PO BOX 114

Marlton, N.J. 08053

www.gardenstateabate.org

Tom Gordon

Legislative Coordinator

State Newsletter Legislative Report –May 2007

Attention to all concerned Motorcyclist who ride in New Jersey

Help us Help You

The legislative committee welcomes all of you to the first edition of the state ABATE news letter legislative report. The legislative committee has been working with your elected officials for the past several years to get bills introduced. Unfortunately many have died in committee do to lack of support.

We can change this with the support of all concerned motorcyclist working together to make New Jersey a better place and safer place to ride. See our 10 points agenda at the end of this report and legislation addressing these issues. We are not inventing anything new. We just want to have the same freedoms and rights that the majority of other states have. Our members have attended leadership and legislative seminars in other states to see how it is done. They need your support to get it done!

There are almost 150,000 registered motorcycles in this state. Almost 300,000 have the motorcycle endorsement on their license. That adds up to a lot of influencing votes at election time. Your elected officials do listen to the voters in their district. We have important state elections coming up this November . We are electing all new Senators and a general assembly. So far 13 Senators will not run for reelection. We need to make sure all candidates are motorcycle friendly. We must know where they stand on our 10 points. A legislative survey from ABATE was sent out to all of our state senators and members of the general assembly only 12 responded. They are the ones that are working with us to get legislation passed.

Our goal is to have 40 legislative representatives in ABATE of the Garden State, aligning ourselves with the 40 legislative districts in the state. Each district has a state senator and 2 members of the general assembly. They all have legislative aids that are just as important to know as the Senator or Assemblyperson.

One example of what ABATE has done was in September of 2006. U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg a strong advocate for a national helmet law sent a letter to all the Governors urging a passage of mandatory helmet laws. An immediate call went out from all the federal and state motorcycle rights organization to write to Lautenberg. They were ignored by him. ABATE of the Garden State went in to action. The result was that Senator Lautenberg staff agreed they would have to meet with us because we are constituents. I had the privilege of representing ABATE of Garden State at this meeting in Washington DC in October 2006. The AMA (American Motorcycle Association) and the MRF (Motorcycle Riders Foundation) could never get meeting with Lautenberg’s staff. We had their government relations reps. join me at this meeting. The theme of our meeting was we won’t our freedom of choice; we will fight you on this issue but let’s work together on motorcycle safety and awareness issues.

Senator Lautenberg is now head of the Senate Transportation Committee.

What have MRO’s/ABATE done to help New Jersey Motorcyclist.

Fair weather inspection dates.

Quality m/c rider education

Handicapped m/c license plates

We no longer have 2 point moving violation for helmet infractions.

ABATE has helped introduce the following bills and support passage of the following bills.

Make May “Motorcycle Awareness Month” SJR 64 and AJR-110

Establish a lane splitting task force to let motorcycles go between lines of traffic:

A-3701

Establishes additional penalties for motor vehicle right of way violations. S1004 and A-3613

ABATE / New Jersey Motorcyclists Alliance is fighting for motorcycle rights on several state level issues. While the helmet issue at the top of our agenda, there are other issues also being brought to the attention of our legislators. Most of these issues will not only help all motorcyclists, but will either directly or indirectly help all motorists.

1. Re-enforce covered load laws

2. Improved public training programs for all motorist and motorcyclist

3. Raising awareness of motorcycles to reduce accidents

4. Modification of the mandatory helmet law

5. Legal lane splitting when motorcyclists are stopped in a traffic jams

6. Go on Red with unresponsive red lights.

7. Make it legal to pump your own gas

8. Handle bar heights, make New Jersey law conform to other states

9. Make it legal to park multiple bikes per spot

10. Is New Jersey misusing funds dedicated to motorcycle safety?

Remember, that the NHTSA has stated that education and training is the most effective way to reduce motorcycle accidents.