OFF THE WIRE
BIKER ANTI-PROFILING MEASURES UNDER
CONSIDERATION IN CONGRESS:
Res.154: “Promoting awareness of motorcycle profiling
and encouraging collaboration and communication with the motorcycle community and law enforcement officials to prevent instances of profiling,” was referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations on June 2, 2017. Concerned motorcyclists are encouraged to contact their federal lawmakers in the U.S. Senate & House of Representatives to co-sponsor and support these bills. Under the companion measures in the Senate and
House, “motorcycle profiling” means “the illegal use of the fact that a person rides a motorcycle or wears motorcycle related apparel as a factor in deciding to stop and question, take enforcement action, arrest, or search a person or vehicle with or without legal basis under the Constitution of the United States.
FEDERAL LEGISLATION COULD PROLIFERATE
E15 GAS: Despite objections that the proliferation
of E15 gasoline into the U.S. marketplace will
negatively impact every American who owns a car,
lawnmower or boat, two new federal bills have been
introduced to expand availability of the higher concentrate
ethanol fuel.
Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) and U.S. Representative
Adrian Smith (R-NE) introduced the “Consumer
and Fuel Retailer Choice Act” (S.517 & H.R.1311)
amending the Clean Air Act to allow the sale of E15
(15% blend ethanol gas) during summer months (June
1 - September 15).
Motorcycle and ATV owners risk damaging their
machines by even inadvertently putting E15 in their
tanks, as the higher blends of ethanol can cause engine
and fuel system damage, void manufacturers’
warranties and violate federal law.
Motorcyclists should also be concerned about the
availability of compatible fuel supplies if gas stations
primarily provide E15 gasoline that’s EPA-approved
for the majority of their driving customers -- but no
on- or off-road motorcycles or ATVs appear on the
EPA’s list of vehicles approved to use E15.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA PROMOTES RIDERSHIP:
According to the Motorcycle Industry Council
(MIC), a not-for-profit national trade association, their
2014 rider survey reports that “56% of Generation Y
riders use their motorcycles as a primary means of
transportation,” and that factoid recently appeared in
a Ride To Work Day graphic on the front page of the
June 19 edition of USA Today’s Life section.
“This major mainstream media placement is especially
significant to the MIC as the industry association
is actively promoting motorcycles as transportation
and seeking new generations of riders,” says the
MIC communications department, which has previously
worked on Ride to Work Day segments with
“Good Morning America,” ABC’s national morning
news show, and with “The KTLA Morning News,”
the biggest morning news program in Southern California.
The MIC exists to “preserve, protect and promote
motorcycling through government relations, communications
and media relations, statistics and research,
aftermarket programs, AIMExpo, development of
data communications standards, and activities surrounding
technical and regulatory issues.”
LOUISIANA TO TEACH NEW LICENSEES
HOW TO INTERACT WITH POLICE: Louisiana
Governor Bel Edwards has signed into law a requirement
that driver education classes must include a
segment on interacting with police in their course
curriculum.
Introduced by Senators Ryan Gatti (R-Bossier),
Wesley Bishop (D-New Orleans) and Gary Smith Jr.
(D-Norco) on March 20, 2017, SB17 “Provides for
driver education to include instruction on appropriate
driver conduct when stopped by a law enforcement
officer.”
The bipartisan measure was signed by the governor
on June 16 as Act No. 286 with an effective date of
January 1, 2018.
HANDLEBAR HEIGHT LAW MODIFIED IN
MARYLAND: Maryland has become the most recent
state to modify or repeal their antiquated and
discriminatory handlebar height law, which many
states enacted in the sixties to provide a law enforcement
tool for pulling over bikers on their choppers.
Governor Larry Hogan approved Senate Bill 668
on May 25, 2017; “Increasing, from 15 inches to 20
inches, the maximum height that the handlebars of a
motorcycle may be above a specified part of the motorcycle
seat in order for a person to lawfully operate
the motorcycle.”
SB668 was introduced February 3, 2017 by lead
sponsor Senator H. Wayne Norman, Jr. (R-D35) and
becomes effective October 1, 2017, and ABATE of
Maryland advises to “Remember that the height is
measured from the seat to the highest point on the
handlebars, not from the bottom of the handlebar to
the grips or highest point.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE OKAYS COLORED HEADLAMPS
FOR MOTORCYCLES, SAME AS CARS:
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed
HB458 into law on June 8, 2017, an Act relative to
motorcycle headlamps. Sponsored by Rep. James
Spillane (R-Deerfield), “This bill allows headlamp
colors approved by the director of the division of
motor vehicles for automobiles to be considered approved
for motorcycle headlamps,” with an effective
date 60 days after its passage (August 7, 2017).
OREGON ENACTS LAWS EFFECTING TRIKES
& AUTOCYCLES: In dealing with the increased
popularity of three-wheeled vehicles, Oregon lawmakers
have passed two new laws to make it easier
for riders to get in the saddle. House Bill 3125 was
signed into law by Governor Kate Brown on June
14, 2017 to define an “autocycle” and provides that
a person may operate one without a motorcycle endorsement.
The Act takes effect immediately under
the Emergency clause.
Sponsored by the Committee on Transportation
Policy, under HB3125 “autocycle” means a motorcycle
that: (1) Is manufactured to travel on three wheels;
(2) Has a steering wheel for steering control; and (3)
Has nonstraddle seating, and (4) is equipped with a
manufacturer-installed three-point safety belt or safety
harness.
Senate Bill 36 “Provides that Department of Transportation
may waive skills test for person seeking
motorcycle endorsement to operate three-wheeled
motorcycle [trike],” and was also signed by the governor
on June 14.
LICENSE PLATE MOUNTING OPTIONS FOR
SOUTH DAKOTA RIDERS: Effective July 1, 2017,
motorcycle owners in South Dakota will be allowed
to mount license plates to their motorcycle “in any
visible manner other than upside down.”
Governor Dennis Daugaard signed Senate Bill 79
into law on March 9, after overwhelmingly passing
through both chambers of the state legislature.
FAIR WARNING: MOST DRIVERS KNOW
THEY’RE BAD DRIVERS: Millions of drivers admit
that they don’t always make thorough mirrors
checks when pulling away, according a driver survey,
with 25% admitting they don’t look in their mirrors
when pulling out into traffic.
Of 2,025 drivers polled, 15% admitted not always
looking at road signs, 68% admit rarely driving with
both hands on the wheel, and over half (52%) believed
bad habits such as these would ensure they failed the
driving test if they had to do it again.
Too many people are injured on the roads due to
poor judgment and a lack of road skills says David
Carter, spokesman for Accident Advice Helpline in
the U.K., which conducted the research, adding: “It
is worrying that more people don’t feel confident in
their own skills on the road and feel that they’ve developed
bad habits which would cause them to not
pass their driving test.”
GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN: This year
has been tragic for our bikers rights family, suffering
the loss of two past NCOM Board of Directors;
Butch Harbaugh (NCOM Legislative Task Force) and
Dennis “Big D” Watson (NCOM Region IX), both
recipients of the Ron Roloff Lifetime Achievement
Award (2003 & 2006) in whose memory the recent
National Coalition of Motorcyclists’ NCOM Convention
in Reno was dedicated, and now we regretfully
report the passing of longtime biker advocate and
Easyriders magazine writer “Twiggy” Blakeboro (73,
of Lompoc, CA) who died June 11, 2017. Twiggy was
much beloved by his peers and was a past recipient
of the NCOM Silver Spoke Award - Media (1997).
“Nuff said.” R.I.P. Brothers, Ride In Peace.
QUOTABLE QUOTE: “If not me, then who?” ~
USMC 1st Lt Travis Manion (Nov 19, 1980 - April
29, 2007), upon his second Iraq tour; KIA saving his
men from ambush (TravisManion.org)
NCOM Biker Newsbytes
