OFF THE WIRE
NHTSA gives grants of money to the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to use for motorcycle safety. OTS gives grants of this money to local police departments with the instruction to use it in areas where there have been more than usual motorcyclist injuries or deaths. The money is supposed to used to ticket traffic violations by ANY VEHICLE, including cars and trucks, that could result in collisions with motorcycles. This is supposed to be done by normal patrol….not “checkpoints”. Quite often the police send press releases to the local newspapers, who then print headlines about “police to ticket motorcycles” Whenever this comes to my attention, I send a copy of the news release to the OTS to let them know how their money or information is being mistaken or misused.
To demonstrate how out of control the use of the grant money from NHTSA thru OTS has become, supposedly the City of Citrus Heights just announced that their “motorcycle safety” checkpoints will check for loud mufflers courtesy of overtime money and sound meters provided by money from the Office of Traffic Safety.
If any member sees information of this type, I would appreciate it if you would send it on to me, and I will follow through on it.
John Del Santo
(619) 223 - 0421
"QUESTION AUTHORITY"
Benjamin Franklin
