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From: MICHAEL SHEARHART
Date: 5/17/2010 6:22:15 AM
Subject: Fw: [MMA of AZ] Fwd: 10NR14 - MRF News Release - Washington Update

Washington Update

FHWA MOTORCYCLE ADVISORY COUNCIL

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently convened its Motorcycle Advisory Council (MAC) to discuss motorcycles and how they relate to the country’s transportation infrastructure, and make recommendations to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) is a member of the MAC and attends all council meetings. In addition to council members, the MAC invites specialists from the government, industry and universities, with the goal of reducing motorcycle crashes and injuries to motorcyclists. They carefully consider the small road signature of motorcycles and the how they interact with the roads, bridges and barriers of this country. This was the 8th time the council has met over 4 years.

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From: MICHAEL SHEARHART
Date: 04/15/10 06:33:47
Subject: Fw: [MMA of AZ] Ex LA officer touts lane splitting bill

INFO FOR THE MEMBERS

Mike
Subject: [MMA of AZ] Ex LA officer touts lane splitting bill

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2010/03/06/20100306satlets063.html

Ex-LA officer touts motorcycle bill

As an ex-Los Angeles police officer, I support House Bill 2475, which would allow Arizona motorcyclists to split lanes. It is allowed in California and has proven to be safe.

I never once investigated an accident where a motorcyclist had an accident due to passing other vehicles in the same lane when the freeways were slow or stopped. However, it did result in more and more people riding motorcycles, cutting down on traffic congestion.

Even the head of the California Highway Patrol agrees that this California law should remain in effect. He agrees it cuts traffic congestion and has not resulted in any extra risk to motorcyclists or other vehicles.

"Ask not what the MMA can do for you, but what you can do for the MMA"

Tom Corr
State Chairman - Modified Motorcycle Association of Arizona

Cell 520-252 -9675

www.mma-az.org

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From: MICHAEL SHEARHART
Date: 04/15/10 06:32:03
Subject: Fw: [MMA of AZ] Nevada: Hairbrained helmet idea


INFO FOR THE MEMBERS

Mike
Subject: [MMA of AZ] Nevada: Hairbrained helmet idea


It's all about money ---- Pay to ride with out a helmet ----

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20100228/NEWS/100229581/1061&parentprofile=1061

Harebrained helmet idea


I have just three words for ultra-conservative Chuck Muth's proposal for garnering revenues to help solve the state's $880 million budget shortfall: Surely you jest.

In a recent column Muth suggested that a way to increase state revenue would be to amend Nevada's motorcycle helmet law. He proposes that there be two tiers of motorcycle licenses wherein those who opt to ride without helmets pay a premium fee. Those who willingly wear helmets would pay a lesser fee for their licenses, according to Muth's wacky plan.

“In addition to the revenue raised by the new helmet less licenses, the tourism increased by the motorcycle rider community would be huge,” wrote Muth. “That would boost room tax revenues, food tax revenues, gaming tax revenues and entertainment tax revenues ... all without raising taxes,” he said.

During many years of covering the Legislature, I have seen countless attempts to ditch the long-standing helmet law. I have heard hours and hours of testimony in committee hearings in support of such action.
Statistics outweigh, by far, the emotional pleas of the so-called free spirits who yearn to experience the rush of the wind in their faces as they roar along our highways and roads.

There is ample documentation as to the severity of head injuries sustained by helmet less cyclists who have been involved in accidents.

A report by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety noted that hospital studies in states that had repealed helmet laws showed costs for treating brain-injured motorcyclists soared in the years following repeal, and deaths increased by large percentages.

Motorcyclists who believe wearing a helmet “is a matter of personal choice ignore the cost to taxpayers and governments of picking up the pieces and the tab when they crash,” said Judith Lee Stone, the Advocates' president. She said only about 50 percent of crash victims have private health care insurance, placing the cost burden of treatment for the other 50 percent squarely on the taxpayers.

“A rider's choice stops being personal when it ends up costing all of us,” she said.
During the 2007 Nevada legislative session, there was testimony on yet another bill to repeal the helmet law that the typical traumatic head injury accident costs $2 million over the lifetime of the survivor, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, a license for a motorcyclist is the same as for a vehicle driver, $21.50. It's a safe bet that even the revenue from a “premium” license wouldn't be a drop in the bucket to what taxpayers pay towards medical treatment for uninsured, un-helmeted motorcyclists.

Chuck Muth, surely you jest.

• Sue Morrow is a longtime journalist and member of the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame. She may be reached at soozymorrow@yahoo.com.

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From: MICHAEL SHEARHART
Date: 04/03/10 10:47:36
Subject: Fw: [MMA of AZ] Fwd: 10NR07 - MRF News Release -
MRF ATTENDS MOTORCYCLESAFETY NETWORK MEETING IN WASHINGTON - HORSEPOWER IS BAD?


Info for our Membership

Mike Shearhart

MRF ATTENDS MOTORCYCLE SAFETY NETWORK MEETING IN WASHINGTON – HORSEPOWER IS BAD?

Recently the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) held the spring meeting of the Motorcycle Safety Network. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) has been a regular participant in this meeting since its inception over five years ago. This meeting was also attended by the American Motorcyclist Association, Motorcycle Safety Foundation, Motorcycle Industry Council, Harley Davidson, American Honda, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, National Association of State Motorcycle Safety Administrators, Accident Scene Management Inc, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Insurance Data Institute, and just about every transportation-related government entity. The all-day meeting covered just about every aspect of motorcycle safety.

Early predictions by government statisticians are claiming that overall traffic fatality numbers for 2009 will be down almost 10 percent over 2008. There is no breakout for motorcycles yet, but one thing is sure to be true; simple math demonstrates that each year that we have more motorcycles on the road than the previous year, we can expect the fatality and injury numbers to rise accordingly.

No real update was available on the federally-funded motorcycle crash study. Although the feds continue to defend the reduction of the sample size from 1200 to 300 crashes as “statistically sound,” we at the MRF call into question the end result of such a small number of samples. The recently-concluded pilot study report is due out this May.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) gave a lengthy multimedia presentation on their goings on. First off, they are going global with plans to pitch or implement their training curricula in Italy, Germany, Jordan, Israel and China. The most noteworthy progress is being made in Jordan, where up until the adoption of the MSF course, only the King and his friends could ride motorcycles! The MSF had to write new sections of the class to incorporate sand and gravel roads because in some parts of the country the pavement just stops.

Also announced at the meeting was the MSF’s plan to withhold the $3 million they were going to donate to the federal crash study and instead do their own study. They rolled out plans to partner with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute to do a study using cameras and instrumentation mounted on numerous bikes for 6-18 months. The idea is to see what riders are doing to avoid crashes instead of the feds’ approach of waiting for a crash and then going to see what happened. It’s a laudable effort by the MSF, and the MRF supports them in what is likely to be the world’s first large-scale naturalistic motorcycle riding study.

The MSF also rolled out information on a few new classes that will be available. First is the CORE class - a single afternoon class designed for returning riders, or for people who know the basics and can keep a bike up but just need a little more polish. The second is a set of actual road classes that have an instructor student ration of 3-1 or 4-2. They ride in 15-minute bursts through various locales, with a blackboard session before and after each ride.

The insurance industry had multiple representatives to announce their publication entitled “Riding is Risky Fun,” which came out on the day of the meeting. From the incredibly biased title to the bunk statistics churned out by the insurance industry, the whole publication has little, if any, factual base. The only people who could believe the pamphlet are its authors. As expected, the insurance industry continues to pile on the garbage rhetoric of motorcycle crashes being so much more expensive than auto crashes. For instance, their hired guns insist that rider education fails to reduce motorcycle crashes, and that having ABS reduces your chances of crashing by 37 percent.

The report largely focuses on the super sport bike, which the insurance industry has been trying to all-out ban for decades. “Horsepower is bad; cheap horsepower is even worse” was the phrase that the insurance industry kept using throughout their presentation. We here at the MRF could not disagree more. You can read the whole concocted publication on their website, http://www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr4503.pdf

The Marine Corps ended the day on positive note by rebuking the insurance industry’s notion that rider education does not work. The Corps has seen their motorcycle fatalities reduced by half over the last year, and they give all the credit to their rider education program. Hats off to the Corps for doing its best to keep our mean, green, fighting marines in shape!

SAVE THE DATE! Don’t forget May 20th will be the MRF’s second Michael “Boz” Kerr Bikers in the Beltway Motorcycle Awareness and Lobby Day. The MRF has secure, free motorcycle parking just steps from the Nation’s Capitol. Ride to DC for what is sure to be a spectacular event.


Ride With The LeadersTM by joining the MRF at http://www.mrf.org/join.php or call 1-202-546-0983

Registration is easy and secure for MRF Regional and Meeting of the Minds conferences. Visit our website at http://www.mrf.org/events.php for further details and registration information.

Send in your nominations and donations for the MRF's Young Activist Scholarship fund today. For complete details, visit http://www.mrfae.org/yas.php.

Sign up today for the MRF's new roadside assistance program by visiting http://www.mrf.org/mrfroadside.php The program is available to MRF members and non-MRF members.

© All Information contained in this release is copyrighted. Reproduction permitted with attribution. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation, incorporated in 1987, is a membership-based, national motorcyclists' rights organization headquartered in Washington, DC. The first motorcyclists' rights organization to establish a full-time presence in Washington, DC, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation is the only Washington voice devoted exclusively to the street rider. The MRF established MRFPAC in the early 1990s to advocate the election of candidates who would champion the cause of rider safety and rider freedom.

The MRF proudly claims state motorcyclists' rights organizations and the very founders of the American riders' rights movement among its leading members. The MRF is involved in federal and state legislation and regulations, motorcycling safety education, training, and public awareness. The MRF provides members and state motorcyclists' rights organizations with direction and information, and sponsors annual regional and national educational seminars for motorcyclists rights activists, as well as publishing a bi-monthly newsletter, THE MRF REPORTS.

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