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 COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
HALF A BILLION E-CYCLES TO HIT THE ROAD
Worldwide sales of electric powered two-wheel vehicles are set to explode over the next six years. According to a recently released study by U.S. based firm, Pike Research, 466 million e-bikes, e-motorcycles and e-scooters will be on the road by 2016.
?Demographics and economics are aligning to create a strong market opportunity for two-wheel electric vehicles,? Pike’s industry analyst Dave Hurst told Cycle Canada. ?In some countries, these vehicles will be engines of economic growth, while in others they will be signals of broader consumer behavioral shifts.?
Not surprisingly Hurst claims that China will dominate the global electric two-wheel vehicle market, representing more than 95% of sales during the next six years. E-bikes will hold a 56% share of the market, predicts Hurst, followed by e-motorcycles at 43% and e-scooters in distant third with less than 1%.
HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES LANE SPLITTING IN ARIZONA
A bill to allow ?Lane Splitting? in Arizona has been unanimously approved by legislative committee.
Also known as white lining, or ?filtering? as it is commonly referred to in Europe, motorcycles are allowed to weave between lines of cars in heavy traffic. Such practice is legal in the United States only in California and Washington, D.C., but HB2475 would allow lane splitting through stopped traffic in Maricopa County only to begin with for a one-year trial starting next year.
?The biggest factor on this bill is SAFETY and to try and reduce the number of rear end accidents,? said Mick Degan, lobbyist for the Modified Motorcycle Association (MMA) of Arizona. ?DPS is behind and support of this bill along with AAA.?
Also advocating for the measure is former California cop Ted Storck who wrote to the Arizona Republic newspaper; ?As an ex-Los Angeles police officer, I support House Bill 2475, which would allow Arizona motorcyclists to split lanes. It is allowed in California and has proven to be safe. I never once investigated an accident where a motorcyclist had an accident due to passing other vehicles in the same lane when the freeways were slow or stopped. However, it did result in more and more people riding motorcycles, cutting down on traffic congestion. Even the head of the California Highway Patrol agrees that this California law should remain in effect. He agrees it cuts traffic congestion and has not resulted in any extra risk to motorcyclists or other vehicles.?
The lane splitting bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Jerry Weiers of Glendale, has already cleared two committees in the House and faces a floor vote soon before it can be considered in the Senate.
OHIO MEASURE WOULD MAKE MOTORCYCLE PARKING SAFER
Buckeye bikers will be able to back their motorcycles into angled parking spaces, under legislation unanimously approved by the Ohio House on March 10. Substitute House Bill 204, sponsored by Rep. Tom Letson, D-Hubbard, passed 96-0 and now heads to the Ohio Senate.
Under existing state law, motor vehicles parked on public streets and highways cannot face into traffic. That poses a problem for people who drive motorcycles, which don’t go in reverse, Letson told reporter Marc Kovac, Dix Newspapers Statehouse Bureau chief. For angled parking spaces, motorcyclists have to physically push their bikes into traffic, creating a dangerous situation.
Letson’s bill would allow cycles to be backed into angled spaces, instead. “Many of you are probably asking why this is necessary or what this even means,” Letson said. “…The purpose for this legislation is to increase safety on Ohio’s roadways and to ease the unnecessary burden on Ohio motorcycle drivers.?
HIGHWAY SIGNS DELIVER A MESSAGE
Some of the best riding roads are in California, and a new campaign aims to make the roadways safer for motorcyclists by lighting up over 700 changeable freeway message signs saying “Share the road, look twice for motorcyclist.”
Following years of lobbying and letter-writing, ABATE of California is now working with state officials to utilize Amber Alert electronic message boards, when not in official use, to display the motorcycle awareness alert to millions of commuters daily.
ABATE Executive Director Anthony Jaime says the joint effort with CalTrans, the California Highway Patrol and the California Motorcycle Safety Program ?highlights the impact that grassroots organizations like ABATE can have on their government when they actively become part of the process of governance rather than just sitting back and being governed.”
The signs displayed the messages statewide for a one-week period during peek drive times, and serves as an example that other states can easily follow since it doesn’t cost anything extra to do.
Similarly, HB2351 would require the Iowa DOT to use electronic message boards on Hawkeye highways to flash “Watch for Motorcycles” during May for Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month.
MORE NOISE ABOUT NOISE
Across the country, more and more communities are exploring efforts to silence noisy motorcycles, but in Maine a bill that began as a broad measure to cut back on loud pipes has evolved into a proposal to force motorcycle riders to display vehicle inspection stickers on their bikes.
During hearings, the House Transportation Committee connected the noise problem to reports that nearly 40% of Maine motorcycles aren’t inspected. Faulty and noisy mufflers would fail motorcycles in annual inspections, so the measure was amended to require an inspection sticker be visibly affixed to the rear of the bike either on a mounting plate or on a rear fender or frame.
The bill, which also calls for a study of motorcycle noise, has received initial House approval but still needs to be approved by the full House and Senate.
A Racine, Wisconsin city panel has voted 4-0 recommending a newly written ordinance that would create a $100 fine plus court costs for “disorderly conduct with a motor vehicle.” It would outlaw, in a motorized vehicle, “violent, dangerous, abusive, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct.” That would include: squealing tires; revving an engine; unnecessarily blowing a horn; sudden veering or acceleration; and popping wheelies on a motorcycle.
The Culpeper Town Council Ordinance Committee has recommended that the Virginia municipality repeal its existing noise ordinance because it is legally unenforceable in light of recent court decisions. “The ordinance can’t be enforced the way it is written,” Mayor Pranas Rimeikis said of town noise regulations that rely on “a reasonable person” finding a sound too noisy.
The town’s movement to repeal its ordinance, and possibly replace it with a decibel-based measurement, is based on a Virginia Supreme Court ruling from last April that found a similar ordinance in Virginia Beach was unconstitutionally vague. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state court’s decision, denying a review of it as requested by the city.
PATCH HOLDERS DENIED ENTRY TO FLORIDA FAIR
About 50 bikers from an array of clubs rolled into the Florida State Fair looking for a good time, but because of the patches on their vests, they were refused entry and turned away. Fair rules, enforced by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, ban gang colors or signs.
But a lawyer representing the bikers says their First Amendment rights have been violated. “They’re trying to stifle people’s rights by using a blanket policy,” said Florida Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) Attorney Jerry Theophilopoulos. “It’s suppressing their right to associate in public.”
The banned bikers belong to a wide variety of clubs, from the Outlaws MC to Christian clubs such as the Spirit Riders, and the New Attitudes, a group of clean and sober riders. “The clubs that were with us, none of them have ever gotten into fights at the fair,” Theophilipoulos told the St. Petersburg Times. “They’re not street gangs, and they are being lumped together.” The bikers? lawyer said he called the Sheriff’s Office Sat to tell the agency the bikers were coming, and he was told that if they wore their colors, they wouldn’t be let in. They tried to go, anyway. “Sometimes you have to make a statement, to stand up for what you believe in,” said Jerry T, who also serves as legal counsel for the local Confederation of Clubs.
MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY ASKS CONGRESS TO AMEND LEAD RULES
The Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) has delivered nearly 4,000 letters to Congress signed by motorcycle industry professionals who have had their livelihoods impacted by the lead provisions of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA).
“We believe these letters along with the other communications will help add to the momentum encouraging Congress to amend the CPSIA’s lead content provisions to exclude youth vehicles,” said MIC chairman Larry Little.
The CPSC recently requested flexibility to grant exclusions from the lead content limit to address certain products including youth vehicles in a Jan. 15 report to Congress.
The MIC stressed three key reasons why youth ATVs and motorcycles should be excluded from the CPSIA’s lead content provisions: 1. The lead content poses no risk to kids. Experts estimate that the lead intake from kids’ interaction with metal parts is less than the lead intake from drinking a glass of water. 2. The key to keeping youth safe is having them ride the right size vehicle. Kids are now at risk because the availability of youth ATVs and motorcycles is limited due to the lead ban. 3. The lead ban hurts the economy for no good reason when everyone is trying to grow the economy and create jobs. MIC estimates that a complete ban on youth model vehicles would result in about $1 billion in lost economic value in the retail marketplace every year.
WEIRD NEWS: HOG VS. HORSE ACCIDENTS
In a landmark 1985 study, Dr. J.L. Firth estimated that while “a serious incident can be expected at the rate of 1 per 7,000 hours of motorcycle riding, serious injury rates exceeding one per 350 horse riding hours have been described, making horseback riding 20 times more dangerous than motorcycling.” As far as injuries go, horseback riding leads to more spills on average than motorcycling.
According to www.bookofodds.com, the odds a person will visit an emergency department due to a horseback riding accident in a year are 1 in 3,837. Most of these accidents are caused when a horse bucks or bolts, throwing the rider, and female injury rates are typically higher.
The odds a motorcyclist will be injured in an accident in a year are 1 in 82.55. The odds a motorcyclist will be killed in an accident in a year are 1 in 1,488, about the same odds a person will be diagnosed with breast cancer in a year (1 in 1,506). And the odds a rider killed in a motorcycle accident in a year was not wearing a helmet are 1 in 2.39.
POLICE IN ENGLAND ISSUE RIDERS HI-VIS VESTS
Thousands of British motorcyclists are being stopped by police for not wearing high-visibility clothing. Beginning in March, riders will be stopped and given lectures on ?being seen? as well as reflective vests to put on over their jackets or leathers.
The Motorcycle Action Group says the tactics are a step towards compulsory hi-vis clothing or reduced insurance pay-outs for riders in dark kit. ?We?re advising all riders stopped without obvious cause in order to deliver these lectures to make a stand by lodging formal complaints. If police time is tied up too much they may soon drop this tactic.?
QUOTABLE QUOTE: “We may never have tyrants? but if we should have them, they will seek to accomplish the downfall of free government, not by directly overriding the Constitution, but by using the forms of law to strangle and subvert its spirit.”
–Charles S. May (1875)
