OFF THE WIRE
By
LANSING, MI -- Michigan motorcycle riders will have to take off the proverbial training wheels and obtain a full operating endorsement after two seasons on the road under legislation headed to the desk of Gov. Rick Snyder.
House Bill 4781, unanimously approved by the Michigan Senate on Tuesday, closes a loophole in state law allowing motorcycle operators to obtain a Temporary Instruction Permit each season without ever completing a skills test required for endorsement.
The permits are designed to allow practice runs for new or returning riders, who are supposed to operate with a helmet on and within the presence of a fully-endorsed adult. It's difficult for police enforce those rules, however, and unendorsed riders are significantly over-represented in traffic crash and fatality data each year.
The new legislation, sponsored by state Rep. Brad Jacobsen (R-Oxford) and unanimously approved by the House earlier this year, would limit riders to two temporary permits over the course of 10 years.
"That's certainly adequate time to ride with a friend, take an instruction course and get the experience necessary to drive a motorcycle," Jacobsen said in committee testimony.
The Secretary of State's office supports the "important traffic safety reform" bill, spokesperson Fred Woodhams said in an email Tuesday, noting that a 180-day TIP typically covers an entire riding seasons in Michigan.
"We were concerned that unendorsed riders were abusing the Temporary Instruction Permit option and just getting one year after year without taking the skills test," Woodhams said. "Thus, they hadn't shown they can ride safely and were essentially finding a loophole to avoid taking the skills test and getting their endorsement."
Motorcycle riders can operate without restriction in Michigan by obtaining a full "CY" endorsement on their driver's license. Doing so requires completing vision and written knowledge tests, followed by a rider skills test or motorcycle safety training course.
To acquire a TIP, which prohibits night driving and requires helmet use, operators must only pass the vision and knowledge test. The Secretary of State issued approximately 22,000 temporary permits in 2012.
An MLive Media Group analysis revealed that unendorsed riders were involved in more than half of all motorcycle crashes in the first six months after repeal of the state's mandatory helmet law in 2012. Unendorsed riders accounted for 44 percent of all crashes involving operators who were not wearing helmets.
Roughly 20 percent of all registered motorcycle owners were unendorsed in 2012, according to the Michigan Motorcycle Action Team, a sub-committee of the Governor's Traffic Safety Advisory Commission. Still, more than half of the motorcycle riders killed in traffic crashes that year did not have an endorsement.
The TIP reform legislation was backed by the ABATE Michigan motorcycle rights organization and supported the Skilled Motorcyclist Association of Responsible, Trained and Educated Riders. The two groups disagree on whether the state should require helmet use, but they both advocate for appropriate training.
"Everyone I know in the safety community was supportive of working to close this loophole," said SMARTER founder and president Dan Petterson. "We don't know that the results will be. We don't know if it will actually reduce fatalities, but it's something that needed to be addressed. It's an issue everyone has known about for years."
Check out the Michigan Secretary of State website for more information on rider skills testing organizations and motorcycle rider safety training courses.