Motorcycle Rights groups vs Motorcycle Safety

vindictive attack
Attached is a rather lengthy letter Vicki sent out to various people. This was prompted by what I consider an orchestrated and vindictive attack against her Road Guardian program and the Biker’s Betterment Conference. Vicki has dedicated the past 15 years to solving the growing motorcycle crash and injury problem. That’s why she started teaching Accident Scene Management for instance. Her motives are pure and sincere and never has she abandoned her beliefs about intrusive government mandates. She is willing to work with anyone on “real” solutions to reducing our brothers and sisters involvement in crashes. She self-invited herself to the motorcycle safety committee meetings in Washington , D.C. which are attended by AMA and MRF, MSF, NHTSA and others. She often speaks at these meetings, as opposed to Jeff Hennie and Jay Jackson just attending. She also goes on her own dime, unlike the others who are sent by their representative organizations.



The BBC event she has put together for March 27 is outstanding. It’s not the various safety agencies coming to persuade everyone to gear up. She has a stellar line-up of who’s who in motorcycle safety and the whole idea is to sit down together and figure out what works, not which mandates we should have forced upon us. This program is put on by bikers, yet the motorcycle rights community, and the MRF in particular, is against anyone attending even though they were invited to present their programs on safety and participate in a panel discussion on right of way violations and distracted drivers. We need to discuss these issues and find solutions. The rights community is doing lip service only when it talks about safety. It supports a study on accident trends when we all know nothing new will be learned from such a waste of money. This conference is intended to look into some of the problems we face, but it’s more than that. There will be educational workshops highlighting braking and cornering techniques, anti-lock brakes, group riding, and more. Without going into a tirade because I’m so upset with the rights leaders, I’ll let Vicki’s letter explain some of the hurt and frustration she is feeling and the betrayal by supposed friends. Much like the situation in Florida with Doc controlling the membership and what information they receive, so do I see this happening with other ABATE chapters, specifically Illinois and Indiana, and with the MRF. They control their newsletters and dictate to the members what event they should support. Our only hope of getting our message out to the bike public is through the motorcycle media. Please read the attachment and consider publishing it on your blogs or in your publications or forwarding to sources you are familiar with. Biker Bits already printed Vicki’s first draft, before I could do some grammar and spelling corrections, but she consulted with ABATE of Wisconsin’s public relations officer on this after I went to sleep (she was working on this until nearly 2 AM this morning). She is very upset and I’m beside her and support her on this. Pity anyone who confronts me in person and trashes her or her program. You will be reading about that confrontation in the news or maybe even seeing me on the 11 o’clock news. I’m not passive in my views about this.



Sorry for the rant…please read and forward the attachment if you feel it is worth spreading the truth.