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Saturday, May 8, 2010

NHTSA wants to tell me HOW to build my motorcycle!

Stop mandating HOW to build my motorcycle, and stop mandating what I need to wear while riding it! Stop the safetycrating! Educate others how to interact with motorcycles, and helmets and antilock brakes won't be needed! Duh~

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/agency-urged-to-require-antilock-brakes-on-motorcycles/ Agency Urged to Require Antilock Brakes on Motorcycles By CHRISTOPHER JENSEN The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has asked the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require antilock brakes on all motorcycles.
The request comes after the institute released a study earlier this year showing that motorcycles with antilock brakes were about 38 percent less likely to be involved in fatal crashes.
Adrian Lund, the president of the institute, which is financed by the insurance industry, said in an interview that any technology that can prevent an accident was extremely important. The mandate to require antilock brakes was necessary because some motorcycle manufacturers seem reluctant to make the systems standard, he said.
In an e-mail message, Tim Buche, the president of the Motorcycle Industry Council, said there wasn’t enough research available to prove that antilock brakes were so valuable that they should be mandated.
While studies have not shown that there is a strong safety advantage to having antilock brakes in cars, the situation seems to be much different for motorcycles.
Safety researchers say that braking, particularly in an emergency, is far trickier on a motorcycle. The rider must operate the front and rear brakes separately and braking too hard and locking a brake can cause a loss of control. But not using all the braking power may result in a longer stopping distance and a crash.
Studies in Europe on tracks have shown shorter stopping distances on motorcycles with antilock brakes.
Having antilock brakes on all motorcycles would clearly make motorcycles safer, said Randa Radwan Samaha, the director of advanced research at the National Crash Analysis Center at George Washington University. “It is a matter of keeping control in a very hazardous situation,” she said.
If the N.H.T.S.A. decides to go ahead with the request, it could take years for it to become law.