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Feb 01
Love0

National Roadway Safety Strategy Announced

By General Posts

Thursday afternoon, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced a new national road safety campaign. The plan, known as the “National Roadway Safety Strategy,” comes in response to increased year over year fatalities on our nation’s roadways. In 2020, an estimated 38,680 people died as a result of a motor vehicle crash. Of those, approximately 9% were motorcyclists’ fatalities.

What is most alarming about the increase in fatalities, is that the total number of miles traveled on our roads decreased during the pandemic. Americans traveled 13.2% less miles in 2020 than we did in 2019, but we saw a 7.2% increase in deaths.

The preliminary numbers for the first 6 months of 2021 are also troublesome. From January through the end of June 2021 an estimated 20,160 people died in crashes. That is the largest number of projected deaths in that time frame since 2006.

To combat this trend the plan outlines five key objectives:

  • Safer People: Encourage safe, responsible behavior by people who use our roads and create conditions that prioritize their ability to reach their destination unharmed.
  • Safer Roads: Design roadway environments to mitigate human mistakes and account for injury tolerances, to encourage safer behaviors, and to facilitate safe travel by the most users.
  • Safer Vehicles: Expand the availability of vehicle systems and features that help to prevent crashes and minimize the impact of crashes on both occupants and non-occupants.
  • Safer Speeds: Promote safer speeds in all roadway environments through a combination of thoughtful, context-appropriate roadway design, targeted education, and outreach campaigns, and enforcement.
  • Post-Crash Care: Enhance the survivability of crashes through expedient access to emergency medical care, while creating a safe working environment for vital first responders and preventing secondary crashes through robust traffic incident management practices.

The recently passed infrastructure bill has components and funding to help achieve some of these goals. For example, $14 billion in new funding was specifically allocated for road safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also announced plans this week to increase the data it collects on crashes. The agency wants to boost the number of crashes investigated and add additional studies that examine crashes involving medium-duty trucks, pedestrians, and workers who are hit on the road.

We at the Motorcycle Riders Foundation are encouraged to see that the U.S. Department of Transportation is taking a complete view of traffic safety, incorporating multiple factors to make our roadways safer. We also remain committed to the theory of crash avoidance, as a crash that doesn’t happen is always safer than one that does.

To get more detail and read the 41 page report click here.

About Motorcycle Riders Foundation: The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) provides leadership at the federal level for states’ motorcyclists’ rights organizations as well as motorcycle clubs and individual riders.
See website at: http://mrf.org/

Sep 25
Love0

Kanopolis City, Kansas Ordinance for Off-Road Motorcycles

By General Posts

from https://www.indyrepnews.com

(First Published in the Ellsworth County Independent/
Reporter, September 23, 2021)

ORDINANCE NO. 2021-O-02

AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE USE OF OFF-ROAD MOTORCYCLES (ALSO KNOWN AS ‘DIRT BIKES’) ON THE STREETS OF KANOPOLIS, KANSAS, AND PROVIDING FOR PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF THE SAME.

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF KANOPOLIS, ELLSWORTH COUNTY, KANSAS:
The purpose of this Ordinance is to protect the health, safety, property and well-being of the citizens of Kanopolis by regulating the use of off-road motorcycles in the city which may endanger the safety of persons driving, bicycling or walking on the roads, the safety of motorists, cyclists or pedestrians, the safety of its operators, and which may disturb the use and enjoyment of land. This section shall apply throughout the city, both on and off streets and highways and on all public and private land.

• Sec. 1. – Definition.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this section, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Off-road motorcycle or dirt bike means any motorized nonhighway vehicle traveling on two tires, and having a seat designed to be straddled by the operator, and/or any motorcycle licensed for highway travel being utilized off of a street, roadway or improved surface.

• Sec. 2. – Unsafe use of off-road motorcycles prohibited.
The following practices constitute unsafe use of off-road motorcycles in the city:
(1) Use of an off-road motorcycle one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise without headlights and rear lights installed and illuminated.
(2) Use of an off-road motorcycle without a rearview mirror.
(3) Use of an off-road motorcycle without a warning device such as a horn.
(4) Use of an off-road motorcycle with more than one person on the seat, unless the seat has been specifically designed by the manufacturer to hold more than one person. In no case shall there be more passengers than the off-road motorcycle is designed to carry.
(5) Use of an off-road motorcycle without the driver and passengers wearing protective headgear. The headgear must conform with minimum standards of construction and performance as proscribed by the National Standards Institute specification Z90.1 or by the federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 218.
(6) Use of an off-road motorcycle by a driver under the age of 14.
(7) Operating an off-road motorcycle that is not equipped at all times with an effective and suitable muffling device on its engine to effectively deaden or muffle the noise of the exhaust. Each off-road motorcycle must meet noise emission standards of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and in no case exceed 82 decibels of sound pressure level at 50 feet on the “A” scale as measured by the SAE standards.
(8) Operating an off-road motorcycle that is not equipped at all times with a working spark arrester.
(9) Operation of off-road motorcycle at speeds greater than reasonable and prudent for the existing conditions.
(10) Operating an off-road motorcycle in violation of ordinances or regulations applicable to motor vehicles, except as expressively permitted by the article, or in reckless manner in such a way as to recklessly create a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to another person.
(11) Operating an off-road motorcycle in a manner so as to endanger any person or property.
(12) Operating an off-road motorcycle in such a manner as to create an excessive amount or introduction into the air of dust, dirt or other particulate or substance.
(13) Operating an off-road motorcycle in any manner that would harass game or domestic animals.
(14) The operation of an off-road motorcycle by a child under the age of 18 without the immediate and visual supervision of an adult.

• Sec. 3. – Restricted operation of off-road motorcycles.
Except as this Ordinance specifically permits and authorizes, no person shall operate a dirt bike or other off-road motorcycle vehicle within the city limits:
(1) On the portion of any right-of-way of any public highway, street, road, trail or alley used for motor vehicle travel, unless the motorcycle is fully licensed for highway use.
(2) On a public sidewalk provided for pedestrian travel.
(3) On private property of another without the specific expressed permission of the owner or person in control of the property.
(4) On any property owned by the City of Kanopolis or on any other public property, including parks and recreational areas, except by special event issued permit.
(5) Within 100 feet of any school, park, pedestrian, utility work, or construction area where the operation would conflict with use or endanger other persons or property.
(6). In or on a railroad right-of-way

• Sec. 4. – Responsibilities of parents and landowners.
(a) Parents and responsible adults. It shall be a violation of this division for any parent, guardian, or adult with supervisory responsibility to permit a child less than 18 years of age to operate an off-road motorcycle in a manner prohibited by this Ordinance.
(b) Landowners. It shall be a violation of this division for any landowner or rightful possessor of real property to suffer or permit the operation of off-road motorcycles on property that they own or possess as prohibited or in a manner prohibited by this ordinance.

• Sec. 5. – Violations and penalties.
(a) Upon a first conviction for a violation of sections 2 and 3, the court shall assess a fine of no less than $50.00. Upon a second conviction, the court shall issue a fine of no less than $200.00. Upon a third or subsequent conviction, the court shall issue a fine of no less than $350.00. No prior conviction shall be considered in determining the penalty to be assessed if 24 months have elapsed between the date of the violation and the date of the conviction next immediately preceding the sentencing date.
(b) No person shall be eligible for a parole, suspension or reduction of any part of a fine except that portion of any fine or combination of fines that exceeds $200.00 assessed from the same set of operative facts may be suspended for 12 months on the condition the violator have no further violations of the ordinance during that period.
(c) Each occurrence of a violation constitutes a separate offense and shall be punishable as such hereunder.

• Sec. 6. Standard Traffic Ordinance. A person operating an off-road motorcycle within the corporate limits of the City shall be required to follow all rules and regulations as set forth in the “Standard Traffic Ordinance for Kansas Cities” as prepared and published in book form by the League of Kansas Municipalities, Topeka, Kansas, as adopted by the governing body.

• Sec. 7. – Enforcement.
This division shall be enforced by the city police department.

ADOPTED AND APPROVED by the Governing Body, this 14th day of September, 2021.

CITY OF KANOPOLIS

By: Edward A. Hopkins, Mayor

(SEAL)

ATTEST:

Deborah Kralik, City Clerk

1t 9/23