safety

Newly published in the Cantina

New Safety Organization, BIKER LIVES MATTER, Formed in Florida John “Rogue” Herlihy is the President who has spent many years working at EASYRIDERS and was a founding member of ABATE while working with other motorcycle advocacy groups to fight for the rights of riders. He was inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Hall of Fame as a Freedom Fighter in 2005! READ THE NEWS BY CLICKING HERE – Subscribe to the Cantina STURGIS 2019 Downtown Downtown Action through Photos By Rogue While I am working on my articles for 2019 Sturgis, I thought I would share some photos from downtown just to give ya an idea of what was happening. Like we use to do in The In The Wind pages back in the day created by Kim Peterson. SEE THE PHOTOS BY CLICKING HERE – Subscribe to the Catina Movie Review: Sgt. Will Gardner A 2019 movie featuring an amazing motorcycle trip by a War Veteran Ujjwal Dey This is a very different movie that just happens to have a motorcycle trip. READ THE MOVIE REVIEW – ONLY IN THE CANTINA – SUBSCRIBE TODAY

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Harley Davidson recalls more than 12k bikes over potential safety issue

Columbia, SC (WOLO) —Harley-Davidson recalled more than 12 thousand motorcycles over a potential safety issue the company says could impact the visibility of affected bikes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the potential issue involves the reflector placement on some motorcycles. NHTSA says both the Touring and CVO Touring motorcycles made between years 2016 through 2019 are affected by this recall. Officials say these bikes were equipped with a Harley-Davidson Detachable Tour-Pak Conversion Kit, but however, only some of the bikes in question that were fitted with this kit are affected by the current recall. If you own one of these bikes and have additional questions, contact Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Inc. for immediate assistance at 1-800-258-2464.

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10 Back to School Safety Tips from Red Cross

Red Cross Offers 10 Ways to Help Keep Students Safe As They Get Ready to Head Back to School  Los Angeles, August 15, 2019 — The school bells will be ringing soon as summer vacation ends and students across Los Angeles head back to class. The American Red Cross offers these steps to help make the trip back to the classroom a safe one. GETTING TO SCHOOL SAFELY If your student rides a bus to school, they should plan to get to their bus stop early and stand away from the curb while waiting for the bus to arrive. Students should board the bus only after it has come to a complete stop and the driver or attendant has instructed them to get on. They should only board their bus, never an alternate one. All students should stay in clear view of the bus driver and never walk behind the bus. Cross the street at the corner, obeying traffic signals and staying in the crosswalk. Never dart out into the street or cross between parked cars. If children ride in a car to get to school, they should always wear a seat belt. Younger children should use car seats or booster seats until the lap-shoulder belt fits properly (typically for children ages 8-12 and over 4’9”), and ride in the back seat until they are at least 13 years old. If a teenager is going to drive to school, parents should mandate that they use seat belts. Drivers should not use their cell phone to text or make calls and avoid eating or drinking while driving. Some students ride their bike to school. They should always wear a helmet and ride on the right in the same direction as the traffic is going. When children are walking to school, they

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Electric scooters: threat to motorcyling or innocent fun?

No license, no registration, no insurance, no helmet: all you need to rent and ride an electric scooter is an app on your phone. FEMA’s Wim Taal looks into why this could be a threat to motorcyclists. Especially in larger cities, a growing number of people are using personal light electric vehicles (PLEVs), to move on the streets, such as ‘e-scooters’ or ‘trottinettes’ and other devices such as Segways, monowheels and powered skateboards. Most of these vehicles are not currently subject to any form of registration, or any other regulation such as type approval, driver training and licensing and third party insurance. It is not up to FEMA to lay out a set of rules for these vehicles, but we are concerned that these type of vehicles could be categorized as powered two-wheelers. That could mean that victims of road accidents with these vehicles end up in motorcycle accident statistics, possibly causing stricter (safety) rules for motorcyclists. The fact that more and more cities are planning parking bans on sidewalks for personal light electric vehicles, can also mean stricter parking rules for motorcycles. Other than most bicycle rental schemes, the rental scooters do not need to be put in docking stations. Typically the vehicles are left all over sidewalks, left behind by the user that reached his destination. ‘If victims of accidents with e-scooters end up in motorcycle accident statistics, stricter (safety) rules for motorcyclists can follow. A parking ban on sidewalks for e-scooters can also mean stricter parking rules for motorcycles’. A number of companies have flooded cities with electric scooters that can be rented using an app on your phone. In Paris for example, over 20,000 of these two-wheelers have been introduced. From an article in the Guardian: “Broken scooters end up in some of the city’s famed

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Safety Vs Freedom Weekly News for June 20, 2019

In a world gone insane with regulation you see that freedom still matters. In Missouri they are about to repeal the adult helmet law. The accident rate for motorcycles hasn’t increased in a decade, yet the number of riders on the road has, but who cares. We ride for freedom and excitement, not to improve safety statistics. The Bikernet Weekly News is sponsored in part by companies who also dig Freedom including: Cycle Source Magazine, the MRF, Las Vegas Bikefest, Iron Trader News, ChopperTown, BorntoRide.com and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. Most recently the Smoke Out and Quick Throttle Magazine came on board. CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEWS IN THE CANTINA – Subscribe to Cantina today

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Motorcycle Helmet Performance: Blowing the Lid Off

Searching for the truth behind motorcycle helmet design, helmet standards and actual head protection By Dexter Ford and California Scientific How good is your helmet? Will it actually protect your brain in your next crash? Will it prevent your next accident? I don’t think so, but it may cause your next accident–watch out. These seem like easy questions, ones you probably think you can answer by reciting the lofty standards your helmet meets and the lofty price you might have paid for it. But the real answers, as you are about to see, are anything but easy. There’s a fundamental debate raging in the motorcycle helmet industry. In a fiberglass-reinforced, expanded-polystyrene nutshell, it’s a debate about how strong and how stiff a helmet should be to provide the best possible protection. READ THE DETAILED REPORT IN THE CANTINA – Click Here Join the Cantina Today for just $24

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The IIHS: When a New Study is Not New and Not a Study

By Gary Biller, NMA President Every two or three years, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) splashes the media with a recycled report of how many deaths have occurred due to raised speed limits. And reporters dutifully echo it as gospel because sensational headlines like, “Speed limit increases are tied to 37,000 deaths over 25 years,” grab attention and generate views. That is the current press release title from IIHS for a just-issued report that is a rehash of a similar effort from 2016. The claim from the insurance industry advocacy group made back then, with uncanny precision for a methodology based almost entirely on assumption and extrapolation, was that 32,894 people died from higher speed limits since the 55 mph National Maximum Speed Limit (NMSL) was repealed. This skeptical review of that IIHS claim three years ago could serve just as well in critiquing the 2019 IIHS repeat of the “speed kills” mantra. Perhaps my favorite quote in the current reporting of the IIHS release is this from Axiom’s “Slow the hell down:” “ ’Every time you raise speed limits, you see more deaths,’ said IIHS vice president for research and statistical services Charles Farmer.” It isn’t necessary to stretch our advocacy muscles even a tiny bit to show this as provably false. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System Encyclopedia publishes annual highway fatalities rates. Speed limits have climbed steadily since the full repeal of the NMSL in 1995, commonly reaching 75, 80 and even 85 mph, and yet fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled have plummeted: 1995                1.73 2000                1.53 2005                1.46 2010                1.11 2015                1.15 The 2017 fatality rate of 1.16 marks a 33 percent reduction over the past 22 years. Mr. Farmer sees statistics differently than most, but then again,

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Weekly Biker Bulletin from Inside the Beltway April 5th 2019

RIDING FREE FROM DC Your Motorcycle Riders Foundation team in Washington, D.C. is pleased to provide our members with the latest information and updates on issues that impact the freedom and safety of American street motorcyclists. Count on your MRF to keep you informed about a range of matters that are critical to the advancement of motorcycling and its associated lifestyle. Published weekly when the U.S. Congress is in session. Capitol Hill Update Ground Game Last week the MRF issued a call to action regarding H. Res 255 the Motorcycle profiling bill introduced by Congressmen Walberg (MI), Burgess (TX), Peterson (MN) and Pocan (WI). Since last week, MRF members have sent over 2,000 letters to their lawmakers. The resolution started with four cosponsors, and a week later we have doubled that number to eight cosponsors. A great example of how reaching out to your lawmaker can lead to results comes to us from the motorcycle community in New York. Congressman Lee Zeldin of New York received the most letters of any member of Congress. His office received over 100 letters asking him to cosponsor H. Res 255. And wouldn’t you know it, Congressman Zeldin jumped on as a cosponsor within days of receiving those letters. However, all members of Congress are not as receptive to their constituents as Congressman Zeldin. However, one thing is for certain, if a Member of Congress doesn’t know a bill or resolution exists, they will not be a co-sponsor. Cosponsors by State Illinois – 1 Michigan – 1 Minnesota – 1 Missouri – 1 New York – 1 Texas – 1 Washington – 1 Wisconsin – 1 States who have sent the Most letters New York Texas Louisiana South Dakota Wisconsin Pennsylvania Arizona Minnesota Michigan California DC Game While we ask our members to contact

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RIDING FREE FROM DC: Your Weekly Biker Bulletin from Inside the Beltway

Your Motorcycle Riders Foundation team in Washington, D.C. is pleased to provide our members with the latest information and updates on issues that impact the freedom and safety of American street motorcyclists. Count on your MRF to keep you informed about a range of matters that are critical to the advancement of motorcycling and its associated lifestyle. Published weekly when the U.S. Congress is in session. Capitol Hill Update Republicans Pressing Democrats With Democrats now the majority party in the House of Representatives, they control the committee chairmanships and thus control the agenda for each committee. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, who has jurisdiction over autonomous vehicle technology, is now chaired by Frank Pallone of New Jersey. This puts Republicans in a role they not been in since 2010, seeking the help of Democrats to tackle legislative priorities. Republican Greg Walden of Oregon, the previous chairman and now ranking member as well as Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers of Washington and Bob Latta of Ohio sent Chairman Pallone a letter regarding the need for Congress to act on autonomous vehicles legislation. “We write to urge the Energy and Commerce Committee to take up bipartisan self-driving vehicle legislation. Last Congress this Committee worked across party lines to draft H.R. 3388, the Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research in Vehicle Evolution Act (SELF DRIVE Act). The SELF DRIVE Act was an example of this Committee at its very best: working together, across the aisle, to develop legislation that will advance lifesaving technology. As a result of our deliberative, transparent, and bipartisan process, the Committee voted unanimously, 54 yeas and 0 nays, to report the SELF-DRIVE Act to the House floor where it again passed unanimously. Unfortunately, the Senate failed to act on the bill,” Walden, Latta, and Rodgers wrote. The MRF has

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California: Anti-Gun Joint Resolution Passes Assembly Public Safety Committee

On Tuesday, March 12, the Assembly Public Safety Committee was scheduled to hear anti-gun bills, AB 12, AB 276 and AJR 5. AB 12 and AB 276 were both pulled from the agenda and are expected to be rescheduled for a later date. AJR 5 passed by the Committee and is eligible for third reading on the Assembly floor at any time. Please contact your State Assembly Member using our TAKE ACTION LINK below urging him/her to OPPOSE AJR 5. https://act.nraila.org/actions/campaigns/5874 Assembly Joint Resolution 5,  sponsored by Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-59) would urge the federal government to adopt universal firearm laws using California as an example. California is far from the example when it comes to firearm laws. Lawful gun owners must navigate a maze of gun laws that are ever changing. Each year the legislature considers numerous proposals that continue to place additional restrictions and costs on lawful gun owners while ignoring the fact that criminals are already ignoring the hundreds of laws on the books. Continue to check your inbox and the California Stand and Fight webpage for updates on issues impacting your Second Amendment rights and hunting heritage in California. JOIN NRA – https://membership.nra.org/Join/Annuals/Prospect National Rifle Association of America, Institute For Legislative Action.

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