for ?refreshers?, nor are exposed to knowledge or skill evaluations as time moves along.
Motorcyclists should continue to increase the expectations of training and awareness among themselves while at the same time foster those expectations on all road users. Therein lies the problem: we are constantly on the defensive as safetycrats insist we are the problem and our own worst enemy. Yet they refuse to consider that the public is amenable to personal improvement, opting instead to ?dumb down? the driver by incorporating survival equipment features into the vehicle as ?safety?, when collision and accident avoidance via operational skills and education are the key. More mandates and laws are their answers. To verify this for yourselves, visit
Find ?em if you can?
–Dave Christy
ABATE of Colorado Legislative Affairs Specialist
mailto:legislative@abateofcolo.org
–from Rogue
http://www.bikerrogue.com
January 19, 2010
By Bandit |
COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
MOTORCYCLE BUYERS ARE HAPPIER THAN EVER
Motorcycle manufacturers are trying harder than ever to please customers, and the result is higher quality bikes and happier owners.
Overall satisfaction with the motorcycle ownership experience has increased for a seventh consecutive year to a record-high level, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Motorcycle Competitive Information Study, and each of the study’s five criteria — product, quality, cost of ownership, sales, and service — have improved, with sales and service showing the biggest improvements.
“The result of increased competition is that the quality and performance of bikes is at an all-time high,” Power?s Todd Markusic explains, “and dealers are paying much more attention to their customers’ sales and service experiences.”
First-time buyers comprise 22% of all new motorcycle purchases, and with the average age of owners increasing from 40 to 47 since 2001, it is important for manufacturers to focus on younger Gen X and Y demographics to ensure continued growth in the market.
Now in its 12th year, the annual survey measures owner satisfaction with new motorcycles and fielded responses from nearly 8,000 owners between August and October 2009, focusing on 2009 model year bikes.
MISSOURI TO END SAFETY INSPECTIONS ON NEWER VEHICLES
New-ish car and bike owners can take that $10-12 you?ve been setting aside to pay for a state safety inspection and go buy something nice for yourself or your vehicle. Under legislation that took effect on New Year?s Day in Missouri, vehicles five years old and newer will no longer need an inspection when renewing license plates.
That means in 2010, 2005 model year and newer autos, including cars, trucks and motorcycles, will be exempt. Models from 2006 won?t need their first inspection until 2012. Previously, vehicles are exempt from safety inspections for their model year and the year after that.
Inspections are performed at thousands of repair shops across the state and cost $12 for cars and trucks and $10 for motorcycles. The Missouri Department of Revenue, which manages vehicle registration, estimates that 650,000 vehicles will be affected by the exemption.
INDIANA HARLEY DEALER FIGHTS SUNDAY BIKE SALES BAN
There are some things you can?t buy on Sundays in Indiana: alcohol, cars, and motorcycles.
One Hoosier Harley-Davidson dealer thinks this ?blue law? against buying motorcycles is ridiculous, and he’s teaming up with an Indiana state senator to change it. Mark Forszt owns four Harley dealerships throughout the state and says the law is hurting his business, and that it makes no sense. On Sundays, he’s open for business, and he can sell you everything you’d ever need to put a bike together yourself. He just can’t actually sell you the bike.
?It’s a huge loss to the state in terms of sales tax revenue,? said Forszt, who contacted state Senator Ed Charbonneau to address the problem in the legislature, framing the issue as a way to help small business. When you add up all the sales tax, it?s also a way to help the state of Indiana, home to some 300 motorcycle dealerships, said Charbonneau. ?If every one of those dealerships sold one motorcycle a Sunday, or even one a month, that’s a pretty sizable infusion of cash into the state coffers,? Senator Charbonneau told local NBC-affiliate WNDU.
The bill to change the law has been drafted and filed, but until something changes, the Sunday choices in this store will be limited. What dealers like Forszt complain about is you could sell a bike through a newspaper, CraigsList, or eBay on Sunday, but in a store it’s illegal. It is currently a class D misdemeanor to sell a motorcycle on Sunday.
WISCONSIN BILLS WOULD HONOR HARLEY-DAVIDSON
A bill has been introduced in the Wisconsin state legislature to create a special license plate commemorating Harley-Davidson, the iconic Milwaukee motorcycle manufacturer.
The legislation would authorize the creation of an automobile license plate available for purchase that would include Harley-Davidson?s trademark bar and shield logo and the message ?Share the Road.?
Available for cars and trucks registered in Wisconsin, the revenue collected by the Department of Transportation from the specialty plate sales would be used for conducting public workshops on motorcycle safety; evaluating basic rider education courses; creating transportation messages at motorcycle rallies; providing funds for motorcycle-related safety and training programs; and grants to providers of motorcycle safety training courses.
?Motorcycling is a huge part of Wisconsin?s culture and plays a big role in our state?s economy,? state Rep. Jim Sullivan told The Business Journal of Milwaukee upon introducing the measure. ?This license plate helps us protect that heritage and promote sharing the road safely with all drivers.?
The goal is to have the plate ready by May 2010, which is motorcycle safety month in most states.
Wisconsin lawmakers are also currently considering legislation declaring Harley-Davidson the state?s official motorcycle, similar to recognizing a state bird or flower.
PROPOSED LEGISLATION TO LET MICHIGAN RIDERS BUY PERMITS TO RIDE HELMETLESS
Motorcyclists in Michigan would be able to buy a permit to ride without a helmet if a newly-introduced bill becomes law.
It would apply to riders who are 21 years or older, have been licensed to operate a motorcycle for at least two years or completed a safety class, and have at least $20,000 in health insurance. The $100-a-year permit would make helmets optional. Any passenger over 21 years riding with a permit holder wouldn’t need a helmet.
State Representative Richard LeBlanc (D-Westland) said wearing a helmet should be a personal choice. LeBlanc told Capitol News Service of the Macomb Daily newspaper that he’s been involved with the issue since the 1970s when he started riding a motorcycle, adding that he introduced the bill because he believes that wearing a helmet should be a personal choice.
The bill is pending in the House Committee on Regulatory Reform, though ABATE of Michigan reportedly does not support the legislation and is dedicated to working with their new governor to repeal the existing helmet law with no fees, additional insurance or stickers.
Michigan riders, spearheaded by ABATE and the Confederation of Clubs of Michigan, succeeded in passing helmet repeal legislation twice since 2006 only to have both bills vetoed by outgoing Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
MILLIONS IN INSURANCE OVERCHARGES DUE TO MASSACHUSETTS MOTORCYCLISTS
Massachusetts insurance companies have overcharged consumers on premiums by overstating and failing to depreciate motorcycle values.
Attorney General Martha Coakley?s Office entered into settlements with several insurance companies resolving allegations that they overcharged consumers for motorcycle insurance by using incorrect motorcycle values to calculate premiums. The settlements, which return $11.1 million to consumers, stem from an investigation spurred by consumer complaints and ongoing lobbying efforts by the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association (MMA).
Investigators found that insurers were not adjusting motorcycle values for their steady depreciation over time and instead were using the same value for a bike for several consecutive years to gauge premium levels.
?The settlements cover alleged overcharges going back to 2002 and require the insurers to pay 6 percent interest to consumers on the alleged overcharges,? reports the MMA in a prepared statement. ?Average refunds to consumers are anticipated to be approximately $300 with some consumers receiving thousands of dollars. Tens of thousands of policies are believed to have been affected.?
Motorcyclists praised the settlements, but warned that a number of other insurance companies also evaluated motorcycles incorrectly.
Betsy Lister, a politically-active insurance agent who rides a motorcycle, told the Enterprise News that motorcyclists have repeatedly raised this issue with the state Division of Insurance and the attorney general?s office. ?They?ve been doing it going back to the early 2000s,? Lister said of the insurers? overcharges. ?This is something we?ve been fighting for years.?
EUROPE SLAPPING RICH DRIVERS WITH MASSIVE TRAFFIC FINES
European countries are increasingly pegging speeding fines to income as a way to punish wealthy scofflaws who would otherwise ignore tickets. Advocates say a $290,000 (euro 203,180.83) speeding ticket slapped on a millionaire Ferrari driver in Switzerland was a fair and well-deserved example of the trend.
Germany, France, Austria and the Nordic countries also issue punishments based on a person’s wealth. In Germany the maximum fine can be as much as $16 million compared to only $1 million in Switzerland. A Frenchman was fined 70,000 francs after being caught on a highway doing 151 miles (243 kilometers) an hour. Only Finland regularly hands out similarly hefty fines to speeding drivers, with the current record believed to be a euro170,000 (then about $190,000) ticket in 2004.
The Swiss court appeared to set a new world record when it levied the nearly quarter million dollar fine in November, describing the speeder as a ?traffic thug? in their verdict as they took into account his prior traffic record as well as his $20 million in personal wealth. Swiss voters approved a 2007 penal law overhaul that let judges hand down fines based on personal income and wealth for moderate misdemeanors including excessive speeding and drunk driving.
The nationalist Swiss People’s Party wants to reverse the 2007 penal code changes, saying the current law could lead to “ridiculously low” penalties without any possibility of jail time for poor people who are caught driving drunk or speeding.
AFRICANS IMPOUND THOUSANDS OF MOTORCYCLES FOR LACK OF HELMETS
Lagos State Sector Command authorities in this Nigerian city reportedly impounded 21,300 motorcycles last year because of failure of the motorcyclists to wear crash helmets.
Public Education Officer, Mrs Ijeoma Nwachi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the command has intensified enforcement on the usage of crash helmets in the state. The public education officer also said that the command had confiscated 3,500 substandard helmets since January 2009. She said wearing of crash helmets by motorcyclists and their passengers was in line with section 41(1) (e) of the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2004.
Nwachi also said that overloading with passengers is a serious issue, and added that many motorcyclists were in the habit of riding without side mirrors. ?Riding without side mirror is an offence under section 41(1)(p) of the Nation Road Traffic Regulations 2004, which states that all motorcycles shall be equipped with two rear view mirrors,? she said.
WEIRD NEWS: MAN ASSAULTED OVER PICTURES OF MOTORCYCLE
In a twisted version of ?Dog the Bounty Hunter? meets ?Repo Man?, Sioux Falls Police say a man hired to repossess a motorcycle ended up assaulting and kidnapping the bike owner?s dad instead.
A South Dakota father received a call from a man claiming he needed pictures of a motorcycle that his son owned. The father thought the person calling was from a dealership and needed evidence for a payment plan he had set up, but when the undercover repo guy arrived at his home, the bike owner?s dad became uneasy and told him he didn’t feel comfortable with the man taking pictures of the motorcycle.
The repossession agent refused to leave and when the father said he was going to call the police, he put the dad in hand-cuffs and threatened him with a taser. He was later arrested for aggravated assault and kidnapping.
NCOM BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND REGIONAL MEETING IN PHILLY
?As co-director of NCOM Region II (IA, KS, MO, NE, OK, TX), I recently attended the National Coalition of Motorcyclists Semi-Annual Board of Directors and Regional Meeting, November 13-15 in Philadelphia, PA, where over 300 motorcyclists took part in the conference,? reported Tiger Mike Revere of ABATE of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Confederation of Clubs.
Continuing his ?Tiger Tales? report; ?Following the morning?s NCOM Board Meeting, the afternoon Region VII Meeting consisted of a number of valuable and informative presentations on Biker Freedom-related topics, such as Freedom of the Road throughout the Nation, and Legal Issues such as Noise Abatement, Insurance Coverage, and interacting with Law Enforcement. The Regional Confederation of Clubs Meeting and Christian Unity Conference were also well-attended, with a lot of productive crosstalk, and Gimme Jimmy was there to present the Defenders? Program.
Incidentally, our recent successful Call to Action regarding Federal-level Right To Repair Legislation constituted a Nationwide test and fine-tuning of the Defenders Program. NCOM is very interested to hear more about the Strategic Alliance Program pioneered by our own Oklahoma Confederation of Clubs. This Alliance of Spiritual groups, Clean and Sober Clubs, and community service-oriented riders such as the Downed Bikers Association, is designed to function as a quick-response force to support the Riding Community during incidents where motorcyclists get killed, injured or locked down.
The NCOM Board has been expanded to include representation from the Sport Bike Community with a Board Liaison position for the National Sport Bike Association, now held by Brian ?Seven? Lawson. Quite a large number of Sport Bike Riders attended the conference, which was gratifying to see. All in all, the stage is now set for one of the largest and most festive NCOM Conventions ever, our Silver Anniversary event slated for May 6-9, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. Check out the NCOM Website at www.aimncom.com for a Pre-Registration application and make plans to attend!
There’s still a lot of political game-playing going on and bikers have to keep learning to play the game more effectively if we’re going to continue to be a force for good in the Motorcycling Community. Politics, by definition, addresses the skill of acquiring and utilizing power. By becoming more active participants in all levels of government through registering and voting, communicating with legislators, and attending events like the NCOM Convention and local legislative seminars, we’ll wield a greater degree of power as a special interest group representing this country?s ridership.?
QUOTABLE QUOTE:
“There is good news from Washington today. The Congress is deadlocked and can’t act.”
–Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist
December 27, 2009
By Bandit |
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. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at www.ON-A-BIKE.com
NCOM BIKER NEWSBYTES
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
UNITED NATIONS LAUNCHES GLOBAL ROAD SAFETY INITIATIVEWith traffic accidents causing the deaths of more than one million people worldwide every year, more than malaria or diabetes, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told participants at the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Moscow that more must be done to tackle the global ?crisis? of road traffic fatalities. In addition, some 50 million people are severely injured, costing governments 1 to 3% of their gross national products.
Opening the conference, the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev called for action on a worldwide crisis running at 1.27 million road deaths every year, with about half of those deaths occurring among vulnerable road users such as cyclists, motorcyclists, and pedestrians.
The conference culminated with ministers of more than 70 countries around the world approving the Moscow Declaration, which calls for a ?Decade of Action for Road Safety? and to begin to set out plans for global coordination of the unprecedented effort to reduce road traffic injuries 50% by 2020.
The Safe Systems strategy advocated in the Moscow Directive requires the entire road?traffic management system to be designed around compensating for the errors of road users, so that people can survive the consequences of their mistakes. ?Simple measures such as introducing and enforcing compulsory helmet and seat belt laws can make a large difference in the trauma that comes with motorization,? write risk management researchers from Australia.
Only 40% of countries currently have motorcycle laws that stipulate helmet use for the rider and passenger, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and fewer than 60% of countries have laws in place that require all car occupants to wear seat-belts.
The four-page Decade of Action declaration includes specific action on vulnerable road users. It reads: ?Make particular efforts to develop and implement policies and infrastructure solutions to protect all road users in particular those who are most vulnerable such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and users of unsafe public transport, as well as children, the elderly and people living with disabilities.?
On signing the declaration, governments, United Nations agencies, civil society organizations and private companies will agree to set ?ambitious yet feasible? targets for reducing traffic casualties in each country.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION SOUGHT TO PROTECT YOUTH CYCLE SALESBecause the Consumer Product Safety Commission has refused to lift a ban against the sale of kids? dirt bikes and ATVs due to lead content of some parts, although the CPSC agreed to stay the ban until May 1, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill on July 16th that would prohibit funding for the ban.
An amendment by Representative Denny Rehberg (R-MT) to the House fiscal year 2010 Financial Services Appropriations bill prohibits the use of funds by the CPSC to implement or enforce section 101(b) of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 regarding banning the sale of off-highway motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles intended for use by children 12 and under.
The CPSIA was intended to limit the lead content of children?s toys made in China, but as an unintended consequence resulted in motorcycle manufacturers ordering dealers nationwide to stop selling youth-oriented vehicles and parts.
Similar legislation introduced in the Senate does not contain the Rehberg Amendment language, and has not reached the Senate floor for a vote.
Help protect access to youth-model off-road vehicles and parts by contacting your federal legislators and ask them to support language in the final appropriations bill that excludes children?s motorcycles and ATVs from the CPSIA.
PENNSYLVANIA NOISE LEGISLATION COULD TURN NOSEY NEIGHBORS INTO NARCSHouse Bill 2104 on noise control was introduced in the Pennsylvania legislature on November 18 and referred to the House Committee on Transportation to consider allowing citizens to report loud vehicles and noisy mufflers to authorities for further action.
As introduced, HB 2104 reads;
Exhaust systems, mufflers and noise control.
(f) Enforcement for violations –
(1) A person who reasonably believes that a motor vehicle is in violation of this section may file a complaint, containing the registration plate number, with a magisterial district judge.
(2) Based on the information in the complaint, the magisterial district justice may issue a search warrant for the vehicle and shall forward the search warrant and information contained in the complaint to the Pennsylvania State Police for investigation.
(3) Upon receipt of the search warrant, the Pennsylvania State Police shall investigate whether the vehicle is in violation of this section and shall take appropriate action to enforce the provisions of this section.
(4) A person who files more than one complaint under this section which, after investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police, are determined not to support a violation of this section shall be prohibited from filing any additional complaint under this section for a period of 12 months.
ALWAYS-ON HEADLIGHT LAW PROPOSED IN ILLINOISA state lawmaker has introduced legislation requiring Illinois motorists to turn on their headlights even during daylight hours to make it easier for motorists to see each other, thus reducing accidents. “It would enhance safety,” Rep. Dan Brady said.
It also would put Illinois alone in the U.S. Although day-time running lights are required in some European countries, the only other state where it is even being considered is Alaska. In Juneau, state lawmakers say long twilight periods and low sun angles there produce shadows and make it difficult to see vehicles.
Most motorcycles are already required to have a headlamp on at all times for increased conspicuity, and many riders feel they would lose their visibility and be lost in a sea of headlight beams if all vehicles were to run with their lights on.
If House Bill 4701 is approved, someone caught for not turning on their lights could face a fine of $75. Brady said he wants to study the issue more before he asks his colleagues to vote on the matter.
S.C. SUPREME COURT COULD RULE ON MYRTLE BEACH HELMET LAWSUITSTwo lawsuits against Myrtle Beach over the city?s helmet law could be heard by the state’s high court in the new year. The S.C. Supreme Court clerk sent a letter to Myrtle Beach and the plaintiffs saying the lawsuits filed by business owners and a group of motorcyclists might be heard in the February session. The plaintiffs are suing the city to stop it from enforcing the motorcycle helmet law it imposed last year as part of a package of 15 new ordinances designed to deflect the May motorcycle rallies from the city.
Attorneys for the city, BOOST (Business Owners Organized to Support Tourism) and the 49 riders who protested the city’s helmet ordinance on the day it became effective and were ticketed have filed their briefs with the high court, allowing judges to read the issues that will be argued orally if the hearing is slated.
Lawyers representing BOOST have filed more than 30 pages of briefs containing multiple sections, contending among other issues:
The city is overstepping its bounds by making such a law;
The General Assembly intended people older than 21 to have freedom of choice on wearing helmets;
The helmet ordinance violates the state’s Uniform Traffic Act;
The ordinance should be voided because it is vague and ambiguous;
The ordinance is arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable;And ending a motorcycle rally isn’t a legitimate government purpose.
But Tom McGrath, Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (AIM) attorney for Virginia who is representing the protesters filed a much shorter brief, saying among other things that most of the arguments don’t matter because the city’s ordinance is at odds with state law, and for that reason alone it should be tossed out.
“The gist of the city’s arguments is that it has the right to do whatever it wants to do as long as it declares something to be a public nuisance and decides to abate it,” McGrath’s brief begins. “…If the ordinances conflict with state law, the ordinances are void. If the ordinances are void, their underlying merits are irrelevant.”
ARIZONA BIKERS PROTEST DISCRIMINATION AND POLICE HARASSMENTAs a state highway patrol helicopter circled low over head and the state gang task force took photos from across the street, several hundred bikers from 40 motorcycle clubs throughout Arizona assembled after their regularly scheduled Arizona Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs meeting on November 7th for a protest ride past four Kingman bars that recently adopted a ?NO COLORS? policy.
ACMC advocates for biker rights and meets twice a month, discussing issues like helmet or emission laws or pushing for biker-friendly legislation. Dan Balentine, president of the Desert Road Riders Motorcycle Club and secretary for the ACMC told the Daily News that the confederation of clubs is in the process of hiring a third lobbyist to work on the no colors policy initiated by some bars and restaurants in Kingman. Balentine said ACMC’s mission statement is to educate the public of the positive aspects of motorcycle clubs and lawfully oppose intrusion to biker rights.
One of the ACMC lobbyists, Skypilot, is based at the state capital in Phoenix and works with the legislators while a second lobbyist works on federal issues in Washington, D.C. Skypilot reported that he is talking with state legislators on motorcycle issues such as right of ways, emissions, discrimination by law enforcement, correctly fastening license plates and extended yellow lights.
ACMC’s president Ray “Still Ray” Fitzgerald, said the object of the protest ride was to draw attention to the way the gang task force illegally forces bars to adopt the no colors policy or face having their liquor licenses pulled.
Riders wearing their club colors on the protest ride arrived armed with discrimination forms to document people who were turned away for a possible class-action lawsuit.
“Why would they turn us away?” said Steve Musgrave, a member of the Desert Thunder MC and a registered motorcycle rights lobbyist for eight years. “Our money should be as good as everyone else’s.” Musgrave, who also serves on the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM) board of directors, said it is unfair for police to label motorcycle clubs as gangs. “We are a club, not a gang. We have regular meetings and pay dues,” he said. “Almost everybody here is a law-abiding citizen who has a job and pays their taxes, just like everyone else.”
AUSTRALIAN BIKERS THREATEN TO SUE PUBS OVER COLORS DISCRIMINATIONMembers of at least 21 of the state’s ?bikie gangs? are preparing to sue the 53 pubs, clubs, hotels and cocktail bars from Wollongong to The Entrance where they are banned if they turn up for a drink wearing club colors or their trademark bikie jewelry.
They claim the bars are breaching the Anti-discrimination Act, the Human Rights Commission Act and probably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which has been adopted by Australia.
After gauging reaction from the bars, the United Motorcycle Council NSW plans to take action on behalf of all the clubs. The council was formed earlier this year as a reaction to government efforts to ban motorcycle clubs through the strictest anti-gang laws in the world.
JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE EXPORTS DOWN BY HALF–Motorcycle exports from Japan have slumped by over 50%, according to shocking new figures released by the industry watchdog.
In October 2009 global exports of motorcycle from Japan were recorded at 41,143 units, compared with the 90,702 units total recorded for the same month of the previous year. The 54.6% export decrease is the twenty-fifth consecutive month that export figures have dropped, according to a recent JAMA report.
The total value of motorcycles exported for October was 334.12 million U.S. dollars including 229.94 million U.S. dollars for vehicles and 14.18 million U.S. dollars for parts. This is a decrease of 263.09 million U.S. dollars or 44.1 percent, as compared with 597.21 million U.S. dollars recorded for the same month of the previous year, the report stated.
QUOTABLE QUOTE: ?Too bad that all the people who really know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair.?
–George Burns, comedian (1896 ? 1996)
AMA REPORTS FOR JANUARY–
AMA NEWS FOR JANUARY 2010
News & Notes is a monthly publication compiled and edited by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Government Relations Department. Designed to inform motorcyclists of rights-related issues and events around the world, News & Notes welcomes your input. Suggestions and editorial contributions can be sent to AMA Legislative Assistant Sheila Andrews by e-mail at sandrews@ama-cycle.org.
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The AMA offers its most sincere condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of Hugh H. “Harry” Hurt, who died of a heart attack on Nov. 29, 2009 at the age of 81. Professor Hurt was an award-winning author best known in the motorcycling community for conducting a benchmark motorcycle safety research study in 1981 entitled “Volume I: Technical Report, Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures, January, 1981 – Final Report.”
Commonly referred to as the “Hurt Report,” the study was widely viewed to be the most comprehensive motorcycle safety study of the 20th century. In addition to that groundbreaking study, Hurt was the author of dozens of publications in the fields of motorcycle handling, safety, crash analysis, and helmet performance. It was on this basis that Hurt was inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2007.
Source: http://www.amadirectlink.com/news/story.asp?id=1577
The AMA announced the 2009 AMA Motorcyclist of the Year with a twist: This year’s recipients are a group, rather than an individual. The winners? Kids who ride motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). America’s youngest riders were at the center of the biggest story of the year in 2009, as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) enforced a ban on selling youth-model off-highway vehicles (OHVs).
At the center of the controversy is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA) provision that strictly reduces the levels of allowable lead in children’s toys. Because OHVs include lead in parts such as battery terminals, valve stems, engine cases and controls, in early 2009 the law banned the sale of OHVs intended for kids 12 years old and younger.
Thanks to the efforts of AMA members, AMA staff and others, more than 70,000 motorcyclists used online tools provided by the AMA at AmericanMotorcyclist.com to voice opposition to the law. As a direct result, the CPSC issued delayed enforcement of the law until 2011. With congressional leaders reluctant to re-write a law that they had just passed, the delay of enforcement was critical to the efforts to resolve the issue because it secured valuable time for the AMA and its allies to continue to pressure regulators and lawmakers to permanently exempt youth-model OHVs from the CPSIA.
Full story: http://www.amadirectlink.com/news/story.asp?id=1579
The Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on S. 2843, the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act of 2009, on December 8. The U.S. House companion bill is H.R. 3246. S. 2843 would authorize the Department of Energy to conduct advanced technology vehicle and component part research and development. This will increase the production of new technology in vehicles and trucks in the United States. The AMA is encouraged that language to include motorcycles will be included based on the exchange between Senator Wyden and Under Secretary Johnson of the Department of Energy at the hearing.
On September 16, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3246 with a vote of 312 to 114. During consideration of the bill, Representative Patrick Kennedy introduced an amendment to ensure that manufacturers of two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles are included in the list of eligible industry participants. The amendment was adopted unanimously.
The American Motorcyclist Association, in conjunction with the National Motorsports Coalition, is asking all organizers, promoters, track owners and others to contact their members of Congress and ask them to cosponsor the Motorsports Fairness and Permanency Act of 2009 (H.R. 1974/S. 1400). The Act would make permanent the current seven-year depreciation tax standard for motorsports entertainment complexes.
For more than 20 years, permanent motorsports facilities have operated under this classification, but in 2004 the IRS raised some questions on the issue. Congress eventually reaffirmed that seven years was appropriate, and extended the treatment through the end of 2007. Last year, Congress acted diligently to extend the depreciation method through the end of 2008, however until permanency is obtained, the motorsports industry will continue to have to petition for an extension of the tax method. This consistently affects the more than 900 permanent motorsports facilities operating in the United States that have tremendous economic and job creation impact, both regionally and nationally.
In order to pass legislation providing for security of the depreciation schedule, owners, operators and everyone involved needs to contact their Senators and Representatives to ask them to cosponsor their respective bills. H.R. 1974 and S. 1400 are needed to ensure the viability of permanent tracks and the sport of motorcycle racing. For more information on how to reach out to your members of Congress log-on to www.AmericanMotorcyclist.com > Rights > Issues & Legislation.
Congress will hold a hearing on a bill that will negatively impact Montana’s off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreational opportunities. The Chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has scheduled a hearing on December 17 to consider S. 1470, the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act of 2009, introduced by Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.). As it is currently written, the OHV community will lose access to many miles of popular riding trails.
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) appreciates Senator Tester for reaching out to the OHV community in attempting to make this bill better for every user of our public lands. However, the AMA continues to oppose this bill as it is currently written, and urges the Subcommittee and Senator Tester to work with our Association and other groups to more fully address rider concerns so that families can continue to enjoy OHV trails in a responsible manner.
San Francisco, Calif: Bridge Toll Hike Proposed for Earthquake Safety. The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) is seeking public comment on a toll increase on the seven state-owned Bay Area toll bridges: the Antioch, Benicia-Martinez, Carquinez, Dumbarton, Richmond-San Rafael, San Francisco-Oakland Bay and San Mateo-Hayward bridges.
Ideas being considered include raising the $4 toll for cars to $5; charging carpools and motorcycle riders a discounted toll instead of allowing them to cross for free; increasing truck tolls; and charging commuters extra for crossing the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge during peak traffic hours. Written comments, which will be accepted until 4 p.m., December 21, 2009.
Source: http://www.mtc.ca.gov/news/info/toll_increase.htm
Albuquerque, N.M.: The New Mexico Off Highway Vehicle Alliance (NMOHVA) plans to use more than $322,000 in federal funds and $126,000 in matching contributions for trail work in the Cibola National Forest. NMOHVA will use the funds to construct new trail segments, rehabilitate existing trails and install signs on over 60 miles of trail. Some of the money will also go toward trailhead improvements and trail entry control. The group’s partners include the Sandia Ranger District, New Mexico 4 Wheelers, the Black Feather Trail Preservation Alliance and R&S Powersports.
Work is expected to start in the spring of 2010. Recreation planning experts from Pan Pacific Services will help manage the project.
Source: http://www.nmohva.org/main/index.php
Hollister, Calif.: Bureau of Land Management (BLM) seeks comments on Clear Creek draft plan. The BLM Hollister Field Office is inviting the public to comment on the draft resource management plan and environmental impact statement on the Clear Creek Management Area, covering public lands in southern San Benito and western Fresno counties. The draft RMP/EIS was developed through a public planning process and analyzes seven alternatives. The primary issues addressed are public health risks from asbestos exposure, recreation, protection of sensitive resources, energy and mineral development, land tenure adjustments, and other resource issues.
Source: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/info/newsroom/2009/december/CC1009_CCMA_drmp.html
Missouri: Pre-filed for the upcoming 2010 Missouri General Assembly session, House Bill 1217, sponsored by Rep. Gary Dusenberg (R-Blue Springs), would permit adults 21 years of age or older to make their own decisions regarding motorcycle helmet use.
Also pre-filed is House Bill 1332, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Roorda (D-Barnhart), which proposes strict penalties for motorcycle stunt riding on public roadways. A “dangerous stunt” is defined as any dangerous activity by the operator or passenger, including standing or performing handstands on the seat, frame or handlebars, operating on one tire, or removing both hands from the handlebars. Offenses would be classified as misdemeanors; a second offense involving a motorcycle without license plates, or third or subsequent offense on any motorcycle, would be classified as a felony.
Pennsylvania: House Bill 2104, sponsored by Rep. Michael K. Hanna (D-Lock Haven), would permit a person to file a complaint against the owner/operator of a motor vehicle that violates provisions in Section 4523 (Exhaust systems, mufflers and noise control) of Title 75 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. A magisterial district judge could issue a search warrant, authorizing the Pennsylvania State Police to inspect the motor vehicle and take appropriate action.
Coos County, Ore.: A coalition of environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s decision to allow Coos County to build a one-mile connector trail for off-highway vehicle use through part of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
The proposed road, called the Riley Ranch Access Project, would connect a county park to other county lands within the popular dunes area on the Southern Oregon Coast. The Forest Service believes it has sufficiently addressed any unresolved environmental and resource issues after conducting a lengthy three-year public planning process and environmental review.
Source: http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2009/05/30/outdoors/doc4a20d4eb0a1ca928257049.txt
Craig, Colo.: The Craig City Council recently approved final passage of an ordinance allowing all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and off-highway vehicle (OHV) use on city streets. All residents who wish to drive an ATV or OHV on city streets must first register their vehicle with the Craig Police Department. Additionally applicants must be at least 18 years old and must provide proof of insurance for non-recreational use.
The ordinance only covers vehicles with four wheels. Three-wheelers and snowmobiles therefore are excluded.
Source: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2009/dec/08/council-approves-atvs-ohvs-city-travel
British Columbia, Canada: New all-terrain vehicle (ATV) regulations have recently been adopted. These regulations aim to improve safety and address environmental concerns. These new rules include registration and licensing fees at the time of purchase as well as a mandatory helmet law for riders. A compliance and enforcement strategy will be developed and will include an education component to help ensure voluntary compliance.
Additional rules include new sound standards for mufflers, requiring spark arrestors as well as giving local government the ability to designate crossings on public roads to assure ATV rider’s access to local communities.
Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/terracestandard/news/69849087
November 23, 2009
By Bandit |
COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
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. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at www.ON-A-BIKE.com.
BAD DRIVING IS IN THE GENES
Medical researchers say they?ve unraveled the mystery to bad drivers, and their genetic makeup may be to blame. A study recently published in the journal of Cerebral Cortex led by University of California, Irvine neuroscientists found that people with a certain gene variation performed more than 20% worse on a driving test than those without the gene and they also retained less of what they had learned.
About 30 percent of Americans have the particular gene variant, though a test to determine whether someone has the gene variant is not commercially available.
?This gene variant limits the availability of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor during activity,? according to the senior author, Dr. Steven Cramer, neurology associate professor at UCI. ?BDNF keeps memory strong by supporting communication among brain cells and keeping them functioning optimally. When a person is engaged in a particular task, BDNF is secreted in the brain area connected with that activity to help the body respond.?
Earlier research had found that in those individuals with the gene variant ?a smaller portion of the brain is stimulated when doing a task than in those with a normal BDNF gene.?
The driving test was taken by 29 people – 22 without the gene variant and seven with it. They were asked to drive 15 laps on a simulator that required them to learn the nuances of a track programmed to have difficult curves and turns. Researchers recorded how well they stayed on the course over time. Four days later, the test was repeated.
Results showed that people with the variant did worse on both tests than the other participants, and they remembered less the second time.
“I’d be curious to know the genetics of people who get into car crashes,” Cramer said. “I wonder if the accident rate is higher for drivers with the variant.”
INCREASED MOTORCYCLIST DEATHS BLAMED ON BAD ECONOMY
Since gas prices increased, experts say more inexperienced riders have hit the road — literally.
Because of the fuel efficiency of motorcycles, more drivers are switching from four wheels to two, and what used to be a symbol of freedom and adventure is now also a symbol of thriftiness. “Last year, our sales were the best we ever had for 33 years,” said Al Lamb, owner of Dallas Honda, pointing out that bike sales peaked last year before dipping and rising again this year.
But Dr. Fernando Wilson, a professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, said for every dollar increase in gas prices, 1,500 more motorcycle riders die each year nationwide.
Some say car drivers need to hang up their cell phones and pay more attention, but many bikers attribute higher crash rates to the influx of new, inexperienced riders on the road.
“If you mess up on a motorcycle, it’s probably a lot more tragic than in a vehicle,” motorcyclist Stephen Dutcher told TV-33 News, recommending that new riders should get trained beyond state testing requirements. “I would recommend everyone to take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course.”
MOTORCYCLE SALES ARE RUNNING OUT OF GAS
Last year, fuel-efficient motorcycles proved to be a viable option for motorists facing higher and higher gas prices, but following more than a decade of steadily increasing sales figures, the economic downturn has caught up to bike makers.
For 14 years, through 2006, U.S. motorcycle sales had increased every year. Sales started to drop in 2007 but still topped the 1 million mark.
A year ago, as gas prices pushed toward $5 a gallon, fuel-sipping two-wheelers got a boost. Despite the worsening economy, street bike sales were down only 3.3% in 2008 and smaller scooters enjoyed their best year ever, posting a 41.5% gain, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.
Now, little seems to be working for motorcycle manufacturers as sales have plunged 38% in the third quarter from the same period a year ago (falling from 218,242 last year to 136,876), with the biggest drops coming in two of the industry?s biggest product lines: cruisers and sport bikes. Scooter sales are also down 62% through the first three quarters of 2009.
The only bright spot was that sales are dropping at a slower pace: The number of bikes sold in the second quarter fell 53.5 percent from the same period a year earlier. Historically, the second and third quarters are strong for the industry because the weather generally is warm and buyers are gearing up to ride, according to an article appearing in the Chicago Tribune.
Despite a federal stimulus that allows bike buyers to write off the sales tax, sagging sales have prompted bike builders to begin cutting staff and other expenses.
Last week, publicly held Harley-Davidson Inc. reported an 84% drop in quarterly earnings to $26.5 million. The company said it was getting out of the sport-bike business, shutting down the longtime Buell line and selling its MV Agusta operation, a high-end Italian brand it bought last year.
Already this year, the Milwaukee manufacturer joined the likes of Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki and Victory in laying off employees, reducing production and dropping prices to help dealers shrink swollen inventories.
Mark Blackwell, vice president of Victory Motorcycles, which suffered a 56% decline in the July-September period, told the Los Angeles Times ?We haven?t laid everybody off. We haven?t totally stopped advertising. We?ve kept up the product development because we?re positioning this business for when the market stabilizes and grows.?
Harley-Davidson and Victory, a division of Polaris in Minnesota, hope to stem U.S. losses, in part, by growing overseas sales. Harley is pursuing emerging markets such as India and China; Victory is going after Europe.
But with the riding season over for much of the country, summer 2010 can?t come fast enough for the industry.
NEW MOTORCYCLE EMISSIONS STANDARDS TAKING EFFECT
As 2010 motorcycles hit dealer showrooms, new EPA emissions standards will be making them greener?both environmentally and economically.
Starting next year when stricter Environmental Protection Agency guidelines on motorcycle emissions come into effect for all new two- and three-wheelers built or sold in the U.S., the EPA projects a 50% reduction in pollutants emitted at their tailpipes — but such drastic reductions come with a bigger price tag: According to a 2003 EPA report, the average estimated cost per highway motorcycle to meet the 2010 standards is $45, which is likely passed along to consumers. At the same time, motorcyclists are likely to save money at the pump as the new technology brings with it better fuel efficiency.
Increased use of technologies demonstrated as effective in 4-stroke motorcycle engines, such as the catalytic converters, secondary air injection and electronic fuel inject systems, are expected to decrease harmful emissions, according to a 2003 EPA report. The report also reads, however, that the standards will not result in universal use of catalytic converters.
Catalytic converters are pollution control devices that reduce nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, and while not specifically required by the EPA rules, catalytic converters will have a hand in reducing emissions in the new standards.
“We already have the 2010 models coming in, and they all have the catalytic converters on them,” Steve Tuchschmidt Sr., owner of Mid-America Harley Davidson, told the Columbia Missourian newspaper. “That’s new.”
The more stringent EPA standards won’t affect existing motorcycles. The emissions limits will only apply to motorcycles and scooters manufactured after the effective date.
PHOENIX SEEKS EXEMPTION FROM MOTORCYLCLE EMISSIONS TESTING
The state of Arizona is asking the federal government to lift emissions testing requirements for motorcycles in the Phoenix metro area.
Following prolonged and extensive lobbying by statewide motorcycle rights organizations, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to exempt motorcycles from such testing.
According to lobbyists for ABATE of Arizona, the Modified Motorcycle Association (MMA) of Arizona and the Arizona Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (ACMC), Phoenix is the only major metro area in the U.S. where motorcycles are required to be tested for emissions. The biker advocacy groups have already fought successfully to exempt motorcycles from emissions testing in the Flagstaff area, and several years ago the Kentucky Motorcycle Association succeeded in exempting motorcycles from such testing.
According to the Phoenix Business Journal, the ADEQ said motorcycles make up only 3.5 percent of vehicles tested in the Valley and not only are emissions failure rates among motorcycles down, repairs to put them in compliance do not substantially help air quality.
The EPA requires metro areas and regions of the U.S. with air pollution and air quality problems to test cars, trucks and other vehicles for emissions. EPA would need to approve an exemption before next July for it to take effect.
NYC MAYOR CONTRIBUTES TO GLOBAL ROAD SAFETY
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is donating $125 million to road safety programs in middle and low income countries.
Bloomberg gave $9 million in 2007 to a pilot program on road safety in Vietnam and Mexico, and his latest gift expands the effort to a 5-year program in eight other countries that have high numbers of traffic injuries and fatalities.
His philanthropic foundation announced that the donation will help efforts to reduce speeding and drunken driving, and increase the use of motorcycle helmets, child seats and seatbelts.
QUOTABLE QUOTE: ?For years governments have been promising more than they can deliver, and delivering more than they can afford.?
–Paul Martin (1938 – ?), 21st Prime Minister of Canada
September 23, 2009
By Bandit |
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. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at www.ON-A-BIKE.com.
NCOM BIKER NEWSBYTES
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
MOTORCYCLIST FATALITIES PLUMMET IN TEXAS
While most states across the country continue to experience increases in motorcycle accidents and fatalities in the wake of increasing motorcycle usage, the state of Texas has reported a significant decrease in rider deaths due largely to safety and awareness programs initiated by motorcyclists and the Texas Department of Transportation.
According to TxDOT, fatalities declined more than 23% over the same time period from 2008, with 264 deaths reported from January 1 – August 24, 2009, versus 344 deaths the previous year.
?I would say this is a direct result of the Texas Transportation Institute put together to cut down on Traffic fatalities, especially for motorcyclist,? explained Sputnik, State Chairman of the Texas Motorcycle Rights Association (TMRA-II) and Chairman of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists Legislative Task Force (NCOM-LTF). ?Several of our members sit on the Board of that newly formed Institute.?
Sputnik gave further credit to the Motorcycle Awareness Program put together by TxDOT at riders? insistence and added; ?We have very high hopes that SB 1967 (a multi-faceted motorcycle safety bill enacted earlier this year) and the year round airing of Public Service Announcements, increased penalties for negligence and Rider Training will bring that number down even farther.?
Texas is one of the largest motorcycling states in the nation in terms of motorcycle registrations and year-round riding weather, and largely through the efforts of TMRA-II under Sputnik?s leadership repealed their mandatory helmet law in 1997.
OREGON ENACTS MANDATORY TRAINING FOR NEW MOTORCYCLISTS
Oregon has become the third state to pass a law requiring all new motorcyclists regardless of age to pass a rigorous training course, in hopes of reducing accidents and fatalities. Current law requires such course completion for prospective riders under age 21.
The new law, Senate Bill 546, passed by the state legislature this year will phase in the requirement for all first-time bikers over the next six years. Lawmakers also voted to double the fine for riders caught without the proper license, increasing the penalty to $720 starting in January.
Team Oregon trained about ten-thousand riders last year, and the majority of them were older than 21. More than 4,400 people bypassed the class in favor of a free skills test at the DMV, but soon all first-time riders will have to shell out about $150 to take the Team Oregon course, which is administered by Oregon State University.
Executive Director of BikePAC says he’s been riding for 35 years and he thinks the new requirement will save lives: “A trained rider is a safe rider. And we’re trying to cut down the deaths, especially the unnecessary deaths of people that are making stupid mistakes because they don’t know what to do.”
A similar mandatory training bill was recently passed in North Carolina, but was amended to require rider education courses only for those under 18. Senate Bill 64, which also limits learners permits to 12 months with one 6 month renewal, was signed into law August 26th by Governor Mike Easley and goes into effect January 1, 2011.
NOISE LAWS DEFEATED
The Massachusetts Motorcycle Association has announced that a proposed noise ordinance in North Reading, MA that would have required an EPA Stamp on motorcycle exhaust systems and stricter noise controls has been defeated.
Prior to a recent meeting of town Selectmen, MMA Chairman Dave Condon met with MMA Member Bill McGarry, a local resident, to review the warrant and the pertinent Massachusetts laws. During an earlier town meeting, the legality of the EPA stamp requirement was discussed in detail and ultimately dropped, but an alternative proposal was amended into the Warrant which would have made noise levels and testing requirements stricter than those currently in Massachusetts General Law (MGL).
With significant support from McGarry, who attended both public hearings and spoke on behalf of the MMA and motorcyclists across Massachusetts, the Selectmen and North Reading Chief of Police recognized that the town cannot impose laws stricter than the Commonwealth — instead, the town acknowledged that enforcement of the existing MGL coupled with appropriate education could be a far more effective tool, and by vote of the selectmen the warrant was removed from the town agenda.
Meanwhile, following much lobbying and testimony from local bikers, a hotly debated noise ordinance in Portland, Maine was unanimously rejected by the City Council and sent back to the Public Safety Committee for more work.
The proposal would have enforced the federal law that all motorcycles made after Dec. 31, 1982 must have mufflers with an EPA label certifying the exhaust system meets EPA standards. A biker riding a motorcycle within city limits without an EPA sticker on the muffler would have been fined $50. The ordinance would have been the first of its kind in Maine, and supporters said its adoption would have made it easier to pass a similar state law.
Opponents, including the United Bikers of Maine (UBM), said the measure would discriminate against motorcyclists and could cost the city tourism dollars by discouraging motorcyclists from visiting Portland.
Motorcycle noise continues to be a contentious and controversial issue across the country, with places like Boston and New York contemplating stricter laws.
U.S. SENATE PASSES AMENDMENT PROTECTING KNIFE OWNERS
In response to a U.S. Customs proposal that would outlaw one-handed assisted opening knives by redefining them as switchblades, on July 9th the U.S. Senate unanimously passed an amendment to the Federal Switchblade Act as part of the Homeland Security appropriations bill to protect by law 35 million Americans who own pocketknives.
The bipartisan measure would exempt assisted-opening knives that can only be opened with “exertion applied to the blade by hand, wrist or arm” from a federal law that criminalizes commerce in switchblades. Assisted opening knives are highly desired by hunters, anglers, farmers, ranchers, firefighters, law enforcement and emergency personnel and others who may need to open a knife with only one hand.
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said, “Without this amendment, there is a real danger that 80 percent of the pocketknives sold in the U.S. could be classified as illegal switchblades, which would hurt knife and tool manufacturers across the nation.?
The measure is now under consideration in a House-Senate Conference Committee.
AUSTRALIAN BIKER GROUPS ANGRY OVER TOUGH LAW PROPOSALS
Biker organizations in Australia say that introducing a zero alcohol tolerance for motorcycle riders in Queensland would be discriminatory. The State Government is considering the option in an attempt to reduce the road toll.
Lindsay Granger from Motorcycling Queensland says riders should not be singled out. “The only other groups that have zero alcohol content are drivers who are responsible for the safety of others or drivers who are inexperienced,” Granger said. “There doesn’t appear to be any clear logic why experienced motorcyclists should be treated any differently from experienced motorists in any other type of vehicle.”
The zero tolerance effort is also under critique by members of the United Motorcycle Council of Queensland, a newly formed organization comprised of 17 clubs ranging from outlaw patch holders to church groups united to fight efforts of law enforcement from enacting discriminatory legislation aimed at clubs.
BILLY LANE SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR FATAL CRASH
On August 14th, a Florida judge sentenced celebrity bike builder Billy Lane to six years in prison in connection with the Sept. 4, 2006 crash that killed scooter rider Gerald Morelock. Judge Robert Burger also ordered Lane’s drivers license suspended for life and that he undergo random drug and alcohol testing upon his release from prison.
Lane, 39, faced up to nine years in prison after a judge in June OK?d a plea deal in which prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of DUI manslaughter in connection with the Labor Day 2006 accident.
Lane, who was led from the courtroom in handcuffs, choked back tears as he took full responsibility for the rider?s death. “I was very careless. I was a less-responsible citizen,” Lane told the court. “I’m not looking for pity on myself. I drive by the spot where I killed Jerry Morelock every day. I pray to God for his soul and for his family.”
Police said Lane?s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when he crossed a double-yellow line to speed at 68 mph past three cars on State Road A1A south of Melbourne Beach. He crashed his Dodge pickup head on into 56-year-old Morelock?s small Yamaha motorcycle.
WEIRD NEWS: BEWARE DRUNKARDS CROSSING
A German court ruled on September 14 that a motorcyclist who collided with a drunken pedestrian during a beer fest shared blame for the accident because she should have expected the road to be full of party-goers.
The female biker, who was driving at a legal speed of 25-31 mph hit a man who was crossing the road against a red light during the Munich beer festival which attracts millions of revelers every year.
The court held her “50 percent responsible” for the accident. “During the October (beer) festival there are, it is well known to the authorities, a large number of drunk people on the streets at night, who can not always be trusted to observe the rules of the road,” the court said. “The motorcyclist should have adjusted her speed to be able to avoid these people,” added the statement.
The woman was ordered to pay half of the damages, estimated at 2,500 euros ($3,600 US), and her bid for 1,000 euros compensation for minor injuries sustained in the accident was refused.
LONE STAR RALLY DISCONTINUES USE OF RFID SURVEILLANCE CHIPS
As the National Coalition of Motorcyclists advised our NCOM Member Groups earlier this year, the Lone Star Rally in Galveston, Texas had issued parking passes to all rally participants that contained RFID chip technology which allowed them to be ?tracked? and filmed during the rally, and riders were offered for sale a personalized DVD showing themselves at the rally.
Each coded pass was embedded with an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip that incorporates the use of electromagnetic or electrostatic coupling in the radio frequency (RF) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to uniquely identify an object or animal, or in this case each motorcycle affixed with a pass. A link on the Lone Star Rally website said, ?The chip technology will allow us to pinpoint you and produce a DVD of the entire rally event with personalized footage of you and your bike on the Strand!? Such surveillance technology has been proposed for other bike rallies as well, such as Sturgis and Daytona.
This issue was brought to the attention of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists board of directors, and discussions ensued about opposing such invasive chipping if it?s without the rider?s knowledge and consent.
?It was never our intent to do harm to the Lone Star Rally, but felt obligated to inform our NCOM Member Groups of this practice,? said Richard M. Lester, AIM/NCOM founder.
A.I.M. Rep Denise Nobs, whose husband Louie serves on the board as NCOM Christian Unity Liaison, wrote about the use and possible misuse of such RFID chips earlier this year in the AIM/NCOM Legal & Legislative Newsletter to bring awareness to the issue.
Lone Star Rally organizers have since announced the discontinuation of the RFID chipped parking passes, and had this to say on the Homepage of their website (www.lonestarrally.com): ?It seems that people have either not seen our explanations, misunderstood how we use the (RFID) technology or just hate it! We love our riders and don?t want to use anything they don?t like so, for these reasons, we are cancelling the use of any RFID technology at the Lone Star Rally.?
Billed as ?The World?s Largest Halloween Party?, the Lone Star Rally will take place Oct. 27 – Nov. 1, and NCOM encourages its members to attend and support the event.
QUOTABLE QUOTE: ?Be as beneficent as the sun or the sea, but if your rights as a rational being are trenched on, die on the first inch of your territory.?
–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803?82) American poet and philosopher
September 1, 2009
By Bandit |
COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
MULTI-FACETED MOTORCYCLE BILL ENACTED IN TEXAS
Senate Bill 1967, authored by Texas State Senator John Carona (R-Dallas) and sponsored by Representative Norma ?Da?Lady? Chavez (D-El Paso), introduces many motorcycle-related changes in the Lone Star State.
Included in the bill are 1) funding by Texas Department of Transportation for a public awareness campaign to promote motorcyclist safety and the concept of sharing the road with motorcyclists; 2) changes to the definition of a motorcycle to include certain enclosed three-wheeled passenger vehicles; 3) changes to the licensing requirements for enclosed three-wheeled passenger vehicles; 4) a requirement for all applicants for a motorcycle license or endorsement on a regular or commercial driver’s license to provide proof of successful completion of a basic motorcycle operator training course; 5) penalties for failure to yield the right-of-way violations resulting in bodily injury range from $500 to $2,000 while those resulting in serious bodily injury range from $1,000 to $4,000; 6) a prohibition against stopping or detaining a motorcycle operator or passenger solely to determine whether the person has successfully completed a motorcycle operator training and safety course or is covered by a health insurance plan; 7) a requirement for the Department of Transportation to develop a standard of proof of health insurance coverage for adult motorcycle operators and passengers; and 8) a requirement that all driver education courses or driving safety courses include information on motorcycle awareness, dangers of failure to yield the right-of-way to motorcyclists, and the need to share the road with motorcyclists.
Governor Rick Perry signed the bill into law on June 19; it becomes effective September 1, 2009.
?We made history, Warriors,? exclaimed Sputnik, State Chairman of the Texas Motorcycle Rights Association (TMRA-II) and Chairman of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists Legislative Task Force (NCOM-LTF). ?We owe Da?Lady and her entire staff a huge debt of gratitude for all the work they did for riders this session.?
MISSOURI RIDERS SEEING RED
For most drivers, red means stop. But if you’re riding a motorcycle or a bicycle in Missouri, it will soon mean stop, but only sort of. A new Missouri law that takes effect Aug. 28 allows motorcycle and bike riders to run red lights, but only if they stop first and the signal remains red for an “unreasonable time.”
Missouri will join a growing number of states that have enacted similar laws, which are intended to address occasions when motorcycles or bikes aren’t detected by traffic signal sensors in the road. Many traffic signals are triggered by a magnetic reaction coupled with wires embedded in the pavement. The wires are sized in such a way that they are more likely to be tripped by a car or truck, but some motorcycles and bikes tend not to trip the signal because they have less mass and are made with parts that aren’t attracted to a magnet.
In cities with intersections patrolled by red-light cameras, when a picture is taken of a red-light runner, police should be able to apply the law by looking at video of the possible violation, and if a rider does get a ticket the new law will provide a defense.
Missouri is the eighth state to pass this kind of law since 2002, and three other states considered similar legislation this year.
NY STATE POLICE SUED OVER MOTORCYCLE-ONLY ROADBLOCKS
Upstate New York has earned a reputation as the speeding ticket capital of the country, but even with overeager state troopers patrolling the highways, motorcyclists feel singled out by law enforcement. That’s why one rider/attorney is taking the state police, along with county and state officials to court.
According to legal documents filed by Mitch Proner, Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (AIM) Attorney for New York, the state’s institution of roadblocks exclusively for motorcyclists is unconstitutional: the motorcyclist and personal injury lawyer claims that without justifiable cause, the checkpoints infringe on riders’ First Amendment rights to freedom of assembly and association and their Fourth Amendment right to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.
For nearly two years now, the New York State Police (NYSP) have been conducting highway roadblocks diverting only motorcyclists from the state?s roadways to perform ?safety checks?. According to ABATE of New York, ?Since motorcycles operated in New York are already required to pass annual safety inspections, the current NYSP initiative continues to serve only to harass, intimidate and inconvenience motorcyclists traveling upon the state?s roadways. Further, motorcycle-only roadblocks of this nature are a discriminatory and unconstitutional infringement upon an individual?s right to travel without interference, and an abuse of discretionary power as acknowledged by the New York State Court of Appeals.?
Proner told Autoblog.com that he is filing the federal class action suit at the Federal Court for the Northern District of New York on behalf of his fellow riders. ABATE of New York has pledged support of the class-action initiative brought on behalf of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM).
CITIES MUFFLE MOTORCYCLE NOISE
Many state legislatures and city councils are making lots of noise about motorcycles, with new ordinances popping up across the country to silence loud exhausts. ?Loud Pipes Save Lives? has been a biker mantra for years, but politicians spurred by citizen complaints have discovered new ways to muffle unwanted exhaust tones.
The Albuquerque City Council voted 6-3 earlier this month to approve an ordinance making revving of motorcycle engines downtown a vehicle nuisance. Amending Section 7-10-3 ROA 1994, The Vehicle Nuisance Ordinance now reads: ?It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in exhibition driving in the Downtown Quiet Zone by operating a vehicle in a manner that willfully creates excessive engine noise because of revving the engine to magnify the engine noise.?
Bikers blasting through East Greenwich, Rhode Island may want to steer clear of town if their exhaust systems aren?t the proper match for their bikes. The Town Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance in late July allowing the police to pull over and levy fines on bikers if the noise-rating data stamped into the chrome of their exhaust doesn?t match the label on the bike frame. Modified exhaust systems are outlawed.
The ordinance, now in effect, provides for fines $500 for the first offense, and jumps to $700 the second time and $1,000 for the third and each subsequent violation. Buddy Cardoso, president of the Rhode Island Motorcycle Association, who said his group supports courteous riding, inquired that if the labels have to match, ?What do you do, throw away the motorcycle if the exhaust wears out?? Owners of other vehicles are allowed to use after-market exhaust systems, and it is unfair to single out bikers, he said.
In West Virginia, the Charleston City Council let it be known loud and clear that nuisance noise will not be tolerated, and unanimously passed an ordinance on August 17 to crack down on loud music, barking dogs and revving of car and motorcycle engines in residential areas, with fines up to $250.
In an attempt to silence community concerns regarding excessive motorcycle exhaust sound, the Boston City Council fast-tracked enactment of Docket 0658 on June 3, 2009. The new ordinance mandates that all on-highway motorcycles built after December 31, 1982 must have either OEM (original equipment manufacturer) or aftermarket exhaust systems that comply with the US EPA labeling provision in the Code of Federal Regulations. Violations will result in a $300 fine.
Earlier this year in California a bill was held over that would have required periodic emissions testing for 2000-and-newer on-road motorcycles in an effort to make aftermarket exhaust systems illegal if they do not comply with EPA labeling.
Meanwhile, the Motorcycle Industry Council has teamed with the Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE) to produce a stationary roadside sound test standard that can be used to determine whether a streetbike exhaust system emits excessive sound. “The new SAE standard provides a much-needed alternative to outright bans, restrictions and sound test standards that vary state to state and city to city, frustrating riders, exhaust system manufacturers, and municipal governments alike,” said MIC President Tim Buche.
ANTI-BIKER LAWS UNITING MOTORCYCLE CLUBS
Designed to dismantle ?Bikie Gangs?, South Australia’s recently adopted anti-biker legislation appears to be having the reverse effect – serving to unite rival clubs.
Gypsy Jokers, Hells Angels, Rebels, Finks and Descendents motorcycle club members are coming together in protest against the Serious and Organised Crime Control Act, which came into effect in June last year. The Act is described by the Government as being the toughest law of its kind in the world, and is intended to disrupt biker ?gangs? by declaring membership or association with outlawed clubs illegal.
The Act also includes new charges, which carry up to 10 years jail, for bikie club members and their associates who engage in group violence.
Hundreds of members of rival clubs participated in a Freedom of Association Protest Poker Run, and as if that wasn’t a defiant enough show of unity, a group of motorcycling enthusiasts, including members of opposing clubs, are only a few application process steps away from forming a legitimate political party.
The unlikely alliance, known as the FREE Australia Party, hopes to hit South Australia’s premier where it hurts – in parliament.
The party’s leader, Paul Kuhn – a committee member of the Motorcycle Riders Association of SA and a Justice of the Peace – said the group was formed because of deep concern anyone associated with a member of a club would be found guilty under the law.
“The Government is now controlling and dictating relationships,” he said. Kuhn is not the only member of the public questioning the civil liberties said to be lost under the Act. The SA Law Society, the SA Council of Social Services, various Aboriginal groups, the Greens and the Australian Democrats have all voiced concern about the legislation.
A member of the Gypsy Jokers MC told the press services that the unified event proves that bikie clubs could get along, despite what the Government was trying to show. “These laws have brought the clubs together,” he said.
WEIRD NEWS: TURKEY GOES WILD OVER BIKERS
Freddy the turkey, the famous and notorious fowl who trotted around town much to the delight of Easton, Massachusetts residents, met his demise this month after becoming a menace to motorcyclists.
The wild turkey wandered out of the woods and became a common sight and mascot in the Five Corners area, where he ruled the roost and was often seen gobbling up bargains at the local stores and strutting across busy streets like he was on parade.
But the gadabout gobbler went from docile dollar-store shopper to motorcycle menace over the past few months, prompting police to put him down.
?Things had really gotten nasty,? said Police Chief Allen R. Krajcik. ?We were thankful there had been no accidents yet. It was only a matter of time before something happened.?
Police received numerous calls and e-mails from motorcyclists. ?One motorcyclist told police that the bird flew at his face with his feet forward to attack him,? the chief told the local newspaper. To escape, the driver rode through a red light, narrowly avoiding an accident. Similar attacks had been reported in increasing numbers, and like other repeat offenders Freddy was racking up a long record of dangerous activity, victimizing mostly motorcyclists.
Police intended to capture the red-freak turkey and relocate it to a less populated environment. But the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife advised against it, saying the turkey could introduce diseases to its new habitat, and advised euthanizing it, according to Chief Krajcik.
It just needed its assed kicked.
QUOTABLE QUOTE: “History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid.”
–Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) 34th President of the United States
STATE BY STATE GUN LAW NEWS FROM THE NRA
(Please note the only items listed below are those that have had recent action. For other updates on state legislation, please go to the state legislation section at www.NRAILA.org
ILLINOIS: Governor Signs Two Pro-Gun Reform Bills Despite the urging of anti-gun groups, Governor Pat Quinn (D) signed House Bills 182 and 3714. HB 182 will simply change the “Unlawful Use of Weapons” (UUW) law, allowing a law-abiding citizen to carry a firearm in his dwelling or in the dwelling or on the land of another person where he has been invited. Governor Quinn also signed HB 3714, which states that as a condition of probation and conditional discharge, a person shall automatically be prohibited from possessing a firearm only if the offense was either a felony, or a misdemeanor that “involved bodily harm.”
NEVADA: Clark County Shooting Park Needs Your Support. The Clark County Shooting Park is a 3,000 acre park outside of Las Vegas that is devoted entirely to the shooting sports. It was created by an Act of Congress that transferred land to Clark County from the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Not long after the transfer, some local residents filed a lawsuit to close down the shooting park.
The federal judge dismissed their charges, but ordered the BLM to complete some environmental studies. An Environmental Assessment with a “Finding of No Significant Impact” (FONSI) has been completed and is open for public comment until Wednesday, September 2.
The same people who sued the shooting park, along with their allies, plan to bury BLM with letters demanding a more extensive environmental analysis as another form of harassment against the shooting park. Since comments are not limited to Nevada residents, we are asking that NRA members from around the country send comments to BLM in order to counter comments by the shooting park’s opposition. A large number of supportive letters will also positively influence BLM decisions on other shooting areas and ranges nationwide. If you shoot recreationally, it is important the BLM hear from you.
Gun control advocates and radical environmental activists are trying to shut down shooting ranges or keep them from opening across the country, so it is important that BLM hear from you.
Please take a few minutes to send Mr. Bob Ross, BLM Las Vegas Field Manager, your comments supporting the Environmental Assessment and recommending that the FONSI be approved and that the environmental review process be completed. His address is: 4701 North Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89130.
NEW YORK: Sportsmen’s Association for Firearms Education Inc. (S.A.F.E.) presents the 2009 Firearm Civil Rights Conference: Please join the Sportsmen’s Association for Firearms Education Inc. (S.A.F.E.) for its “2009 Firearm Civil Rights Conference”
Sunday, September 13th,
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (doors open at 12:00 noon)
Sheraton Long Island Hotel
110 Vanderbilt Motor Parkway
Smithtown, NY 11788
(631) 231-1100
(on Motor Parkway on the North side of LIE between exits 53 55)
Special guests include Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President; Ron Schmeits, NRA President; Dick Anthony Heller, plaintiff in the landmark Heller-v-Washington DC, case; Ginny Simone, NRA investigative reporter on firearms issues, and radio show host; and John L. Cushman, S.A.F.E. President and Founder, and NRA Board Member.
Attendees will have the opportunity to learn the latest information about firearm Civil Rights both nationally and locally, as well as meeting and networking with fellow sportsmen and women concerned about their civil rights and how to protect them. Valuable prizes in drawings will be awarded to attendees. Admission and parking are free, and the event is open to your family and friends.
NORTH DAKOTA: Hunters Have Opportunity to Participate in Elk Reduction Plan for Theodore Roosevelt National Park The National Park Service has released its “preferred alternative” for reducing the elk population in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It calls for elk culling to be carried out by qualified federal employees and/or authorized agents.
Authorized agents include federal agency personnel and skilled public volunteers, including hunters. The proposal is open for public comment until September 9, and it can be viewed at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/THRO
OREGON: Opportunity to Expand Hunting Programs in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that it will begin to draft a plan for the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge that will guide refuge management for the next 15 years. The 187,000-acre refuge located in Harney County is one of the largest freshwater marshes in the country. Waterfowl hunting is available on approximately half of Malheur Lake and upland bird hunting is available on approximately one quarter of the refuge. One of the issues that the Service will be addressing is the adequacy of access and facilities for all of the wildlife dependent uses, like hunting and fishing, and opportunities to expand these programs.
The Service is inviting comments from the public to gather suggestions and information on the scope of the issues to consider during the planning process. Comments are due by October 15, and can be e-mailed to FW1PlanningComments@fws.gov. Include “Malheur CCP” in the subject line of the message.
For further information you may call 541-493-2612. It is important that those who hunt and fish in the refuge become active participants in the planning process to ensure that sportsmen’s interests are well represented in the plan that will be drafted.
PENNSYLVANIA: Bethlehem Area School District Eliminates Funding for Two High School Rifle Teams! Due to tightening budgets, the Bethlehem Area School District has shut off funding for the Liberty High School and Freedom High School rifle teams. Both teams have been in existence for over 40 years and have consistently been given grants by NRA.
Please contact the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph A. Lewis, and the members of the school board TODAY and respectfully voice your disapproval with their action.
TENNESSEE: Tennessee Park Carry Law Goes into Effect Tuesday, September 1st! On Tuesday, September 1, the local carry provision of the new Tennessee Park carry law, goes into effect. This law enables law-abiding Right-to-Carry permit holders to carry a firearm for self-defense in state and local parks. The state park component of this bill went into effect on June 12, but the local park carry effective date was delayed until September 1 to give local municipalities time to study the issue.
Local government bodies have had the opportunity to opt out of the law prior to the effective date. While a majority of Tennessee localities chose not to restrict permit holders, a few voted to opt out of by passing ordinances and resolutions that ban the possession of firearms in local parks, creating arbitrary boundaries that prohibit law-abiding permit holders from protecting themselves.
The City of Knoxville Changes the Hearing Date for Consideration of Park Carry Bill. The Knoxville City Council has decided to move its meeting date to Thursday, September 3, at 5:00 p.m.
At this time, council members will consider an ordinance that, if passed, would remove a long-time ban on the possession of firearms within city parks. The meeting will be held at the City County Building located at 400 Main St. It is imperative that you not only make plans to attend this hearing, but also contact Mayor Bill Haslam at (865) 215-2040 and the City Council members at (865) 215-2075 and voice your support for overturning the ban on your right to self-defense in local parks. Please get there early to sign up to speak – this may be our last opportunity!
VIRGINIA: ANOTHER VOLUNTEER KICK-OFF MEETING SCHEDULED! This November, Virginia’s elections will be ground zero for the enemies of freedom to try and turn the tide against our gun rights in the Commonwealth, and serve as a launching pad for their national gun ban crusade. Our opponents will be pulling out all the stops as a run-up to the 2010 elections. All eyes will be on Virginia! To ensure we are prepared to meet the challenges and opportunities we will face this election season, NRA-ILA is hosting a free volunteer kick-off meeting in Leesburg, on Sept. 16th! At this meeting, we will lay out our plans for our grassroots election activities in your area and show you how you can help. You will also get to meet and begin working with your NRA-ILA Campaign Field Representative–an NRA-ILA staff person who will be living in your area, coordinating our volunteer activities right through Election Day, Nov. 3! This meeting is absolutely free and beverages and light snacks will be served. The event will run only about 60-90 minutes. NRA-ILA Grassroots Director Glen Caroline will also be in attendance.
Here are the details for the Leesburg meeting on Sept. 16th:
Wednesday, September 16th
7:00 p.m.
Holiday Inn Leesburg at Carradoc Hall
1500 East Market Street
Leesburg, VA 20176
703-771-9200
To register for this free event, call the NRA-ILA Grassroots Division at (800) 392-VOTE (8683).
Reloading Clinics: Are you looking for a way to beat the high prices of ammo or are you having trouble finding your favorite ammo in stock at your local gun shop? The Virginia Shooting Sports Association (VSSA), the Official State Affiliate Association of NRA, has the answer. VSSA will be hosting reloading clinics around the Commonwealth starting in September. There will be clinics for both metallic shell reloading and shotgun shell reloading.
The courses are designed to enable shooters with little or no prior experience in reloading to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and ability to produce safe, consistent, and accurate reloaded ammunition. The clinics will be held at the Gander Mountain stores in Fredericksburg, Richmond, Roanoke, and Winchester. For more information on cost and dates, e-mail Dave Myers at Dave.Myers@myvssa.org. Class sizes are limited so register today!
July 22, 2009
By Bandit |
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. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at www.ON-A-BIKE.com.
COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
MISSOURI GOVERNOR VETOES HELMET REPEAL BILL
As most bikers across America were celebrating Independence Day weekend, riders in Missouri were reeling from their governor?s veto of a bill to partially repeal the Show-Me state?s 42-year old mandatory helmet law to allow freedom of choice for adult motorcyclists. Despite overwhelming approval from both the State Senate and House earlier this summer, on July 2nd, Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed Senate Bill 202, denying riders 21 and older the right to ride without a helmet. In 30 other states, most adult motorcyclists have the right to make wearing a helmet a personal choice.
The legislation also would have prohibited insurance companies from reducing claims from injured motorcycle riders, deeming them at-fault solely on the basis that a motorcycle is a hazardous vehicle.
In 1999, Freedom of the Road Riders for Missouri (FORR-MO) and other concerned riders and groups succeeded in lobbying a helmet repeal bill through the legislature and onto the desk of then-Gov. Mel Carnahan, who vetoed it.
“It’s a basic freedom of choice,” said FORR-MO chairman Mark Chapman, ?Another human being should be not be able to make a choice for someone else.”
HIGH COURT TO HEAR CASE AGAINST MYRTLE BEACH
Tom McGrath, the Virginia-based AIM Attorney (Aid to Injured Motorcyclists) who is personally representing Myrtle Beach, S.C. residents William and Carol O’Day and 47 other motorcyclists who received tickets for not wearing helmets in protest of the city?s new helmet law, told The Sun News that he is awaiting a decision from the state’s high court involving their case.
McGrath, on behalf of the O’Days, filed the first constitutional challenge against Myrtle Beach seeking a court order to stop the city from enforcing two of the myriad new ordinances it passed last fall to dissuade bikers from attending the spring and fall rallies held there for decades, including the mandatory helmet requirement and noise law.
But the O’Days were also among 47 others who received tickets during a Feb. 28 protest ride when the new law took effect, so they are now part of the helmet lawsuits the Supreme Court has agreed to hear. McGrath said there might be little point in moving forward with the Circuit Court lawsuit now that the high court is going to issue a ruling.
The South Carolina Supreme Court became involved after attorney Thad Viers, representing his brother Bart in a helmet lawsuit, and the group Business Owners Organized to Support Tourism appealed directly to the state’s highest court for a ruling.
The two cases have been combined for the sake of oral arguments before the Supreme Court, and McGrath’s and Viers’ helmet arguments will be heard at the same time. So far, no court date has been set, but McGrath speculated about a hearing in November.
Another case involving business owners suing the city to stop it from enforcing some rally ordinances, including the helmet law, is still pending in federal court. The lawsuit claims some of the 15 new municipal ordinances are unconstitutional because they are vague, chill freedom of speech or infringe on interstate business rights.
SOUTH CAROLINA CONSIDERS LEGALIZING POKER RUNS
Not all of the news coming out of the Palmetto State is as controversial as Myrtle Beach?s anti-biker ordinances, and recent actions by the State Senate could eventually legitimize poker runs.
The S.C. Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation in May that would have revised the state’s 207-year-old gambling laws which ban “any game with cards or dice.” Although the bill died at the end of the legislative session, bikers were able to educate some legislators that banning all such games is not in the best interest of charities.
Currently, the state’s centuries-old gaming laws are enforced at the discretion of the local law enforcement agency and typically only when someone complains. South Carolina’s Lions clubs have lost roughly $500,000 since last year when state law enforcement officers – responding to a complaint – threatened a club that was raffling off a motorcycle.
Traditional motorcycle poker runs, which have historically raised tens of thousands of dollars for local and statewide charities have been severely curtailed as a result of an Attorney General’s ruling that the events were illegal under the current State statute.
A separate proposal would ask voters whether the state constitution should be changed to allow nonprofit groups to hold a limited number of raffles yearly. Currently, the only legal raffle is the state lottery.
GOVERNMENT MAY MAKE ANTI-LOCK BRAKES MANDATORY ON MOTORCYCLES
Citing spiraling motorcycle accident statistics, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration may require new safety features on bikes. For example, the federal agency plans to decide by next year whether or not anti-lock brakes should be mandatory equipment on motorcycles.
The government report also mentions an insurance industry study that shows that the rate of fatal crashes are 28% lower for bikes equipped with optional ABS braking systems than for those same motorcycles without them.
Though NHTSA frequently enforces the implementation of safety technology into automobiles, their involvement in motorcycling tends to focus more on helmet usage and the prevention of drunk riding.
Anti-lock brakes are now standard on some Harley-Davidsons and optional across a variety of manufacturers on everything from dual purpose bikes to scooters — and in many cases, they can be disabled if the rider chooses.
ENGINE REVVING MAY BECOME A CRIME IN ALBUQUERQUE
Revving your engine in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, may soon be a crime punishable by a fine of up to $500, imprisonment and seizure of your bike or car. Mayor Martin Chavez (D) proposed adding a blip of the throttle to the city ordinance listing “nuisances” that the city uses as a justification to seize automobiles. The city council is expected to vote on the idea soon, and may expand ticketing to the entire city.
“It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in exhibition driving in the Downtown Quiet Zone by operating a vehicle in a manner that willfully creates excessive engine noise because of revving the engine to magnify the engine noise,” the proposed ordinance states.
At first, Chavez will ask police set up traps to ticket motorcyclists before going after other motorists.
CALIFORNIA SMOG CHECK BILL HELD OVER
ABATE of California would like to thank everyone who helped lobby against Senate Bill 435, which would establish biennial emissions testing for motorcycles.
According to Tim Tennimon, ABATE Executive Director, SB 435 is now a two year bill and will be held over until next session….no amendments have been submitted, so it still appears as a smog check bill. ?Despite the promise by Senator Pavley to amend the bill to be more about catalytic converter inspections, rather than smog check…there have been no amendments to the bill,? explains Tennimon, adding that the bill won’t be eligible to be heard again until January 2010. ?Stopping this bill for this legislative session is a huge victory for us…and a testament to Jim Lombardo’s (ABATE lobbyist) hard work…we really weren’t sure we could stop this bill once it hit the Senate floor…but you guys did it!?
However, Tennimon cautions, there are plenty of reasons to be concerned; ?The smog debate ended up being a noise debate on the Senate floor…and there was much discussion about loud pipes…and, not coincidentally, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has just released a new standard for sound tests on motorcycles which will make it easy and consistent to test bikes…in addition, the MIC has called for a focus more on noise than emissions…all of which means that we will have to look at all new legislation because it is very possible that there will be attempts at new sound standards and emission standards…and they could pop up anywhere…Unfortunately, this is the message you have heard from us for over a decade…we must police ourselves…we know you love the sound…but not everyone feels the same way…and as much as I hate booming cars and loud trucks, etc…we are an easy target and those behaviors are coming back to get us now.?
U.S. MOTORCYCLE CRASH STUDY STALLS: EUROPEAN MAIDS 2.0 STUDY RELEASED
The bikes crashed. The data was collected. And the information from the 53 accidents investigated in the Southern California pilot phase of the U.S. motorcycle crash causation study are now sitting — waiting for an assessment of its efficacy and, more importantly, a huge infusion of cash. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times newspaper, ?The long-awaited follow-up to the 1981 Hurt Study is short at least $2 million, and it’s unclear whether that funding will come through any time soon. Or ever.?
So while the first nationwide motorcycle-crash study to be conducted in the United States in almost 30 years languishes in limbo due to differences in focus and funding between government entities and advocacy groups, filling the void is MAIDS 2.0: An update of the Motorcycle Accident In-Depth Study of 921 accidents investigated from 1999-2000 in five sampling areas located in France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. Among other things, the European study found that just over 50% of the motorcycle accidents in the subject cities were caused by drivers, with 69% of those resulting from ?perception failure? which can include not seeing the rider, misjudging distances and space on the road.
MAIDS 2.0 focuses on the 100 crashes out of those 921 accidents that resulted in death — 25 of which occurred on bikes under 50 cc and 75 of which happened on motorcycles 50 cc and larger.
Of the under-50 cc bikes, the rider, not another vehicle, was responsible for his or her own death in 64% of the fatal crashes; most often, the rider failed to perceive a road hazard and, as a result, failed to react to avoid that hazard. Most of the fatalities occurred in urban areas.
For motorcycles 50 cc and up, the most fatality-prone class was sport bikes. A bike’s displacement and maximum velocity were not significant factors in predicting a rider’s death. As with bikes under 50 cc, the rider, not another vehicle, was at fault in most crashes that ended in death. The most common rider error for motorcyclists was making the wrong decision in reaction to a road hazard; 44% of motorcyclists also lost control in their avoidance maneuver. Most of these fatalities occurred in rural areas.
?How applicable the MAIDS 2.0 data is to the American market is a subject of debate, not only because the study is dated, but also because the European market is so different,? wrote Susan Carpenter in the LA Times article. ?Its riders are more commuter-oriented than those in the leisure-minded U.S. and the bikes are, on average, smaller. Still, the MAIDS update points to some intriguing findings that, at the very least, could serve as cautionary advice as the U.S. motorcycle market becomes more transportation-oriented.?
Some of the more relevant takeaway messages for riders of bikes both big and small:
accidents in the MAIDS report happened during the day, fatal accidents were significantly higher at night.
– Major roads are hazardous. The majority of fatalities occurred on straight roadways and “major arterials.”
– Get a license. Riders who weren’t properly licensed were more likely to crash.
– Wear protective gear. The 921 accidents in the study resulted in 3,417 injuries — 31.8% of which were to the lower extremities, 24.3% to the upper extremities and 18.4% to the head.
ON THE ROAD TO ROMANCEMotorcycling opens the road to romance, love and sex appeal. Famous faces increase their x-factor when they get onto two wheels on the big screen, and Hollywood has provided us with many cool biking images — remember Quadrophenia? The Great Escape? Easy Rider? And they?ve recognized that girls like to ride too, from stylish Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday to more recently the modern Charlie?s Angels and glamorous Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft.
Plenty of celebrities like to pull on a pair of leathers and enjoy the freedom of riding on two wheels, from actors and musicians to politicians, comedians, and chefs have all joined the growing numbers of people who like to ride.
But at least in Britain, romantic bikers would rather ride with their other half than movie megastars like Kate Winslet, or Tom Cruise. In a Motorcycle Industry Association survey, when asked to name who they would most like to take a fantasy ride with, twice as many bikers nominated their partners than petite pop star Kylie, Star Wars? Ewan McGregor, or Bond?s Pierce Brosnan.
So if your partner doesn?t already ride, why not get them onto two wheels so you can ?Get More Out of Life? together, as promoted during National Motorcycle Week in England, held July 12-18??More freedom, more fun, more friends, more action and more opportunities.?
QUOTABLE QUOTE: ?Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.?
–Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968) civil rights leader & clergyman
June 22, 2009
By Bandit |
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. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at www.ON-A-BIKE.com.
COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
MISSOURI HELMET FREEDOM STILL ON HOLD
Legislation to partially repeal the ?Show Me? state?s 42-year old mandatory helmet law has been sitting on Governor Jay Nixon?s desk since May 29, awaiting his approval or veto. Senate Bill 202, a bill to allow motorcyclists 21 and older to ride without helmets except on the interstate highway system, passed both the House and Senate and will become law in Nixon doesn?t veto the measure.
In addition to the helmet provisions, SB 202 introduced by Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) would also prohibit insurance companies from reducing claims from injured motorcycle riders on the grounds that a motorcycle is a hazardous vehicle, even if the rider is fault-free.
Nixon has received about 1,000 e-mails and letters on the motorcycle legislation — more than on any other legislative issue, said a spokesman for the governor?s office. Those urging the governor to sign the legislation outnumbered those urging a veto by about 7-to-1, according to analysis of the messages by The Associated Press.
Mark Chapman, chairman of the Freedom of Road Riders of Missouri, said that motorcyclists should be allowed to decide for themselves when conditions warrant wearing a helmet. “It should be my choice as an adult,” Chapman said. “It’s not like I’m a 10 year old trying to kill myself.”
Those who urged him to sign the bill — some of whom said they regularly wear helmets — mentioned personal freedom and suggested that not requiring helmets could spur tourism.
FORR-MO is appealing to riders nationwide to contact his office and urge Gov. Nixon to sign the bill into law or allow it to automatically become law without his signature. You can call Missouri Governor Jay Nixon at (573) 751-3222, e-mail him through www.governor.mo.gov or write to P.O. Box 720, Jefferson City, MO 65102.
OMAHA POLICE TO ENFORCE HELMET COMPLIANCE
If you?ve ever wondered where some of your state and federal motorcycle safety funds are being spent, the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety has awarded a grant to fund extra police officers on the streets to ensure motorcyclists are compliant with Nebraska state laws regarding motorcycle helmets.
The Omaha Police Department received $25,000 in grant funding to begin operations to enforce motorcycle helmet compliance throughout the entire city from May 27 through September 30, 2009.
Nebraska state law specifies that protective helmets that meet the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard #218 are required for all operators and passengers of a motorcycle or moped.
Citing safety concerns, officers will be citing operators who are in violation of this law and confiscating their non-compliant helmets.
In the meantime, Vermont State Police are advising motorcyclists that a new state law goes into effect on July 1st requiring that all helmets be DOT approved, similar to a measure enacted recently in North Carolina.
SMOG, OR SMOKE & MIRRORS?
In spite of already having the lowest motorcycle emissions standards in the country, and despite verbal promises from the legislative sponsor in response to key Senate opposition, a bill to enact Smog Checks for motorcycles has passed the California State Senate and may be heard in the Assembly as early as June 29th.
ABATE of California is seeking nationwide assistance to quash this bill once and for all. ?Our out of state brothers and sisters may be our most effective resource in fighting the motorcycle smog bill,? wrote ABATE Executive Director Tim Tennimon in a request to NCOM to help rally opposition to Senate Bill 435. ?SB 435 has been passed to the Assembly as a SMOG CHECK BILL on the verbal promise to amend but has not yet been fulfilled. It would appear that it may go so far as to include all 3 (smog check, noise, and catalytic converter with random pull over inspection thrown in for good measure),? explains Tennimon.
Sponsor of the measure, Santa Monica Senator Fran Pavley, agreed to remove the controversial biennial emissions testing when the bill passed the Senate, but no such action has yet been taken.
ABATE Lobbyist Jim Lombardo reports that ?I personally spoke with the committee staff and they have not been officially notified that SB 435 is to be amended or turned into a 2-year bill, and even if it had, Pavley could ask for it to be reset for a hearing?the stakes are too high to be caught with our pants down: LET?S KILL SB 435 — IT IS STILL A SMOG CHECK BILL!!!?
Therefore, ABATE of CA is asking all out of state motorcyclists to contact the Chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, Mike Eng at phone (916) 319-2049, fax 916-319-2149, or e-mail Assemblymember.Eng@asm.ca.gov, and also Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at phone (916) 445-2841, fax 916-558-3160, or e-mail at gov.ca.gov, and let them know that if you are going to be at risk of being singled out and pulled over for exhaust system inspections when you visit California then you will choose another location to spend your vacation dollars, and urge their NO vote on SB 435.
?Unfortunately many laws of this type start in California and spread to other states,? warns Tennimon, so ?the place to stop it is here and now, then hopefully you won’t have to deal with anything like this in your state.?
AIM ATTORNEY SUES NY POLICE FOR ILLEGAL CHECKPOINTS
Proner & Proner, Attorneys at law, has filed a Federal class action lawsuit in the Federal Court for the Northern District of New York against the New York State Police as well as New York State and county authorities to stop them from conducting motorcycle-only roadblocks near popular motorcycle events.
Last year the New York State Police and county sheriffs stopped every motorcycle en route to twelve different events for “safety checks.” With the riding season starting, the New York State Police expect to conduct up to fifteen motorcycle-only roadblocks throughout the state this year.
One of the events targeted was Americade, the largest motorcycle event in the Northeast. Police set up two checkpoints during the Lake George-based rally in June that netted 84 tickets for unapproved helmets, 19 for modified exhausts and 32 other vehicle and traffic violations.
New York A.I.M. (Aid to Injured Motorcyclists) Attorney Mitchell Proner, an active motorcyclist and personal injury attorney, is initiating the lawsuit on behalf of all motorcyclists. ABATE of New York supports the legal action.
Proner said that the New York State Police “uses the pretense of safety inspections to delay and harass motorcyclists without any reasonable belief that any laws are being broken.” Although courts have upheld DWI checkpoints as generally permissible, “These motorcycle roadblock stops are lengthy and do not address any legitimate safety concerns,” according to Proner.
MYRTLE BEACH HELMET LAW LAWSUIT UPDATE
Following is an update from Matt Danielson of Tom McGrath?s Motorcycle Law Group regarding the lawsuit filed against the helmet law enacted by the city council of Myrtle Beach, SC.
?Forty-nine of the motorcyclists who took part in the Myrtle Beach Freedom Ride and who were ticketed for violations have had their cases stayed yesterday. A.I.M. Attorney Tom McGrath filed motions to have the cases dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction. The original city ordinance mandated that the violations, which are civil in nature, be heard by a special tribunal created by the city. However, since that time the tribunals have been found to be unconstitutional (or at least suggested to be by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina). The city moved the cases to municipal court. However, the State Code of South Carolina specifically states that the municipal courts do not have jurisdiction over civil matters. Since the city served the 49 defendants via mail after the Chief Justice’s ruling, they were forced to admit that the infractions were civil in nature since you can’t serve a criminal complaint by mail. That put the City of Myrtle Beach in a box since State Code says the municipal courts do not have jurisdiction over civil matters. The court decided to stay the trials of these matters while deciding how to rule. The court has stated that none of the defendants need to appear on the scheduled dates. We expect a ruling soon. In the meantime, motions have been filed in the South Carolina Supreme Court to declare the ordinances void. More information will be forthcoming as it is made available.?
PENNSYLVANIA SENATOR WANTS TO GIVE YOU $4,500 TO BUY A NEW MOTORCYCLE
U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), a longtime advocate for the Harley-Davidson Motor Co., has introduced legislation that would provide up to $4,500 for motorcycle buyers who trade in an older, gas guzzling car or truck.
Harley has its largest assembly plant in York, Pa., where it employs more than 2,000 people. Recently, the company said it might close its York operations due to the downturn in the economy and falling motorcycle sales.
Senator Casey wants his proposal attached to the “cash for clunkers” mpg higher than the old vehicle. mpg. The voucher would be worth $4,500 if the gas mileage of the new car is at least 10 miles per gallon, and the new vehicle must get at least 22 billion. To be eligible, a trade-in car must get less than 18 bill passed recently in the U.S. House of Representatives. It authorizes the program for one year, for a total cost of $4
Casey said his legislation would help spur economic recovery and protect manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and other states where motorcycles and bike parts are manufactured and assembled.
New motorcycle sales in the United States fell 8% in 2007 and 10% in 2008.
The proposal “is positive from our perspective,” said Harley spokeswoman Rebecca Bortner, adding that swapping an old car for a bike would be an easy upgrade in fuel efficiency.
BILL MAY BAN BIKER BARS
Revving up for a fight, motorcycle clubs in Virginia say they are being unfairly targeted by the state?s ABC Board for what they wear. Motorcyclists who recently rallied at a Richmond Public Safety meeting say they are trying to appeal to Richmond City Council members to repeal a new State law.
Alcohol Beverage Control; a bill saying that bars and restaurants could be stripped of their liquor license by allowing groups into their establishments who wear certain gang affiliations or colors. Although aimed at criminal street gangs, motorcyclists say they are victims of this new law and that their First Amendment rights are being violated.
BIKERNET.COM CREATES WORKING GROUP FOR MOTORCYCLE RIGHTS
Longtime bikers rights activist Keith R. Ball and the staff of Bikernet.com are working with the motorcycle aftermarket to provide a direct link between legislative efforts, motorcycle rights groups, and the custom motorcycle aftermarket industry.
“It’s been a goal of mine for 15 years to get the business side to help our freedom fighters,” said Ball. If successful, Keith hopes to encourage SEMA (the Specialty Equipment Market Association), the largest hot rod aftermarket organization in the United States, to work with us to deliver additional resources to the motorcycle rights community, since we all face similar battles.
“The Motorcycle Aftermarket Working Group is made up of many leaders and business owners, but we want to reach out directly to state motorcycle rights groups for their input,” said Ball, adding that they are already working closely with the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM) and the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF). “What can we do to help keep motorcycling free?” The group is currently working on an agenda, so contact Keith Ball directly with any comments or suggestions at Bandit@Bikernet.com or (310) 830-0630.
FEDS QUESTION BIKERS
The Federal Highway Administration?s Motorcyclist Advisory Council is asking riders across the country to help state and federal highway administrators and State Motorcycle Safety Administrators (SMSA) to ?better understand and plan for the needs of motorcycle riders.?
Motorcycle riders are requested to complete a Motorcycle Road Issues Survey by logging onto http://tinyurl.com/ovzduo before August 1st and answering online survey questions that are separated into 3 distinct settings typically experienced by the majority of riders: Urban Areas (city/suburban/frequent intersections/pedestrians); Rural Areas (fewer intersections/higher speed); and Limited Access Areas (freeway/highway/toll road/minimal intersections).
QUOTABLE QUOTE: “It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.”
–U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Parker, Chief Prosecutor for the United States of America at the Nuremberg Trials
May 25, 2009
By Bandit |
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. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at www.ON-A-BIKE.com.
COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
MISSOURI HELMET LAW EXEMPTION GOES TO GOVERNOR
The Missouri legislature has passed a bill modifying Missouri?s mandatory helmet law to exempts persons 21 years of age or older from wearing protective headgear except when operating or riding motorcycles or motortricycles upon interstate highways.
Over the past twenty years proposals to repeal the mandatory helmet law have been controversial, but this year’s measure to simply modify the law received little debate in either chamber. The House gave the bill final approval Wednesday, Apr 29 on a vote of 93-65. The bill easily passed the Senate earlier, with a 23-6 vote.
The measure now goes to Governor Jay Nixon for his final signature or veto. The helmet provision was amended onto SCS/SB 202, an act that provides that operating a motorcycle, in and of itself, shall not be considered evidence of comparative negligence in accident claims. The act also provides that when investigating an accident or settling an automobile insurance policy claim, no insurer, agent, producer, or claims adjuster of an insurer shall assign a percentage of fault to a party based upon the sole fact that the party was operating a motorcycle in an otherwise legal manner. The effective date would be August 28, 2009, and the helmet provision would expire in five years under a sunset clause.
Steve Carroll of Hannibal, MO, a spokesman for FORR-MO (Freedom of the Road Riders of Missouri) said passage of the bill is the result of a growing movement. “It’s been a long time coming — in the educational process — and I think it’s long overdue,” he said.
Senator Luann Ridgeway, R-Smithville, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said the helmet law was tantamount to a ?nanny state making safety choices for other people.? Pointing to other injury-prone activities, such as skiing, horseback riding and even riding in a car, she asked why the state doesn’t require helmets for those. “Where do we draw the line in terms of a caretaker state?” she said.
House sponsor Rep. Gary Dusenberg, R-Blue Springs, also said it was a freedom issue. The people the bill affects can “go off to war and carry guns under the flag of our country,” said Dusenberg, a former highway patrol officer.
In 1999, then-Gov. Mel Carnahan vetoed a similar bill. Governor Nixon has refused to comment on the bill, but if signed into law Missouri would join 30 other states that allow most adult riders to choose regarding helmet use. Only two of the eight states surrounding Missouri mandate helmet use at all times. Neither Iowa nor Illinois has a helmet law.
HOUSE APPROVES HEALTH INSURANCE PROTECTIONS FOR MOTORCYCLISTS–
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 422 to 3 on March 31st to pass HR 1253, the ?Health Insurance Restrictions and Clarifications Act of 2009?; bipartisan legislation to strengthen health insurance coverage for injuries incurred while participating in legal recreational and transportation activities, such as motorcycling, riding ATVs, snowmobiling and horseback riding.
While the language falls short of closing the loophole that allows insurance companies to deny benefits to motorcycle accident victims, it does prevent them from concealing such coverage exclusions by requiring them to be ?explicit and clear? in fully disclosing benefit limitations and restrictions ?in a form that is easily understandable? to the enrollee in advance of the point of sale.
The bill now goes to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and concerned riders are encouraged to contact their U.S. Senators in support of the legislation.
CPSC STAYS BAN ON SALE OF YOUTH MOTORCYCLES & ATVs
In denying a petition from the motorcycle industry to overturn a ban against the sale of youth-model motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) due to the lead content of some components such as brake parts and battery terminals, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted on April 17, 2009 to keep the ban in place but granted a two-year stay of enforcement to allow the continued sale of these vehicles while industry attempts to comply with the new federal lead-content rules.
Congress enacted the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 to protect children under 12 from the lead content of toys and other products intended for the youth market but, intended or not, the ban has crippled a huge segment of the motorcycle industry, costing an estimated $1 billion a year as more than 13,000 dealers across the country were stuck holding millions of dollars in inventory.
The two-member CPSC board voted unanimously, citing safety concerns as the reason for issuing the stay; “A bigger safety concern than lead exposure is that the elimination of youth ATV sales will likely increase the number of adult ATVs purchased to be used by younger children, therefore increasing risk of injury and death.”
The stay extends through May 1, 2011, at which time the products must be brought into compliance or the industry can demonstrate to the CPSC why it is technologically infeasible to comply.
In the meantime, legislation has been introduced in Congress (H.R. 1587) by Representative Denny Rehberg (R-MT) to exempt youth-sized motorcycles and ATVs from the CPSIA. Help end the youth bike ban permanently by calling your members of the U.S. House of Representatives today and ask their support for H.R. 1587.
NEW MOTORCYCLE SALES DECLINE IN Q1
Despite six straight years of new motorcycle sales eclipsing the 1 million mark, the sagging economy has impacted U.S. sales in the first quarter of 2009 resulting in a 30.5% decline compared to the same period last year.
According to the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), which compiled the results based on sales figures from 12 of the leading brands, the best performing type of motorcycles were affordable, fuel-efficient dual-purpose models which only dropped by 24%. The off-highway market was hardest hit, falling by 39.7% due in part to the new federal lead-content law that banned the sale of youth models.
Scooters were more popular than ever last year, setting a record of 222,000 sold in 2008, but those too are down 36.7% for the first three months of 2009. The on-highway market declined by 27.3%.
“There are still many customers wanting new motorcycles, both veteran riders and those wanting to join in the fun and gain the benefits,” said MIC president Tim Buche. “But, in reaction to the economy, there have been some production cuts. And the lead ban turned many parents away from buying new dirt bikes for their kids. There’s a need for wholesale financing to help keep dealerships supplied with inventory, and a need for consumer credit to loosen up so that dealerships can get those new bikes out on the roads and on the trails. It’s very hard to get retail financing now, even if you have good credit.”
The early year sales decline follows a relatively flat year for motorcycles, with sales estimates for all motorcycles and scooters sold nationwide in 2008 at 1,087,000 units, down just 3.3% from the previous year. Sales still topped the one-million mark, and did so for the sixth consecutive year, beating the longest run of million-plus sales ever recorded by the MIC, during the five years from 1970 to 1974.
WEIRD NEWS: MAN FAKES KIDNAPPING TO FIND STOLEN MOTORCYCLE
After hours of searching for a toddler whose father claimed he was attacked by motorcycle thieves who abducted the child, police arrested the Florida man for fabricating the kidnapping to get police to launch an intensive search for his stolen motorcycle.
According to The Gainesville Sun newspaper, Alachua County deputies took the 37-year old man away in handcuffs for filing a false report after his story unraveled during the manhunt and police learned that the 1-year old was safe with his mother.
Officers believe the man was the victim of thieves who posed as interested buyers and then took his gold-and-black Yamaha, so he told his wife to take their son out of day care and he then called police to report that the child had been taken.
“His thinking was if they thought my child was missing, there would be a more intensive search than for the motorcycle,” a Sheriff’s Office spokesman told the paper. The bike and the thieves are still at large.
MANDATORY REFLECTIVE VESTS URGED FOR FILIPINO BIKERS
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is proposing mandatory training and the wearing of reflector vests for motorcycle riders in an effort to curb rising deaths and injuries.
According to MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando there is a need to “enhance the skills” of motorcycle drivers nationwide, and further suggested that the government adopt the practice in Bogota, Colombia where motorcycle drivers are mandated to use reflectorized vests to allow for greater visibility during nighttime and eliminate road mishaps.
There are now an estimated 2.5 million registered motorcycles in the Philippines, and motorcycle sales have been growing at an unprecedented rate, driven by high fuel costs and easy-on-the-pocket installment plans. Some 671,588 new motorcycles were registered in 2008, compared with only 46,183 new cars.
NCOM CONVENTION LIGHTS UP RENO
The bright lights of the ?Biggest Little City In The World? shined off the bright chrome and polish of hundreds of shiny motorcycles parked along the entranceway to John Ascuaga?s Nugget Casino and Resort, as near-record crowds of concerned bikers from around the country came together in unity and cooperation for the 24th Annual National Coalition of Motorcyclists Convention, held in Reno, NV May 7-10, 2009.
The NCOM Convention, which was hosted by the Northern Nevada Confederation of Clubs, presented an opportunity for motorcyclists of every background to find common ground and focus on issues of concern to all motorcyclists. Riders learn, teach and share with one another, and coordinate with likeminded individuals and groups to forge relationships and foster communications.
Nearly 1,400 motorcyclists attended the Convention, and conventioneers represented almost all major patch holding motorcycle clubs, as well as a wide array of motorcycling-oriented organizations and associations, including a majority of State Motorcyclists Rights Organizations across the country.
The NCOM Convention featured educational seminars covering such diverse topics as Biker Rights and Civil Liberties post-9/11 and the Federal Trademark Seizure threat where all club insignia are put at risk, combating Anti-Biker Discrimination, Christian Unity, Women in Motorcycling, and a host of other legislative, judicial, and lifestyle issues. NCOM also broke special ground this year with the first presentation of a seminar entitled, “The World Of Sport Bikes”, which focused on issues and concerns specific to the Sport Bike Community.
The Worldwide Confederation of Clubs meeting on Friday was packed with over 900 club members expressing solidarity and a renewed commitment to work together and defend Riding Freedom.
The Convention was dedicated to the memory of longtime participants in the fight for Motorcycling Liberty who have passed from our ranks in the past year; AIM Attorney Joe “Big Guy” Eggleston, Bob Illingworth, and Robert “Grub” Chafe.
The Saturday Night events were festive, featuring the Silver Spoke Awards Banquet where recognition was given to notables in various fields who have had a positive impact on motorcycling. The Entertainment Award was given to TV and movie actor Robert Patrick of “The Unit” and “Terminator” fame, who not only is an avid rider and ABATE of California member, but also is a Chapter President in the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club. Steve Johann of Hog Radio received the Media Award. Receiving the Silver Spoke Award for Government was Nevada Assemblyman Don Gustavson, a tireless defender of freedom of choice. The Commerce Award was presented to Clay Ridley, founder of the Ridley Motorcycle Company. Florida Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (AIM) Attorney Jerry Theophilopoulos was presented the Silver Spoke for Legal, while Special Recognition Awards were bestowed upon A.I.M. Chief of Staff Charles ?Roach Hoffman and ABATE of Wyoming?s ?Mileage? Mike Harrison.
Rounding out the evening?s recognitions, the Ron Roloff Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Pepper Massey, former executive director of NCOM and past director of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum/Hall of Fame and Sturgis Rally.
Attendees came away from this year’s NCOM Convention with a great deal of enthusiasm and motivation to continue the fight for Motorcycling Freedom in back home in their own respective legislative, judicial, and social arenas.
Plan now to attend the 2010 Silver Anniversary NCOM Convention, next Mother?s Day weekend in Orlando, Florida!
QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Just as your fortune depends upon how your money is invested, so the success of your life depends upon how your time is invested.”
–Leone Kester