NCOM BIKER NEWSBYTES
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)
“2 MILLION BIKERS TO DC” TRUMPS “MILLION MUSLIM MARCH”
A few dozen demonstrators attending a rally on the National Mall, once billed as the “Million Muslim March”, were vastly outnumbered by hundreds of thousands of motorcycle riders from across America participating in the “2 Million Bikers to DC” ride to honor September 11 victims and to counter the pro-Muslim rally that many said was inappropriate for such a solemn day in U.S. history.
The American Muslim Political Action Committee scheduled the rally to draw attention to what it said is an unfair and ongoing fear of Muslims after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Among the bikers, however, the provocatively scheduled rally was considered an insult to the nearly 3,000 people who died on Sept. 11, 2001, when Islamic terrorists hijacked three commercial jets and crashed them into the World Trade Center buildings in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington. Another hijacked plane headed for Washington, D.C. crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Though the biker gathering fell short of 2 million strong, some estimates ran as high as 880,000 riders, and “What began as an idea on Facebook quickly turned into a national movement thanks to social media and dedicated bikers from around the nation,” wrote the Examiner.com; and as bikers from as far away as the west coast began their journey to D.C., Twitter lit up with photos and videos showing thousands of bikes overflowing out of rest stops and parking lots as the hastily organized ride gained momentum.
So many turned out that plans to have them ride through the streets of the Capital had to be changed, particularly in light of the fact that local authorities denied a permit that would have provided the riders a police escort through traffic -- a sore spot with organizers who believe the denial was for political purposes.
“We didn’t need a permit in the first place,” National Event Organizer Belinda Bee told a local Fox News station, citing D.C. law; “it shall not be an offense to assemble or parade on a District street, sidewalk, or other public way, or in a District park, without having provided notice or obtained an approved assembly plan.” So the event went on -- legally -- without the permit, although the group apologized to the public that "What could have been a one or two hour ride through” tied up Beltway traffic from early morning into the afternoon.
Co-founders Belinda Bee and “Top Fuel” Bill Williamson credited everyone who helped with the unprecedented success of this year’s ride, and promised another ride next year, “and every year for September 11.”
“Sending out a BIG Thank You to all who supported and cheered on the 2 Million Bikers to DC ride,” e-mailed Angel Richardson, a member of the NCOM Board of Directors who attended the hugely successful event; “We have a kick ass bunch of patriots!”
CHRISTIAN AND VETERAN BIKERS SUE OVER BEING THROWN OUT OF FAIR
Motorcyclists who were thrown out of the Florida State Fair for displaying their love of America and Christianity on their vests must amend their lawsuit, a federal judge has ruled.
According to Courthouse News, Mark Denico, Thomas Griswold Jr., Timothy Newberry and Dennis Walsted had arrived at the Florida State Fair on Feb. 7, 2010. Denico and Griswold are members of the U.S. Military Vets Motorcycle Club, while Newberry and Walsted belong to the Spirit Riders Motorcycle Ministry. Walsted said he was planning to "lead all the motorcyclists in prayer once inside the fair," but he and the others were escorted out once they paid for admission. Fair rules ban gang colors or signs, and members of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office told the quartet that they could not enter the fair while wearing vests with the patches indicating motorcycle club membership.
Tampa Bay Times reported that approximately 50 bikers from numerous clubs were turned away that day. In their subsequent lawsuit, the four accused law enforcement and fair officials of violating their First Amendment rights to freedom of association and religion.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington nevertheless dismissed the complaint without prejudice because it failed to specifically indicate claims under the federal civil right law Section 1983, which creates a private right of action for civil damages. The fair demonstrated that the "plaintiffs' naked reference to § 1983 is insufficient for defendants or this court to assume that they intended to bring [counts one through nine] under its rubric," according to the ruling. "Plaintiffs may have identified constitutional rights alleged to have been violated, but have failed to allege causes of action associated with those violations," Covington added.
The judge also declined to give the plaintiffs an injunction restraining the defendants from "ordering, compelling, bullying, requesting, coercing, or threatening a member of a motorcycle club or motorcycle ministry to remove their vests with 'patches' on them signifying membership within a particular organization." Injunctions are appropriate only if plaintiffs can show they will continue to be harmed during the course of litigation, according to the ruling. "Conspicuously absent from the operative complaint is any allegation that the plaintiffs intend to return to the Florida Stair Fair wearing their prohibited patches or that the plaintiffs face specific future harm at the hands of the defendants," Covington wrote. Vaguely alleging that "the Florida State Fair Authority will continue to selectively exclude certain motorcyclists from the fair" is not sufficient to reach the standard for an injunction, the court ruled, and so the club members must amend their complaint before moving forward with the lawsuit.
MOTORCYCLIST FINED FOR TIRE TREADS
A New York rider who set out for a Friday the 13th motorcycle trip to Port Dover, Ontario told local CTV News that he was unfairly ticketed and pulled off the roads by Waterloo Regional Police in Canada. Jeff Selby of Elmira, NY claims the officers were excessive in their punishment after a routine roadside check found the tread on his motorcycle tires was point five millimeters under code.
Selby says he offered to drive his bike straight to a repair shop to have the tire replaced but the officers said no. “He goes it doesn’t matter. Your bike will be off the road as of today. We’re gonna take your plate, we’re gonna charge you and you’re gonna have to get a tow truck.”
Selby told the news station that he understands the safety concerns but says he has a clean driving record and deserves a warning first, and that the five hundred or more dollars he’s now facing in fines, relicensing fees and towing cost is exorbitant. Police there say the law is the law and you can’t put a price on safety, adding that when it comes to safety there’s no room for warnings or second chances and it’s their responsibility that’s on the line.
The legal regulation for tires on any motorized vehicle is that they have to have at least 1.5 millimeters of tread on the majority of the tires circumference.
SIHK-ING HELMET EXEMPTIONS DOWN UNDER
On April 23, 2013, Queensland became the fourth Australian province to exempt bicyclists from the Sikh community from wearing a helmet. Calling it a “common-sense approach,” Queensland transport minister Scott Emerson said, "By amending the Queensland Road Rules, we will join Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia which also have this exemption."
Now, Sikh motorcycle riders are seeking exemption from helmet laws as well. Harpreed Singh, who is originally from New Delhi, told ABC News that he has not ridden a motorbike since moving to Tasmania in 2008 because of the legal requirement to wear a helmet. Members of the Sikh faith wear turbans for religious reasons and do not want to remove them. "I have ridden motorbikes all my life and in India it is allowed and even in the UK, Canada and the US, Sikhs can ride a bike with a turban on."
Anti-discrimination commissioner Robin Banks says it would be better to exempt the entire Sikh religion, in order to avoid the situation where every Sikh has to apply for an exemption and then prove they have one if they are stopped by the police. She too points to other parts of the world where similar changes have been made: "In Canada there's been human rights cases that have decided that instead of having to wear a motorbike helmet, or even a safety helmet on building sites, [they] are permitted to wear their turbans."
The Tasmanian Government says the transport commissioner has the power to exempt individuals from wearing a helmet.
In Tasmania, the fine for not wearing a helmet is $140 and three demerit points.
ACCIDENTS POSSIBLY LINKED TO BRAIN MISCALCULATIONS
Incidences of cars pulling out in front of motorcyclists run regularly in headlines -- locally, statewide and throughout the nation -- and there could be a scientific reason. Recent research by a Texas Tech University psychologist suggests that the regularity of this problem isn’t necessarily a case of poor driving or carelessness, but may be related to a basic human judgment error.
Pat DeLucia, the coordinator of the Human Factors Psychology Program, said her results show that small, near objects can appear farther away than larger, farther objects. The study is published in the peer-reviewed scientific psychology journal “Current Directions in Psychological Science.”
An interest in softball prompted DeLucia to study how the human brain perceives objects, their size and motion and an object’s time to impact. Her finding -- that an object’s size affects distance perception -- may be the basis explaining why car drivers miscalculate motorcyclists’ distance and speed.
Many times, the brain interprets objects with a larger retinal image as closer. Since motorcycles are smaller than cars, DeLucia said the brain may use this shortcut to judge a smaller motorcycle farther away than it actually is.
This size-arrival effect can lead drivers to misjudge when a vehicle would arrive at an intersection and could be considered a contributing factor in motorcycle/vehicle accidents.
DeLucia hopes to find funding from the Texas Department of Transportation to create an educational program to inform drivers of her findings and reduce the incidents of these types of accidents.
HONDA TOUTS TECHNOLOGY TO CUT MOTORCYCLIST FATALITIES
Honda North America executives announced that the Japanese automaker hopes two experimental safety technologies it is testing could help reduce pedestrian and motorcycle deaths by the end of the decade. By equipping a car and smartphone with wireless dedicated short range communications technology, Honda said it can alert both a driver and pedestrian, or motorcycle rider, of an impending collision.
Vehicle-to-Pedestrian and Vehicle-to-Motorcycle technologies are still in the early development and testing stages, but Honda intends to integrate the advanced collision sensing and predictive technologies into their vehicles through a special licensed radio band that allows cars to send and receive messages from surrounding vehicles. The system that might be an app one day on a smartphone is capable of alerting drivers that a pedestrian or motorcycle is near, even if the driver can’t see them, in time to avoid a collision.
Jim Keller, chief engineer for Honda R&D Americas, Inc. said connected vehicle technology could be on the road by 2020, and the technology would be much cheaper than implementing cameras and other safety systems equipped on vehicles today.
Honda is one of eight automakers involved in a federal vehicle-to-vehicle communication study which began a year ago in Ann Arbor with the help of the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and has been extended six months.
WEIRD NEWS: BLIND DISABLED MOTORCYCLIST SETS SPEED RECORD
The dangers of riding a motorcycle are obvious even to able-bodied operators, yet blind, disabled Scottish biker Stuart Gunn threw caution to the wind by setting a new world record by clocking 167.1 mph.
Gunn is a real world Daredevil, and with a little help from his father, Geoff, the pair ride together and dad cheerfully informs his son if he’s drifting or should brake, assisting his blind and paralyzed-from-the-waste-down son to beat world speed records.
“I hope this proves to people that just because you are blind or have a disability, doesn’t mean it should change or limit your life,” says Gunn, the World’s Fastest Blind Motorcycle Rider.
QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Every man owes a part of his time and money to the business or industry in which he is engaged. No man has a moral right to withhold his support from an organization that is striving to improve conditions within his sphere.”
Theodore “T.R” Roosevelt, Jr. (1858-1919) 26th President of the United States