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ABATE State Newsletters In these newsletters you can read about issues that affect all New Jersey motorcyclists, thoughtful columns and editorials, as well as events happening in your area. Find out when and where meetings are held and ads from merchants who care about motorcyclists' rights. |
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Ron Paul Brings Libertarian Message To Nevada Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul questioned the need for mandatory seat belt and motorcycle helmet laws, and the Food and Drug Administration in a speech Thursday to anti-aging doctors. The Texas congressman, who preaches strict adherence to the U.S. Constitution, said each was the result of excessive government intervention and regulation that restricts Americans' freedom of choice. Paul said wearing a seat belt or a motorcycle helmet "may well be good advice" but should not be mandatory. |
Wear Motorcycle Helmets? That Is A Good Question! The report then concluded that helmet users face a trade-off between reductions in the severity of head injuries and increases in the severity of neck injuries. Under these circumstances a mandatory helmet use law cannot be reasoned to be an effective method to stop an individuals death or injury when involved in an accident. Perhaps other choices need to be considered in providing safety in motorcycle use. |
Biker club bans: is this the road to less freedom? New laws in South Australia banning motorcycle clubs and giving police the power to confiscate members' cycles take away fundamental rights that we all enjoy. We should all be able to choose who our friends are, who we associate with, what sort of club we choose to form and what sort of motorcycle we choose to ride. The laws are based on a stigma that these clubs might never be able to shake.You may think that what happens in Australia does not matter here. But freedom denied somewhere is freedom denied everywhere. Once this type of law is passed, it becomes a slippery slope, and what is to prevent that from happening here? . |
| Strange News Department Motorcyclist riding with rattler critcally injured in crash  A motorcyclist was critically injured Wednesday afternoon when twine that secured an apparently dead 5-foot rattlesnake to the back of the bike he was riding may have come loose and distracted him as he entered a curve on Almonaster Avenue, police said. "It was one of the strangest accidents I've responded to in my 37 years on the New Orleans Police Department," said Lt. Melvin Howard, assistant commander of the Traffic Division. |
Iconic Daredevil Evel Knievel Dies at 69 Evel Knievel's hard life killed him — it just took longer than he or anyone else might have expected. The hard-living motorcycle daredevil, whose bone-breaking, rocket-powered jumps and stunts made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69. Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed attempt to jump an Idaho canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980. |
| Sister recalls couple as kind, loving people |
Motorcycle accident claims two lives Comments on this accident |
| Couple on motorcycle die in crash Another article with comments |
Scott Bennett, 42, charged in death of Edison motorcyclist Scott Bennett remained in the Monmouth County jail, Freehold Township, this week after being charged with aggravated manslaughter and a host of other crimes in connection with the hit and run death of motorcyclist Timothy J. Flanagan, 41, of Edison, on Oct. 7. |
Federal agency unveils action plan for motorcycle safety The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has unveiled a new motorcycle safety initiative built on an "action plan" designed to guide the federal agency's policy over the coming years. The federal plan, unveiled November 2, was accompanied by a television public-service announcement featuring Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, herself a rider, relating her experience with a motorcycle crash that left her with a broken collarbone. |
Michigan motorcycle-helmet bill passes Senate; faces Granholm veto Legislation that would allow some motorcyclists to ride without helmets has passed the Senate, after clearing the state House last week.The Senate on Thursday approved House Bill 4749, sponsored by Barbara Farrah, D-Southgate. The bill would give riders over 21 the option of going helmetless if they pay an annual state permit fee and meet other requirements. |
Free on three The biggest question posed of the Can-Am Spyder is, "What is it?" That's usually followed by, "Do you have to have a motorcycle license to ride it?" It is a motorcycle, at least in spirit and in concept. It's not a trike in the traditional sense, since the Spyder comes with its two wheels up front and the single wheel trailing aft and acting as the drive wheel, and a trike positions two wheels in the rear, one up front. |
Beyond Repair How a motley group of biker activists dedicated their lives to fighting the mandatory motorcycle helmet law. That day, Judge Barton signed off Quigley’s last pending helmet ticket at Big Basin Park as a correctable violation. That order came out over a year ago; the CHP has yet to appeal the decision, yet across the state they still continue to write motorcyclists tickets for helmet violations. |
Bloomberg Family Foundation Contributes US 9 Million Dollars To WHO To Support Life-saving Road Safety Program The World Health Organization (WHO) announced a US$ 9 million contribution from the Bloomberg Family Foundation to support an important new effort to pilot policies and programmes to prevent the needless loss of life on the world's roads. Prevention programmes will be piloted in Mexico and Viet Nam, and one of the focuses will be on increasing the use of motorcycle helmets.The World Health Organization is trying to make mandatory helmets an international law. This would give national governments the cover they needed to take away another freedom of choice from people across the planet. They should stick to wiping out diseases and stay out of our recreational activities. Remember this when you invest your money in Bloomberg accounts. Don't help to finance the enemy of your freedom of choice! |
Lawmakers: Helmet law doesn’t belong in N.H. The NTSB is full of “latecomers to the party,” Cote said. While he praised the board’s investigations of plane crashes and shipwrecks, Cote said the board does not have the experience to make meaningful recommendations about motorcycle safety. “They should stay out of the motorcycle business,” Cote said. “I’m pretty upset they’re coming in here and blasting us.” Cote said the best way to prevent accidents is to promote cyclist safety and education, not through helmet laws. Cote waxed philosophical, saying that motorcyclists — and people in general — spend their lives cheating death. Why not “Live Free”? |
Without solid crash data, helmet dispute is worthless So, the question is how best to avoid accidents. And that question is not answered by intermittent cries of "Helmet!" and "No helmet!" We must evolve some greater sophistication here. The goal here is accident avoidance, not guilt diminishment by slapping some helmets on other people's heads or some guilt on other people's conscience. |
Some interesting Virginia statistics  According to the Virginia DMV: In 2003, motorcycle fatalities made up 6.4 percent of all fatal motor vehicle crashes In 2004, motorcycle fatalities made up 6.9 percent of all fatal motor vehicle crashes In 2005, motorcycle fatalities made up 7.9 percent of all fatal motor vehicle crashes Wow, when you look at it like that, it seems that each year there is an increase in the percentage of motorcyclists dying on the roads in Virginia. But let's compare apples to apples now - what's the percentage of motorcycle fatalities per year when factoring in motorcycle registrations? |
NTSB Recommends Motorcycle Helmet Laws Nationwide As most bikers know, Arkansas currently has a freedom of choice law...meaning that riders can choose to wear or not wear a helmet when they hit the road. The NTSB recommendation is sending a speed bump through the biking community. A federally mandated motorcycle helmet law could impact Arkansas tourism. Many bikers from Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana --all states that have helmet laws-- come to the Natural State on motorcycle rides. Since the vast majority of auto accidents are head injuries, why limit the protection of helmets to a small minority of vehicles? Let's mandate helmets for ALL vehicles. That would save far more lives than just mandating them for motorcycles. Common sense would dictate this. |
Open letter to NTSB chairman  Rather than using the taxpayer-provided resources of your bureacratic office to pursue restrictions on the use of cell phones while driving, which might have saved 10,660 lives (25% of 42,642 fatalities) last year, you chose instead to go on what the press calls a mandatory helmet law "crusade", which in comparison might have saved at best only 769 lives. Had you made the responsible choice, Mr. Rosenker, our nation could be saving almost 15 TIMES AS MANY LIVES by restricting the use of cellphones by drivers rather than requiring helmets for riders.Bruce Arnold makes a great point in this letter and we should support his call if we do not want universal mandates for motorcyclists. |
HIPPA Loophole Could Cost You! The HIPAA loophole allows employer-sponsored health insurance plans to deny payments for particular injuries that stem from any risky recreational behavior. Another wrinkle is that the employer can determine what behaviors they want to define as risky. Some have refused payment of hospital bills for injuries as common as sprained ankles resulting from jogging. And although it is a legal form of transportation subject to taxes, tolls and licensing fees, for some reason motorcycling is specifically mentioned in HIPAA as a hazardous recreational activity. |
Puerto Rico passes strict new law regulating motorcyclists A measure recently signed into law by the governor of Puerto Rico will require riders to wear not only a helmet, but also gloves, boots, and long pants. After dark, riders must wear a reflective vest, and the law also tightens age restrictions on riders and imposes new testing requirements. In some ways, the law is even more restrictive than the requirements on many U.S. military bases.The law essentially moves Puerto Rico from having less stringent regulations than most states to having more restrictive requirements than any of the 50 states.This is a taste of what may come if bikers don't unite and work together to protect their freedoms. |
Letter: Driver awareness will save more lives Occasionally an article or editorial catches my eye, and often for all the wrong reasons. This is another of those occasions. The wearing of a seat belt in an automobile does not, in any manner, equate to the wearing of a helmet on the head of a motorcyclist. Not even a little. The ONLY relationship between the two is that they’re both termed “safety equipment” by their pundits and manufacturers. |
Hilton Head tries new traffic ticket system Paperless electronic traffic program lets deputies issue more violations. Hilton Head Island has just completed the first pilot program in South Carolina for a new computerized traffic ticketing system that allows deputies to scan licenses into laptop computers and print out tickets in their cruisers. Deputies can write three to four tickets in the time it usually takes to write one.Will making traffic tickets easier to write reduce the accident rate or raise more cash for municipal and state budgets? |
$538 fine appealed in fatal motorcycle crash case A Washington state driver who was issued a traffic ticket for causing a fatal crash on Tieton Drive has appealed the $538 fine. Raquel Cherie Lemos, 24, of Yakima was cited for second-degree negligent driving for her role in a crash earlier this summer that claimed the life of motorcyclist Dean O. Wilson. Can you believe this woman? She negligently kills someone, gets a slap on the wrist, and then appeals. This woman should be serving time after recklessly causing a death. ABATE and other motorcycle rights organizations are working hard to increase the penalties that result in deaths or serious injuries because of a right of way violation. |
84-year-old celebrates birthday on motorcycle The white locks of an 84-year-old Killeen woman's hair caught the rushing wind as she sped down U.S. Highway 190 Sunday on the back of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.It was a lifelong dream fulfilled for Phadra "Sha-Sha" Wilson. The ride was a late birthday present from her son, Ron Wilson. |
Close call with deer video I have been riding for over 35 years and the thing that scares me the most is a run in with an unexpected deer. These animals are so unpredictable and any collision with one is likely to be a serious one. Check out this video to see two very lucky riders. They can talk about their close call, but there is nothing quite as descriptive as seeing it on a video. |
The KillaCycle - World's Fastest Electric Motorcycle Straddling a 619-pound motorcycle, Scotty Pollacheck tucks in his knees and lowers his head as he awaits the green light. When he revs the engine, there's no roar. The bike moves so fast that within seconds all that's visible is a faint red taillight in the distance. Pollacheck crosses the quarter-mile marker doing 156 mph, faster than any of the gas-powered cars, trucks or motorcycles in the drag sprints on this weekend at Portland International Raceway. |
Biker fails to notice missing leg A Japanese biker failed to notice his leg had been severed below the knee when he hit a safety barrier, and rode on for more than a mile, leaving a friend to pick up the missing limb. He felt excruciating pain, but did not notice that his right leg was missing until he stopped at the next junction. |
Nova Scotia: Saving lives by breaking the law McQuarrie and his wife, Marion, who have been driving motorcycles since the 1980s, have placed an LED light under the headlights on the front of their motorcycles. The LED light is a slow flashing amber light used on a number of slow vehicles, such as mail carriers or tow trucks, explained McQuarrie. They are trying to get provincial legislation changed to have the word “motorcycles” included in the Motor Vehicle Act under the safety lights section. |
Possible Sturgis problem  This is a heads up on a possible problem. Spread the word, and please contact Frank Ernst if you have problems.I have heard information indicating law enforcement may be conducting a planned stop (sting sounds right) on interstate Highway #90 in Martin county. The areas I believe will be affected are interstate highway #90 and entrances and exits from interstate #90 between exit #87 Sherburn and exit #107 Imogene. This includes exit #93 Welcome, exit #99 and #102 Fairmont. |
| Motorcycles find broad appeal |
Lodi Biker Rally Gets Hit With $5M Policy Demand Lodi will be filled with motorcyclist this weekend, pumping up the local economy. However, some officials are wary of the type of crowd rolling into town. The city has brought in a $5 million dollar insurance policy demand to the organizers of the gathering. An amount 5 times higher than expected. Chris Ranuio, the rally's organizer, says it boggles his mind, and may be discrimination to single them out.I wonder why bikers would patronize a town that clearly does not want them. Would they not be better off filing a discrimination suit and then boycotting the town after that? With bikers being welcomed in more and more towns because of the economic clout they have, it does not make sense to "fund the enemy". |
Stricter NC helmet bill approved, sent to Gov. Easley The bill would require motorcycle riders to wear federally approved helmets and outlaw novelty helmets -- often called "brain buckets" -- that have little to no padding and are not designed for safety purposes. Advocates hope the legislation leads to fewer fatalities. Some motorcycle riders argue they should have the freedom to wear what they choose.Now here is a state that is moving backwards. While more and more states are repealing their helmet laws, NC is tightening theirs. Remember this next you are passing through NC and buy your gas in South Carolina. South Carolina believes you can make your own informed adult decision on this issue without the state making it for you. |
Help the AMA end health insurance discrimination against motorcyclists The AMA is working to get HR 1076 passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill would close a loophole that allows denial of health insurance benefits to people injured in a motorcycle crash, or other excluded activities, such as skiing or horseback riding. (A similar bill has also been introduced in the U.S. Senate.) |
Sikh who refused to wear helmet gets cash from Canada's Wonderland An amusement park in Canada has awarded compensation to a Sikh man after he complained he was discriminated against for refusing to take off his turban and wear a helmet to drive a go-kart. Religious freedom and helmet use legislation have come head-to-head before. In November, a case is scheduled to be heard in Ontario involving a Sikh man who was charged with riding his motorcycle without a helmet. In Manitoba and British Columbia there are exemptions to motorcycle helmet laws for Sikhs who wear turbans. |
Cell phone use while driving is now a primary offense.  The State of New Jersey has just made driving while using a cell phone a primary offense. This means that a police officer can now pull you over solely because you were talking on the phone. This also includes text messaging.
A conviction (or guilty plea) to this offense will be considered as a conviction/plea for "unsafe driving". While this is a no-point violation, it carries a $250.00 surcharge meaning that this ticket can cost anywhere from $380.00 - $439.00 for a first offense!!ABATE supports this law since it will tend to discourage auto drivers from texting and talking on their cell phones and therefore decreases the chances of an accident with a motorcycle. Motorcyclists do not use cell phones when driving! |
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Federal Gas Tax Money Fuels Ticket Quotas Nationwide Law enforcement agencies across the country are encouraged to write tickets with prizes paid for by federal gas tax dollars. The National Highway Transportation Safety Agency (NHTSA) diverts federal gas tax revenue to offer incentives for local police to increase the number of traffic tickets written. In South Carolina, for example, the state police on Tuesday presented six new, fully-equipped police cruisers to local agencies with the best traffic citation performance. |
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FL State Rep. Files Bill Targeting Motorcycle 'Thrill Riders' MIAMI -- State Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera recently went on an eye opening ride-along with the Florida Highway Patrol, following speeding motorcyclists. After the ride-along, Lopez-Cantera filed a bill in Tallahassee that would toughen penalties on speeding, stunt driving and hiding or flipping tags. "They'll lose their bike," Lopez-Cantera said. "Their motorcycle license will be revoked for 10 years, and it's a mandatory arrest so they will go to jail."Hmm, 10 years loss of license and jail time for doing a wheelie, but if an auto driver carelessly kills a biker, he gets a fine. Hardly seems proprtionate to me! |
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No push for helmet laws in Illinois SPRINGFIELD, Illinois is among only three states that don't require helmet use while riding a motorcycle, no matter a person's age. Mandatory helmet laws are the most high profile and controversial motorcycle issues often dealt with by lawmakers and lobbyists. Iowa has no law on helmets, either. But some in Illinois say there is no momentum toward changing the law in this state. |
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Chicks on HOGS “It can be intimidating to walk into a motorcycle shop and say, ‘Hey, I want a motorcycle,’ and try and get it home on your own,” said Dave Russell, sales manager at Ohio Motorcycle in Hilliard. “Now, they’re being instructed and learning more how to do it.” Hopping on a motorcycle is “very empowering,” said Besece, an avid rider herself. “Women are much more independent now.” |
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Open Letter to Ms. Adelus  The leading cause of motorcycle fatalities, Ms. Adelus, is NOT the "...absence of a helmet". The leading cause is the absence of motorcycle safety policies focused on crash prevention (aimed at motorists) rather than crash survival (aimed at motorcyclists) ... a condition not likely to be remedied so long as incompetent journalists like you continue to parrot spurious statistics and bureaucratic spin that serve no purpose other than to blame the victims for the crime |
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| ABATE November Legislative Update Check out the many bills coming up that are critical to bikers in NJ and the nation. Click here to find out where the election winners stand on motorcycle issues. Now that the election is over, we will be working closely with the legislators to advance our issues. We have some strong support in both the Senate and Assembly and hope to pass some legislation during this lame duck session. |
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Bikers' no-helmet victory could be short-lived LANSING -- Tireless fans of helmet-free motorcycle riding in Michigan secured another legislative victory Thursday as the state Senate endorsed a permit system that would allow riders to pay $100 a year to ride sans headgear. But victory may be fleeting.Gov. Jennifer Granholm appears poised to veto this attempt -- as she did another in 2006 -- despite efforts to make the idea more attractive by funneling money from the fee to the state budget.Granholm knows what's best for bikers. She has never ridden, but her nanny instincts override all. |
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Motorcycle ban in downtown Delray postponed pending study Facing an overflow audience of leather-clad, tattooed motorcyclists, the Delray Beach City Commission Tuesday backed away from a proposed ban on bikers in a five-block area of Atlantic Avenue. Instead, commissioners voted to conduct a 90-day study, going from business to business asking if motorcycle noise is a problem. The ban was initially proposed after some business owners complained that loud motorcycle noise were annoying customers.Hundreds of brave freedom fighters drove their motorcycles in the rain to protest this unconstitutional legislation. |
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Delray may ban motorcyclists from upscale Atlantic Avenue A Delray Beach proposal to ban motorcyclists from an upscale stretch of Atlantic Avenue peppered with outdoor eateries has drawn outrage from bikers across South Florida, stirring concern that other cities may follow suit. Hundreds of motorcycle riders from Palm Beach and Broward counties are expected to protest at City Hall tonight."The national organizations are watching this because it has implications beyond Delray Beach," Cannava said. "If they pass this law, we will file a class action lawsuit against the city of Delray Beach for discrimination against bikers." |
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Best Underwater Motorcycle Created in Russia The underwater motorcycle allows going underwater without any special equipment: the body of a motorcycle rider stays in water and the head – in a kind of helmet serving as a diving-bell and is equipped with an air supplying system. The electronic motors of the motorcycle let it move in all directions underwater. |
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Michigan House passes bill to allow helmetless motorcycling Despite a likely veto from Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the state House today again passed a bill that would allow some motorcycle riders to go without a helmet. Legislation with a similar theme passed the Legislature last year, but Granholm rejected it, citing safety concerns. It's a shame that the will of legislative representatives of the people, the House and the Senate can be overriden by a single minded person who wants to play nanny to the adult riders in her state. |
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NJ biker killed by driver with death wish  Timothy Flanagan died Sunday when, according to authorities, 41-year-old Scott Bennett of Freehold ran a stop sign on Route 537 in Freehold while eluding a police officer, and drove into the path of Flanagan's motorcycle. Witnesses told police that after Bennett, who had recently been released from the Ocean County Jail in Toms River, collided with the bike, he got out of his GMC Jimmy, surveyed the carnage, then got back into the truck, backed over the victim and drove away. Bennett then drove to his home, where he was taken into custody by police.He backed over the victim and was not charged with muder? He was even offered bail? |
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NJ Senator proposes increasing tailgating fines District 2 Senator James McCollough, R-Atlantic, plans to introduce legislation to substantially increase fines for motorists convicted of tailgating. The fines will increase from $55 to $100 for tailgating an automobile, and from $55 to $250 for tailgating a motorcycle. "Motorcyclists are far more vulnerable to serious injury and death from a tailgating car", McCullogh said. "Motorcycle riders are totally exposed, without the protection offered by a automobile." |
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WHO project calls for helmets The World Health Organisation Representative in Viet Nam, Jean-Marc Olive, yesterday urged Vietnamese people to take heed of the mandatory helmet law applicable to all motorists starting in mid-December. Many countries have raised rates of helmet use through mandatory helmet-use laws, he noted, citing Thailand, where helmets have been mandatory since 1999.The WHO should spend more of their time doing what they do best which is fighting diseases, and stay out of our recreational activities. See the article about how the Bloomberg family is donating millions to help fight against your freedoms. . |
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Bikers: A $5 license could save your life First, the good news about motorcycling in New Jersey: George Clooney had a license to drive his rented Harley when it crashed Sept. 21 in Weehawken. Now, the bad news: Too many New Jersey bikers don't have them. How many? More bad news: Nobody's sure. State Motor Vehicle Commission computers don't regularly track bikers with motorcycle endorsements -- the $5 authorizations required to drive bikes. |
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Governor Corzine signs legislation A-3385/S-2589 (Wisniewski, Whelan/Sacco, Madden) – Permits certain motorcycle dealers to offer State-approved motorcycle safety education course.S-2087/A-3372 (Sweeney, Turner/Fisher, Stack, Albano, Van Drew, Burzichelli) – Requires new State residents to register their vehicles in New Jersey. |
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Open Letter to NHTSA Administrator Nicole R. Nason "For the passenger vehicle drivers involved in [fatal] two-vehicle motorcycle crashes, 35 percent of the driver-related factor was failure to yield right-of-way compared to only 4 percent for motorcycle operators."Any cub reporter (wait and see) will interpret that to mean that the automobile driver was at fault in these accidents only 35 percent of the time, which would conversely mean that "it was the biker's fault" 65 percent of the time. Is that what this conclusion was intended to convey, Ms. Nason? Well, you and I know that is neither accurate nor complete information, is it? |
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Open Letter to NTSB Member Kathryn O'Leary "Kitty" Higgins The fact that the motorcycle registration, vehicle miles traveled, and helmetless rider fatality statistics presented in your sessions to support these recommendations......were materially misleading and served no purpose other than to cover up the fact that--after twelve months and the expenditure of millions of taxpayer dollars--the NTSB has released "motorcycle safety recommendations" that fail to address the causes of 84 percent of all motorcycle fatalities ... principal among those being the right-of-way violations of motorists who are negligent, careless, distracted and/or impaired by alcohol or cell phone conversations. |
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Richard Quigley (1943-2007): Biker fought the law and often won SANTA CRUZ — Richard James Quigley, a biker who became a local folk hero by wearing a baseball cap in defiance of the state's motorcycle helmet law, died over the weekend from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was 63. A Santa Cruz County resident for more than three decades, Quigley ran unsuccessfully for county sheriff and the 17th Congressional District in the mid-'90s, but it was his reputation as a protector of the First Amendment that often preceded him. |
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George Clooney's Motorcycle Mayhem George Clooney logged some time back at the ER—unfortunately for the Oscar-winning star, this trip was all too real. The actor and his girlfriend, Sarah Larson, suffered broken bones Friday after their motorcycle was sideswiped by a car in New Jersey. The car signaled left, George was riding to the right and the driver decided to make an abrupt right turn and clipped George. |
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Motorcycle safety — Heads up In the wake of reports showing a stark rise in the number of motorcycle fatalities in the U.S., the inevitable call has gone out for stiffer helmet laws. But before anybody starts writing statutes, let's remember something. The problem isn't all the fault of motorcycle riders. Motorists in cars and trucks are playing a role, too. |
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Requiring helmets for bikers: New battle coming The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) unanimously voted this week to recommend all states require motorcyclists to wear helmets. The NTSB can't mandate such laws, but has the power to make recommendations to states. Many motorcycle riders in the Illinois Quad-Cities would fight another attempt to mandate helmet use, which the federal government is urging states to do. |
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| My thoughts on the NTSB call for requiring helmetsIf the board members of NTSB were truly interested in saving lives of motorcyclists, they should not be trying to take away our freedom to make our own informed decisions on this issue. The effect of this is to alienate the very people they should be working with. Would it not make far more sense for them to work with the motorcycling community in a cooperative fashion to make recommendations that would be embraced by bikers? No organization can have successful and efficient programs when the target for these programs considers them the enemy, ignores their pronouncements, and is hostile to anything they say. Please read the links on this page about the NTSB pronouncement. This is a great time to write to the NTSB and tell them what you think of their recommendations. |
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Mandatory helmet laws bring up same old arguments The recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board comes a year after 4,810 motorcyclists died in crashes, accounting for more than 10 percent of all motor vehicle fatalities in the United States. Most motorcyclists have medical insurance. Why pick on them, a Colorado respresentative asked, when the same objections aren’t raised about the far greater number of people who get brain injuries in car crashes? |
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Fabricating Trends in Fatal Motorcycle Crashes Cherry Picking - NHTSA is cherry picking data. In the opening summary, motorcycle fatalities are presented as a crisis: "Since 1997 motorcycle rider fatalities have increased 89%. So instead of starting out the report with a horrifying 89% increase in fatalities, NHTSA could have begun by saying that since 1980 motorcycle fatalities have dropped 22%. But then there's no crisis, and we wouldn't need to be saved, or at least not by them. |
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| Lowlife caught after stealing motorcycle |
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V2 Sponge Motorcycle Helmet Visor Cleaning System Why it works is a mystery, but the company says that the "microcell" foam has the "tiniest fibres you can imagine" (that's "fibers" for us Yanks) that -- get this -- "don't just slide over the muck that's left on your visor, they actually cut into it like little cheesewires and lift it away." |
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Multi-Agency Drug Task Force Wastes Money and Time Harassing Wheel-Chair Bound Patient Yesterday, the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force in southeastern New Mexico entered another skirmish in the failed war on drugs. Officers raided and seized a marijuana grow operation from the home of Leonard French, a paraplegic man who lost the use of both of his legs in a motorcycle accident. They seized...six plants, most of which were dead. Medical marijuana is legal in the state of New Mexico. |
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Helmets don't save Louisiana motorcyclists Despite passing a mandatory helmet law in 2004, motorcycle fatalities in Louisiana are on a record pace and on course for one of the worst totals in the country, Highway Safety Commission executive director James Champagne told attendees at a safety summit in Baton Rouge. |
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| HELMET LAW FACTS By Warren Woodward, Chair, State Legislative Committee Street Bikers United Hawaii, 2007  If helmets have significant safety benefits, then the ratio of deaths to accidents should decline as the use of helmets increases, such as after a mandatory helmet law is enacted. Yet in most states the Death to Accident Ratio (DAR) averages between 2% to 3% both before and after helmet laws have been enacted.Below is a table prepared from information supplied by the Maryland Department of Transportation for the years 1985 to 2000. |
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| How do we get cagers to hang up and drive? (One Hundred Dollars for the Best Idea!)  In last month's "Hang Up and Drive!" installment, I pointed out that there are currently 236 million cell phone subscribers on our roadways ... that 73% of them are talking while they are driving ... that cell phone conversations impair their driving skills as much if they were intoxicated with alcohol... and that consequently they are four times more likely to cause or be involved in an accident than motorists who responsibly shut up and steer. And for those of you who discount these statistics--or for whatever reason refuse to accept the fact that cell phone conversation-impaired cagers are one of the greatest and growing threats to the safety of American motorcyclists. |
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| Fatal motorcycle accidents on rise across the nation |
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AMA Needs Help Fighting Health-insurance Discrimination For years, motorcyclists, ATVers, snowmobilers, horseback riders, skiers, hang gliders, scuba divers and others have faced discrimination from some employers who specifically ban those legal recreational activities from coverage under their health-insurance programs. That has put thousands of Americans in a position of either purchasing separate insurance policies just to cover them for one activity, or facing the risk of going without coverage. |
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Using your head, and a helmet Some people believe that we need the state to act as our nanny and that we are not capable of making our own informed adult decisions. Visit this site to leave your own comments on this article. |
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Report: NJ roads most inefficient The Reason Foundation study measures the performance of state-owned roads and highways from 1984 to 2005 in 12 different categories, including traffic fatalities, congestion, pavement condition, bridge condition, highway maintenance and administrative costs, to determine each state's ranking and cost-effectiveness. Drivers in California, Minnesota, New Jersey and North Carolina are stuck in the worst traffic, with over 70 percent of urban Interstates in those states qualifying as congested, the researchers say. |
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MA Bill would let motorcyclists take off their helmets Al Rizzo takes his motorcycle helmet off his head as soon as his bike touches the New Hampshire line because it's uncomfortable - and because he can. "I don't like it," said Rizzo, owner of East Coast Cycle Designs in Methuen. "It's hard to see, and it gets hot. ... I think people should have the choice to wear them or not if they're over 21." Some state lawmakers agree. |
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More Motorcycle Deaths As Boomers Hit The Road The number of riders keeps rising dramatically, but unfortunately, the number of people dying while riding their motorcycle, is going up even faster. Experts say many of riders have never been on a cycle before. In fact, two-thirds of all motorcyclists in Minnesota are baby boomers and late Generation Xers who might not have the experience. |
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| Survey Results For the last several months ABATE of the Garden State ran a survey on this website asking respondants to rate 11 issues to determine their legislative priorities for motorcycle rights. Here are the priorities you asked us to focus on:
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