Northwest Motorcycle Community Challenges for 2006
Each year the Northwest motorcycling community is faced with numerous
challenges. In years past that’s included retention of funds earmarked for
motorcycle safety, helmet laws, construction warning signs and levels of
endorsements.
And it’s not uncommon for a year to go by where the typical rider has no clue
as to what issues are in play that will affect their rights to riding. If you
feel like one of these people and would like to know more, read this article and
apply yourself to the solution by getting involved in the outcome. Often that
can be as simple as a letter to your local representative or you can take it
further and volunteer time with an appropriate organization.
For 2006 there are a number of issues that will be dealt with. Some will be
bills in the House, others will be longer-term focused and some may have already
gone further than anyone in the community would like to see, thus a reversal
tactic needs to go into play.
Fatality Rate Increase
In 2004, 72 motorcyclists died in motorcycle accidents in Washington State, up
from a 10 year low of only 28 in 1997. The reasons are many including an
increase in the number of riders, types of vehicles involved and overall skill
levels of riders. The numbers reflect a nationwide trend. Most of the data that
has appeared on this issue, be it from the state, or from the National Highway
Transportation Safety Association has been vague or flawed, but the numbers
still stand that more people are getting killed on motorcycles. "Lane Error" is
a major reason cited in accident reports along with the involvement of alcohol
and excessive speed. Because of the work done by Wendy Moon for Motorcycle
Consumer News we now know that Light Utility Vehicles (SUVs, vans, pickups) are
a major factor in deaths. Used to be you’d hit a Volkswagen Beetle, fly over the
top and land in a ditch. Now more than ever it’s more likely you’ll plow into
and
impact a larger-size vehicle.
35% of the fatalities note that the motorcyclists involved did not have the
proper endorsement to operate their bike.
The mandate of Washington State Governor, Christine Gregoire, is
‘Accountability’ and Liz Luce, the Director of Licensing for the State, has been
given the task to reduce that 72 by about 15%. Luce held meetings this fall with
a number of top people from the community to gather ideas and will develop her
strategy in 2006. While Luce is not currently a rider, she will be taking an MSF
course in early 2006. If Luce has changes for the books you can look for those
to appear as bills in 2007. It’s too soon to know what exactly will be changing,
but it’s not too late to send a letter to her in Olympia with your own thoughts.
Incidentally – the number of motorcycle fatalities on the books in 2005 will
surpass the 72 mark of 2004.
Off-Road Land Grab
The land grab continues as various feet-only organizations pressure the
Forest Service and DNR to shut down more roads and trails to motorized vehicles.
In 2005 a major blow came to the off-road community when
DNR shut down the P5000
road in the Pilchuck region. All over the Northwest we’ve seen roads and trails
disappearing at an alarming rate.
In Washington State, Dave Hiatt of the Northwest Motorcycle Association has
created a program called CLOUT. It’s a call to action system that will alert a
subscriber to contact their local representative and let them know if they
support or do not support pending legislation and changes in land usage.
Other organizations exist throughout the Northwest to help protect motorized
trail and road access including the Blue Ribbon Coalition and the American
Motorcycle Association’s local district branches.
You can do your part to protect your right to ride off-road by joining a
local organization, attend the rally in February, volunteer a few hours each year for trail maintenance and, by
all means, never ride off-road with a loud pipe which only further incites tree huggers
to shut down trails and roads from motorized usage.
Lane Sharing Round 3
It’s back for the third year in a row, the Lane Sharing Bill. This bill would
allow motorcyclists to slip though traffic by sharing areas around four wheel
vehicles when the traffic is moving at a crawl. The practice has been in play
for decades in California where it’s commonly referred to as lane splitting.
There are no laws on the books allowing it or disallowing it in that state.
The current legislation being drawn up is based on Massachusetts law and
would allow motorcyclists to use shoulder areas for passing traffic moving at 10
mph or less. The trouble with those zones is that that’s where a lot of road
debris collects such as blown truck tires, nuts and bolts and other car parts. Thus if it passed, motorcyclists would be taking a risk riding in those zones.
More details at
www.laneshare.org
Sweet & Sour: The Chinese Product Glut
 Imagine
this, today any parent can purchase a motorcycle for their child through a
Schuck's Auto Supply. But when they get the bike home and discover warranty
issues, Schuck's does not provide any support and refers the buyer to a dealer
down the street – who also does not offer any support. The end result is an
unhappy buyer who gets a bad taste in their mouth about motorcycling.
The Washington State Motorsports Dealers Association is working on ways to
shut the practice of selling non-warrantied product into the market. Should
they succeed in their quest we’ll either see this product vanish from Schuck’s,
or find them creating their own service departments. The latter has not been the
case in other states where they have been shut down for selling the product.
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