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November
2007
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) approved
recommendations for motorcycle safety focusing on passage of
mandatory helmet-use laws in all states, but did not deal with
other significant issues related to the safety of riders on the
road.
The recommendations, which do not carry the
force of law, come a year after the NTSB held a public forum on
motorcycle safety that gathered comments from motorcycle
manufacturers, researchers, trauma physicians, law enforcement
officials, insurance companies and motorcycle associations,
including the AMA. Those groups expressed support for a wide range
of motorcycle-safety initiatives, including campaigns against
alcohol impairment, increased opportunities for rider education
and stricter enforcement of licensing laws. In the end, though,
the panel's final report focused almost exclusively on the
helmet-law issue.
The AMA remains disappointed that the NTSB
missed this opportunity to focus on meaningful issues related to
the reduction of motorcycle crashes, rather than just reducing
injuries once a crash occurs.
The AMA has worked for years to secure federal
funding for the first comprehensive study of the causes of
motorcycle crashes in more than 25 years. And thanks to major
financial support from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation,
Motorcycle Industry Council, plus contributions from the AMA and
individual riders, the matching funds for that federal grant are
now in place and the study should begin this fall.
Miller
Brewing Company has partnered with the AMA and the
Wisconsin Department of Transportation to create a program urging
riders to drink responsibly and not ride impaired. The campaign,
called "Keep Your Balance," began at the Fall Ride, a
rally in Wisconsin, and will go nationwide next year.
Free 20-minute phone cards will be given to
riders to be used to call for a safe ride home if needed. On the
back of the card are safe riding tips provided by the AMA and the
Wisconsin DOT and information on alcohol responsibility from
Miller's "Respect the Road" program. T-shirts and other
incentives will also be given to riders who sign pledges to ride
responsibly. Billboards and banners will promote the campaign at
this week's rally.
Miller plans to take the campaign nationwide
next year by providing materials to distributors across the
country. For more, see the Keep Your Balance website
DPS Technical Inc./Chemhelp is now holding Technical
Inspector and Land Manager sound training classes at the Colton,
CA Rider Education Center.
This class instructs students on the properties
of sound and how to properly test motorcycles and ATVs while
correctly using SAE recognized methods and instrumentation.
For further information contact them at 1160
Dewey Way, Suite D, Upland, CA 91786 by phone at (909) 981-5228,
or go to www.chemhelp.com.
The AMA has expressed serious reservations about the
report of motorcycle fatalities released by the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently. The report purports
to show that sport-styled motorcycles are considerably more
dangerous than other types of bikes. But an AMA analysis of the
report notes that the methodology used in the research makes it
difficult to determine whether that's a valid conclusion.
The IIHS report is not a new study. Instead,
it's an analysis of existing data from the national Fatal Accident
Reporting System. The methodology consists of a comparison of
fatalities for different styles of motorcycles based on a rate per
10,000 registrations. But that approach ignores a number of key
factors, like the number of miles the bike was ridden, the traffic
environment in which it was used, along with the age and
experience of the rider, among others.
When it comes to age and riding experience, the
IIHS does indicate that motorcycles in its "supersport"
category are ridden by the youngest riders, averaging 27 years of
age. In fact, its rankings of the average ages of riders killed on
various styles of bikes coincides closely with the fatality rate
it reports on that style of motorcycle. Making any interpretation
of the IIHS report even more difficult is the classification
system the group used in dividing motorcycles. It includes some
unfamiliar categories, like "unclad sport" motorcycles,
and leaves out well-established categories, like the sport-touring
class.
In an attempt to sort through this confusion,
the AMA requested a copy of the classification system the IIHS
used in its analysis and found several significant anomalies. For
instance, although the IIHS report focuses on speed and
acceleration as the factors that make its "supersport"
category so dangerous, the two most powerful motorcycles availble
in the US, Kawasaki's ZX-14 and Suzuki's Hayabusa, are placed in
the Sport category, which is rated considerably less dangerous.
And they share that category with Honda's ST1300 and Yamaha's
FJR1300, two bikes that define the sport-touring class.
The timing of the IIHS report is also unusual.
The National Transportation Safety Board specifically asked the
Federal Highway Administration to work with states to develop
uniform data-collection procedures that will result in better
information about the number of miles traveled by motorcycles, one
of the most important factors in evaluating crash statistics. As a
result, this could be one of the final reports to use registration
data exclusively, which is less accurate in reflecting actual
motorcycle use.
This new IIHS report is remarkably similar to a
study the group financed 20 years ago that also purported to show
higher fatality rates among sportbikes. At that time, the IIHS
used its study as the springboard for a well-orchestrated campaign
that included ready-made news footage it fed to TV news operations
across the country. That campaign culminated in the introduction
of a bill in the US Senate to impose a horsepower limit on all
motorcycles sold in the US.
The current IIHS research has plenty of echoes
of that era in the late 1980s. In fact, the final sentence of the
IIHS "Status Report" on the subject, published September
11, says, "Short of banning supersport and sport motorcycles
from public roadways, capping the speed of these street-legal
racing machines at the factory might be one way to reduce their
risk."
In response to that previous attempt by the
IIHS to ban sportbikes, the AMA conducted an analysis of the study
and raised questions that the Association submitted to Harry Hurt,
lead researcher on the most comprehensive study of motorcycle
crashes ever conducted. Hurt reviewed the research and declared it
"fatally flawed" for exactly the kind of methodology
problems seen in the new IIHS report. The Association then
coordinated a campaign among motorcyclists across the country that
eventually led the senator to withdraw his proposed legislation.
Federal
regulations that preempt state authorities are weakening
state legislatures’ ability to represent their constituents,
says Delaware state Rep. Donna Stone, president of the
Washington-based National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
Stone went before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary
recently to ask for an executive order on federalism “which
would protect state law from being preempted by unelected
bureaucrats.”
The committee was hearing testimony on federal agencies usurping
Congressional and state laws through the regulatory process,
according to NCSL. This is epitomized in the AMA’s ongoing
struggle to close the loophole surrounding HIPAA legislation.
Stone suggested some provisions that the
executive order should include, such as increased consultation
with states and local elected officials before the passage of
federal law or regulations that would affect them. She also
suggested a rule of construction that would allow ambiguities
between state and federal laws to be construed in favor of state
laws when there is no explicit intention of preempting state law.
For more information on the AMA’s efforts to
close the bureaucratic loophole in HIPAA visit the Rapid Response
section of www.AMADirectlink.com.
Europe’s
Motor Cycle Industry Association (MCI) welcomed the
publication of the revised Highway Code as good news for
motorcyclists. The first revised Highway Code in eight years has
been unveiled by Road Safety Minister Jim Fitzpatrick. The updated
Code offers the latest road safety rules and advice, as well as
promoting greater courtesy and understanding among all road users,
particularly those who are most vulnerable.
A section entitled 'Road Users requiring Extra
Care' underlines the need for drivers to look out for vulnerable
road users such as motorcyclists and cyclists. Both groups of road
users share many of the vulnerabilities of using the road in busy
traffic environments and specific advice to car drivers to 'Think
Bike' at road junctions and when overtaking is very welcome.
The publication of the revised Highway Code is
timely as it comes on the day that new detailed road casualty
statistics from the Department for Transport (Road Casualties
Great Britain 2006) show that overall motorcycle casualties fell
by 6% in 2006. This means that for the first time, total
motorcycle casualties are now below the baseline that was set for
the Government's 2010 casualty reduction target; this is very good
news for motorcycling in Europe.
The new statistics also reveal that 82% of
motorcycle crashes and 75% of rider fatalities involve another
vehicle, but other vehicle drivers colliding with motorcycles are
about twice as likely as the rider to have failed to look
properly. Indeed, statistics indicate that motorcyclists are the
most vigilant of all road users but suffer from the carelessness
of others.
The
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
announced the 2007 list of states that will be receiving
motorcycle safety grant awards. All of the states receiving the
funds received at least $100,000. The program will award
approximately $6 million to 47 states and Puerto Rico.
The grant program, known as "2010
Funds" is funded in the most recent SAFETEA-LU highway bill.
The US Congress wrote the legislation, in response to state
motorcyclists’ rights organizations request for additional
safety funding, to direct the use of the funds to specifically
fund motorcycle rider education or motorcycle safety awareness
programs. The legislation also makes these funds available to your
state through your governor's highway safety representative.
Wisconsin Senate Minority
Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) spent a few days in the
hospital after a recent motorcycle crash. Senator Fitzgerald was a
co-sponsor of 2005’s SB-528, a bill consistent with the AMA’s
Justice for All legislation, in the Badger State.
Senator Fitzgerald injured his leg and has a number of scrapes and
bruises. He was not ticketed.
Angela J. Carlson, 25, of Jefferson, was
ticketed for failing to yield to Fitzgerald, according to the
Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.
Carlson, who was driving a 1999 GMC Suburban,
told deputies she did not see Fitzgerald's motorcycle when she
crossed Highway 26 at Air Park Drive in the Town of Watertown.
Fitzgerald, 44, was driving northbound on Highway 26 when he was
hit by Carlson.
Massachusetts’ Proposed New
Regulation, 211 CMR 79.00 dealing with private passenger motor
vehicle insurance rates begins the Commonwealth moving to a
competitive market with auto insurance premiums and coverage for
2008. Yet motorcyclists have been expressing their disapproval
claiming the 37-pages of proposed regulations fail to mention
motorcycles at all.
Leaders from the Massachusetts Motorcycle
Association and others, in written testimony, complained that
owners of motorcycles are historically short-changed on coverage
and discounts afforded to private passenger cars and trucks, while
being charged excessive rates when compared to claims payouts.
Riders asked that the new regulation either
afford motorcycle consumers the same coverage availability and
discounts that other private passenger vehicle owners enjoy or
that separate and distinct regulation be established in this new
competitive market of motorcycle consumers.
The California State Assembly and
Senate recently passed the off-highway vehicle (OHV)
re-authorization bill SB742 for the Golden State’s Green Sticker
program.
The Green Sticker Program allows for state gas
tax dollars to be put back into creating new OHV opportunities and
maintaining already open State Vehicular Recreation Areas that are
owned and operated by the California State Parks
Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division
as well as federal lands in that state.
The legislation now goes to Governor Schwarzenegger, who has
indicated he supports this historic legislation. For more
information go to http://www.ohv.parks.ca.gov/.
In response to increased public
interest following the collapse of the I-35W bridge in
Minneapolis recently, the Washington-based American Association of
State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has launched a
Web site dedicated to providing information on the nation’s
bridges.
Information on the site will include: the
number of bridges in the federally financed US transportation
system; the bridges’ conditions and the work done to improve
their conditions; explanations of key terms used by state and
federal bridge experts; and federal estimates of the funding
needed for bridge work in the US. Specific information on an
individual state’s bridges is available from the state’s
department of transportation and often is listed on the DOT Web
site.
AASHTO’s bridge Web site is available at
www.dot.state.ia.us, or by clicking “U.S. Bridge Information”
on the AASHTO home page, www.transportation.org
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