OFF THE WIRE
If you want to comment on Georgia Roadside stops - Roadblocks go to http://www.cyrilhuzeblog.com/2011/04/03/georgia-bikers-continue-to-protest-motorcycle-only-checkpoints/comment-page-1/#comment-146314
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/business/118986304.html
Bikers rally against motorcycle-only road checkpoints
By Rick Barrett
of the Journal Sentinel
March 31, 2011
From the Columbus, Ga. Enquirer-Ledger
Motorcyclists from around Georgia rode to the Capitol to rev their engines against a federal grant the Georgia State Patrol is using to conduct motorcycle-only safety checkpoints.
“It’s unfair and there are a lot more things the money could be spent on,” said Ronald Foxworth, local district coordinator of the American Bikers Active Toward Education. “We just voiced our opinion.” Capitol Police estimated between 300 and 400 people attended the protest, which lasted about two hours and included 10 speakers.
The crowd denounced the checkpoints as unconstitutional and chanted “No more profile stops,” Foxworth said. “We wanted to show one voice that we were all together on this,” said Linda Allen, the legislative director of ABATE of Georgia. “We want viable, research-based programs that are actually going to make a difference.”
The protest came two weeks after the state patrol conducted motorcycle checkpoints on Interstates 75 and 95, the first of six days of stops to be held sporadically over the next 20 months. During the checkpoints, troopers verified that motorcyclists had the proper class license and an approved helmet. They also checked the condition of the motorcycles’ tires and lights.
The checkpoints -- funded by a $70,000 grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration -- are intended to help lawmen enforce state laws and reduce the high rate of injuries and fatalities caused by motorcycle crashes.
According to the administration, one in four motorcyclists who died in a fatal crash in 2008 was driving with an invalid license. That compares to about 12 percent of drivers of passenger vehicles killed in a crash.
Motorcyclists killed in fatal crashes that year were also more likely to be driving under the influence of alcohol than other drivers. Twenty-nine percent of motorcyclists killed in 2008 had a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, compared to 23 percent of drivers in passenger cars and 23 percent for light trucks, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Georgia is the first state to receive the federal grant. The administration initially said it would award up to $350,000 in grant money to as many as five law enforcement agencies to test the effectiveness of a New York State Police pilot program. But the agency said it is monitoring the Georgia checkpoints and has no plans to award additional grant money.
Georgia State Patrol officials said the checkpoints would bolster a public education initiative started in 2009 to remind all drivers of the need to watch for motorcycles on the road. The Department of Public Safety has credited that campaign -- which has included presentations to churches, schools and civic groups -- with reducing the amount of motorcycle fatalities in the state to 110 in 2010 from 167 in 2008. “We’re trying to make the roads safer,” Lt. Paul Cosper of the Georgia State Patrol said. “If you have an event on a motorcycle, it’s generally catastrophic.”
Cosper said the state patrol has not announced the times or locations of future checkpoints. He said many bikers applauded the state patrol when they were stopped during the first checkpoint, and he dismissed criticism that motorcyclists are being singled out. “We check cars 365 days a year at road checks,” Cosper said.
But several motorcyclist groups have cried foul and called on Gov. Nathan Deal to cancel the remainder of the checkpoints. The timing of the first checkpoints -- conducted March 9 -- also came under fire because many motorcyclists were stopped who were on their way to the annual Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Fla. (Cosper said the timing “wasn’t a coincidence at all. We knew there were going to be motorcycles coming through here.”)
Peter terHorst, a spokesman for the American Motorcyclist Association, said the motorcycle checkpoints amount to “opportunistic profiling.”
“We’re certainly not without scofflaws in our midst, just like any other group of people who ride or drive the highway, but to do this under the auspices of safety seems to be kind of a red herring to us.”
Some Congressman have also questioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s grant and called for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to pull the plug on future funding for motorcycle-only checkpoints. Rep. Tom Petri, the Wisconsin Republican who is a co-sponsor of legislation introduced this month to prohibit such grants, called the checkpoints “outrageously intrusive.”
“Nobody is suggesting pulling cars off the road for unscheduled inspections,” he said in a statement, “so why are motorcycle riders being harassed?”
