Copyright 2007, American Motorcyclist Association
December 2007
Puerto Rico has postponed the strict new requirements on motorcyclists shortly after they were due to take effect. The legislature voted to postpone implementation of the new law until February 2008.
The Puerto Rico Senate voted unanimously to postpone the law and the House approved the delay by a 36-3 vote. Legislators said the delay would give the government more time to establish the training and licensing programs called for in the original bill. They also said they would listen to motorcyclists' complaints about the new law.
The 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 US military bases.
Legislative sponsors said the law was a response to increasing numbers of motorcycle fatalities on the Caribbean island.
Owners of currently registered motorcycles are allowed to continue riding, but will have to comply with the new licensing requirements when they renew their drivers licenses.
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. Previously, motorcyclists in Puerto Rico were not required to pass a riding test and get a motorcycle endorsement unless they wanted to use the island's toll highways.
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New York State Troopers, in conjunction with local police and the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles Field Investigations Unit stopped some 280 motorcyclists at a safety checkpoint in Dutchess County over a weekend in October and wrote 105 tickets for safety and equipment violations. Most of the tickets were for riders wearing helmets that didn't meet state safety standards.
Police say motorcyclists now account for 10% of all the people killed in traffic accidents, up from 5% 10 years ago. They say about a quarter of the motorcyclists killed in 2005 were unlicensed, and 61% of those killed in single-vehicle crashes were impaired.
At the checkpoint, which was modeled after a commercial vehicle checkpoint, motorcyclists were directed into the rest area where state and local police and DMV investigators conducted inspections for proper licenses, safety helmets, exhaust systems and other safety and regulatory violations.
They attribute the rising death toll to more bikers on the road, weaker helmet laws in other states and a growing number of inexperienced riders, among other reasons. State police plan to expand the roadside inspection program next summer.
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Europe's Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations (FEMA) welcomes the Turkish Enduro Motorcycle Club Association (EMOK) as new full member. The Federation now gathers and represents 24 national riders' organizations coming from 19 different countries.
EMOK was created in 2002 in Istanbul with the objective to represent and defend the rights of riders, raise awareness on motorcycle issues, and broaden the sharing of knowledge and culture among riders from different regions and countries. EMOK wishes to promote all aspects of motorcycling.
The association is actively campaigning against crash barriers and traffic tolls. It is working on several other central issues such as speed limits, the elimination of black spots on the roads and the need for appropriate road accident statistics. EMOK also strongly emphasizes the need for appropriate training and developed several motorcycle courses. Last but not least: a group of lawyers - members of the association - offer support to riders needing legal assistance.
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California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law AB 1581, legislation which allows for repair or replacement of traffic signals as they come up for routine maintenance. The signals will be modified to take into account the sensitivity needed to be tripped by motorcycles and bicycles.
Assemblywoman Jean Fuller (Bakersfield) authored this bill can be thanked at: assemblymember.fuller@assembly.ca.gov. This significant legislation has been championed by ABATE of California for many years.
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Vancouver, BC, Canada, with its high-rises that reverberate noise, has become the front lines in the battle against loud and unnecessary sounds in the Canadian Northwest.
Former Vancouver Councilman Tim Stevenson successfully waged a campaign to ban leaf blowers in the West End in 2004. Now the Liberal MLA who narrowly defeated him in the 2005 provincial election, Lorne Mayencourt, is carrying the torch and working to restrict loud motorcycles, typically Harley-Davidsons with modified mufflers.
Mayencourt has introduced bill, the Motorcycle Noise Control Act, that would ensure motorcycles are "equipped with an exhaust muffler consisting of a series of pipes or chambers which ensures that the exhaust gases from the engine are cooled and expelled without excessive noise."
Excessive noise is defined as 85 decibels "when operated in an area where the posted or un-posted speed limit is 60 km/h or less."
WorkSafeBC rates the typical noise level of a motorcycle at 80-115 decibels compared with up to 115 for a leaf blower. Yet neither match one of the consistently loudest of all urban noises -- the ambulance siren, at 120 decibels. (Sound levels double with every seven-decibel increase).
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Ohio Right-of-Way legislation, Senate Bill 158, to toughen penalties for certain traffic offenses that result in serious injury or death to other roadway users, is on the move in Ohio.
See the latest Action Alert in the Ohio StateWatch section of the AMA Rapid Response Center. All riders should contact your elected officials today to let them know why this legislation is important to you, and your family.
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US District Judge Clarence Brimmer presided over the latest legal maneuvers affecting US Forest Service roadless area management. In this latest lawsuit, the State of Wyoming seeks to have the Court reinstate its earlier ruling finding the 2001 Roadless Rule illegal.
A number of recreational access groups have weighed in as "friends of the court" in order to protect recreational access to the approximately 60 million acres of "roadless areas" potentially affected by the Rule.
In the present case the recreational access groups are supporting Wyoming's position and are seeking to have an injunction issued preventing the Forest Service from implementing the 2001 Rule.
In 2003, the Wyoming Court declared the 2001 Roadless Rule illegal and enjoined the Forest Service from implementing it anywhere in the National Forest system. While an appeal of that ruling filed by anti-access groups wound through the federal courts, the Bush Administration in 2005 stated that it had no intention of resurrecting the enjoined 2001 Rule, preferring instead to address any "roadless" planning under rule-making petitions presented by individual states.
However, the 2005 rule clarifying that approach was successfully challenged in lawsuits filed in the US Northern District of California. In that appeal, the anti-access groups were joined by the states of California, Oregon and New Mexico. In deciding those cases, the California court struck down the 2005 Rule and ordered that the 2001 Rule be reinstated.
That ruling is currently under appeal from a number of parties, including the Forest Service, the Recreational Groups, and Silver Creek Timber Company.
After listening to nearly six hours of argument, the Wyoming Court took the matter under advisement. Pending any decision from the Wyoming Court, the 2001 Rule technically remains the operative strategy for managing "roadless" lands by virtue of the California decision.
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Michigan Senate Bill 104, sponsored by Sen. Valde Garcia (R-Howell), would have increased penalties for right-of-way violations that result in injury or death. The Senate Transportation Committee recommended a substitute bill to establish penalties for moving violations that seriously injured or killed another person, significantly expanding the scope of the legislation. Substitute SB-104 was voted unanimously out of committee and referred to the Committee of the Whole in late October.
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US Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) introduced HR 1975, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. The legislation seeks to expand wilderness areas by 23 million acres, and designates some 2,000 miles of river as wild and scenic rivers as well as another 3 million acres as biological connecting corridors. Rep. Maloney is not alone in her enthusiasm for this sweeping legislation because 116 of her colleagues in the House have co-sponsored the legislation. Most of those co-sponsors represent districts east of the Mississippi.
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The majority of this year's Myrtle Beach City Council candidates would prefer not to hear the sound of Harleys rumbling up and down city streets - ever - according to recent articles in that city's The Sun News.
At a recent public forum incumbents Mike Chestnut, Phil Render and Susan Grissom Means and challengers Mike Lowder, Judy Rodman and John Easterling took questions from residents.
Moderator Randy Wallace read questions about whether any of the candidates would consider reducing the number of bike rallies each year.
Chestnut said talks are already planned with motorcycle groups, and Means was the first to come straight out with her opinion. "I would prefer we didn't have any bike weeks at all," she said. The motorcycle noise, she said, is "not fair to the people who live here."
Rodman said stronger noise ordinance enforcement would make the bikers feel less welcome - a feeling she didn't seem to want to discourage. And Phil Render said he favors moving events further outside the city. "Our folks are tired of motorcycles," he said.
Only Easterling, himself a biker, suggested a compromise, such as having planned events at the fairgrounds in Loris, the old racetrack and the dragstrip, and having vendor booths within the city so at least the city could make money off the rallies.
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Beginning early next year, drivers in six states will begin testing a new way to pay for roads and transit: Commuters will be charged for the miles they drive rather than paying taxes on gasoline purchased. Researchers from the University of Iowa Public Policy Center will install computers and satellite equipment in the vehicles of 2,700 volunteers - 450 each from Austin, Baltimore, Boise, San Diego, eastern Iowa and the Research Triangle region of North Carolina.
Over the next two years, the drivers will get sample monthly bills for the number of miles they've driven. They can compare what they now pay in gasoline taxes with what they would have paid in per-mile fees.
The nation is reassessing the way it pays for roads and transit. Since 1956, the Highway Trust Fund, financed by the federal tax on gasoline, has been a primary source of money for highway projects. But the National Governors Association and other groups and planners involved in road building have concluded that this method, supplemented by state gasoline taxes, no longer is adequate.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced plans to conduct a survey of State Motorcycle Safety Administrators and/or State Highway Safety Offices in all 50 States and the District of Columbia to gather data on state-level motorcycle safety programs. This survey will consist of a questionnaire in mail (paper and pencil) format, which will allow a telephone follow-up for further details as necessary. The study will use the State Motorcycle Safety Administrator and State Highway Safety Office survey to gather comprehensive data on what each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia are doing to promote and ensure safe riding behavior. The Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment.
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AMA Government Relations News & Notes is a monthly service compiled and edited by the AMA Government Relations Staff to keep motorcyclists informed of happenings around the world. We welcome your news & views. Please submit all material to Terry Lee Cook, Grassroots Manager, 13515 Yarmouth Drive, Pickerington, OH 43147; fax 614-856-1920 or e-mail to tcook@ama-cycle.org.
Copyright 2007, American Motorcyclist Association
©I.M.R.A., Inc 2007