COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS

OFF THE WIRE
COAST TO COAST BIKER NEWS

 Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish

 FEDERAL HELMET LEGISLATION NARROWLY AVERTED

 Due to the quick actions of concerned motorcyclists across the country, a
 major federal transportation measure narrowly avoided becoming a bill to
 encourage states to enact helmet laws nationwide.
 On Monday, December 12 Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) filed an amendment to
 S.1449 the "Motor Vehicle and Highway Safety Improvement Act of 2011” that
 would call for mandatory helmet laws nationwide and could jeopardize funding
 for Motorcycle Safety programs across America.
 By Tuesday the motorcycle community was alerted to Lautenburg’s efforts by
 national and state motorcyclists’ rights organizations, including the
 National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), the AMA and MRF, and riders were
 urgently urged to contact their U.S. Senators to oppose the amendment -- and
 time was of the essence because a Senate committee was to vote on the bill
 the following day!
 Wednesday, Dec 14, during the hearing held by the U.S. Senate Commerce,
 Science & Transportation Committee to “mark-up” the bill, Senator Lautenburg
 decided not to introduce his amendment.
 Not only did motorcyclists’ prompt response help avoid another federal
 helmet law battle and preserve federal funding for motorcycle safety
 programs, but the committee also voted to accept two amendments by Senator
 Jim DeMint (R-SC) that removed language in the bill that would have lifted
 the current ban on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
 (NHTSA) from lobbying states to enact universal helmet laws for all riders.
 S.1449 passed the committee by voice vote and now goes to the Senate floor
 for further action, while riders remain ever vigilant.

 JUDGE UPHOLDS N.Y. MOTORCYCLE-ONLY CHECKPOINTS

 A federal judge rejected motorcyclists' claims that their Constitutional
 rights were violated by New York State Police motorcycle-only “safety
 checkpoints” that detained thousands of riders en route to large N.Y.
 Rallies and ticketed many of them for mostly non-safety violations.
 Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) Attorney Mitch Proner of NYC sued
 troopers on behalf of four motorcyclists who claimed that safety was a mere
 pretext in looking for criminals and that the practice was intrusive and
 unfair to motorcycle riders as a group.
 But Judge Gary Sharpe concluded that safety was indeed the main focus of the
 initiative, which distinguishes the checkpoints from "a general interest in
 crime control" that could have amounted to unconstitutional seizures when
 there’s no "individualized suspicion of wrongdoing."
 "The court concludes the checkpoints were enacted to promote motorcycle
 safety, a manifest public interest; they were effective in addressing this
 interest; and that any interference with individual liberties was not only
 minimal, but also grossly outweighed by the interest advanced," Sharpe wrote
 in his ruling.
 "The intrusion on civil liberties is something that shouldn’t be
 countenanced," Proner told the Associated Press, adding that the
 discriminatory roadblocks have been ongoing since 2008 even though
 motorcycles, like other vehicles in New York, are already subject to annual
 safety inspections, and no other vehicles are stopped for roadside safety
 checks.
 "It’s obvious just from their own internal documents they’re looking for
 criminal activity," said Attorney Proner, citing a checkpoint near Buffalo’s
 Peace Bridge that included border patrol agents, and one in central New York
 near a rally sponsored by a motorcycle club included gang task force
 officers.
 "The fact they didn’t find crime doesn’t mean that wasn’t what they’re
 fishing for," he said. "That just shows you’ve got law abiding citizens on
 motorcycles primarily being inconvenienced."
 Proner told the AP news agency that motorcyclists across the country are
 interested in this case, the only such federal lawsuit nationally though
 some other states have similar checkpoint programs, and that he will appeal.

 SAFETY BOARD SEEKS BAN ON CELL PHONE USE WHILE DRIVING

 States should ban all driver use of cell phones and other portable
 electronic devices (PEDs), except in emergencies, urges the National
 Transportation Board.  The NTSB recommendation, unanimously agreed to by the
 five-member board, applies to both hands-free and hand-held phones and
 significantly exceeds any existing state laws restricting texting and
 cellphone use by drivers.
 The board made the safety recommendation in connection with their
 investigation of a deadly highway pileup in Missouri last year that was
 caused by the inattention of a 19 year-old-pickup driver who sent or
 received 11 texts in the 11 minutes immediately before the tragic crash that
 involved a semi and two school busses.
 The accident is a "big red flag for all drivers," NTSB chairman Deborah
 Hersman said at a meeting to determine the cause of the accident and make
 safety recommendations. "No call, no text, no update is worth a human life."
 The board has previously recommended bans on texting and cell phone use by
 commercial truck and bus drivers and beginning drivers, but it has stopped
 short of calling for a ban on the use of the devices by adults behind the
 wheel of passenger cars. While the NTSB doesn't have the power to impose
 restrictions, its recommendations carry significant weight with federal
 regulators and congressional and state lawmakers.
 In November, Pennsylvania became the 35th state to forbid texting while
 driving, but despite such laws the problem is continuing to get worse
 according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that
 reports nearly 20% of drivers admit to texting or e-mailing, and at any
 given moment last year almost 1 in every 100 car drivers was texting,
 emailing, surfing the Web or otherwise using a handheld electronic device,
 up 50% over the previous year.
 Joining in the campaign to curb distracted driving, Aid to Injured
 Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) has produced a color vinyl bumper sticker that reads;
 ‘HANG UP AND DRIVE!” that is available free by calling A.I.M. at 1-(800)
 ON-A-BIKE.

 US TRAFFIC DEATHS HIT LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 1949

 Annual traffic deaths in the U.S. have fallen to their lowest level in six
 decades, reports the U.S. Department of Transportation. Despite the fact
 that Americans drove almost 46 billion more miles during the year, highway
 deaths fell by nearly a thousand to 32,885 in 2010, representing a 2.9% drop
 from 2009 (33,883) and the lowest number of fatalities since 1949.
 "While we have more work to do to continue to protect American motorists,
 these numbers show we're making historic progress when it comes to improving
 safety on our nation's roadways," said DOT Secretary Ray LaHood.
 According to DOT statistics, deaths in crashes involving drunk drivers
 dropped 4.9% in 2010, resulting in 10,228 fatalities compared to 10,759 in
 2009.  Fatalities declined in most categories in 2010, including for
 occupants of passenger cars and light trucks, but fatalities rose among
 motorcycle riders (4,469 in 2009 to 4,502 in 2010, an increase of 33, or
 less than 1%), pedestrians (up 4% from 4,109 to 4,280), occupants in medium
 and heavy trucks (499 to 529, +6%) and buses (26 to 44, +41%).
 The latest figures also include a new measure of fatalities caused by
distracted driving, essentially a refinement of existing data that focuses
 more directly on situations where dialing a phone, sending a text or the
 activities of another person or event are likely to lead to a crash. The DOT
 reports that 3,092 fatalities were the result of such “distraction-affected
 crashes.”

 FEDS PROPOSE ADDITIONAL MOTORCYCLE SAFETY STUDY

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is proposing to
 launch a study program equipping 160 motorcycle riders with cameras, GPS,
 and other data recording devices in order to track riding behavior and how
 riders avoid -- or fail to avoid -- crashes.
 "Knowledge of both how riders successfully avoid crashes and of behaviors
 that correlate with and contribute to crash risk is crucial to developing
 effective countermeasures to reduce motorcycle crashes and fatalities," says
 the NHTSA study proposal.
 The federal agency is currently seeking comments on their proposed
 motorcycle safety study, which is very similar to a “naturalistic study”
 being conducted by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) tracking 100
 specially-equipped motorcycles for one year to compile data on rider
 behavior.

 NOISE CAMERA TO MUFFLE LOUD VEHICLES
 First came red-light cameras, followed closely by speed-cameras, and now
 Calgary will soon become the first municipality to introduce noise cameras
 to the motoring public.
 “Motorcycle riders and hotrod enthusiasts beware: the Noise Snare is one
 step closer to squelching your high-decibel expressions of mechanical
 masculinity,” reported the Calgary Herald about the pilot project that pairs
 a noise-reader with a camera to catch law breakers.

 The $112,500 device was offered to Calgary for free as the first city to
 test the gadget, and if all goes well the city expects to be handing out
 $200 tickets by summer.
 "This is something that will allow municipalities across North America to
 start enforcing (noise) bylaws. The fact that now it's been proven to be an
 accurate test is very, very important," said Bill Bruce, the city's director
 of bylaw services.
 Electrical engineer Mark Nesdoly invented the “Noise Snare” after a loud
 motorcycle awoke his sleeping daughter one night.

 SHOOTINGS PROMPT HONDURAN CONGRESS TO BAN MOTORCYCLE PASSENGERS

 Following two recent high-profile killings, legislators in Honduras approved
 a decree banning motorcyclists from carrying passengers. It took the deaths
 of a radio journalist and a former government advisor to convince the
 National Congress of the need to restrict the number of riders on a
 motorcycle to one -- the driver. Suspects in both cases were passengers on
 motorcycles, who got away.
 The legislation is being hailed as a common sense approach to fighting crime
 that will help discourage drive-by shootings, which have been one of the
 most common murder tactics in this Central American country because it makes
 it nearly impossible to identify and catch the helmeted killers who quickly
 flee the crime scene. Now, any motorcycle with two people will be suspect
 and can be pulled over by the police.
 NIGERIA RESTRICTS MOTORCYCLES TO CURB BOMBINGS

 Restrictions have been imposed on the operations of commercial motorcycles
 in Nigeria to check bombing incidences. The restrictions on the motorcycles,
 popularly called okada, were announced by the Special Task Force (STF) after
 a deadly triple bomb blast rocked three television viewing centers was
 attributed to the Islamic sect Boko Haram.
 "The general public should be informed that no motorcycle will be allowed to
 operate beyond 7pm within the Jos-Bukuru metropolis. Riding of motorcycles
 is only permitted from 6am - 7pm, the enforcement of this ban will be
 strictly enforced,'' said Ikemefuna Okafor, an officer of STF.

 WEIRD NEWS: MOTORCYCLISTS TAKE BITE OUT OF SNAKE VENOM DEATHS
 In rural Nepal, volunteer motorcyclists are getting snakebite victims to
 help soon enough to cut deaths by 95%, reports Scientific American.
 Snake bites are still a big concern for much of the world’s population, and
 the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 100,000 people die
 from poisonous snakebites each year. Many more people become paralyzed or
 permanently disabled.
 Most victims live too far from clinics that could provide them with
 anti-venom. In Nepal, where more than 10% of bite victims die, an
 experimental program uses volunteer motorcyclists to save residents. Since
 the program launched 2003, only about 5% of victims who got a ride died.
 These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society
 of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

 QUOTABLE QUOTE:  "To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards
 of men."

 ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919), American author & poet
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