[Mrfnews] 07LR13 - Leaders Report- September

[mrfnews at mrf.org]

MRF E-MAIL NEWS Motorcycle Riders Foundation
236 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Suite 510
Washington, DC 20002-4980
202-546-0983 (voice)
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeff Hennie, MRF Vice-President of Government Relations
jeff at mrf.org (e-mail)



NHTSA News and the First Timers

Late last week the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration
held a motorcycle safety meeting as part of their ongoing quarterly
motorcycle safety networking series. The meetings have been regularly
taking place over the past the three years. The top safety agency
initiated the meetings as a way to bring together all of the stakeholders
in the motorcycle world including industry, rights organizations,
educational groups and other government entities.

This meeting was not a groundbreaking gathering but rather an update on
what is happening in the motorcycle community at large. Perhaps the most
noteworthy development pertains to the motorcycle crash study mandated by
Congress a few years back. The controversial study came to a bump in the
road when Oklahoma State University declared that lack of funding would
sideline the report. To their credit, the industry, via the Motorcycle
Safety Foundation (MSF) and Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), ponied up
the missing $3 million dollars need to fuel the study. Now with a full
tank of gas, the study can begin in earnest. The sample size is estimated
to be between 900 and 1200 individual crashes and will use the OECD
methodology, the same employed by the Motorcycle In Depth Study (MAIDS)
study conducted in Europe recently. This is an important aspect because
should the study have used another methodology it would have been
difficult at best to compare the two studies.

The comprehensive crash study is now awaiting approval from the federal
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). A mere formality the feds insist on
to guarantee that the money is well spent. The timeline is difficult to
pin down - I think someone in the safety meeting said it best, "the study
should be approved in six months, give or take six months" in other words,
hurry up and wait.

The second round of 2010 safety grants has also been approved although no
list is available just yet. NHTSA administrator Nason is sitting on the
list of award letters which she insists on autographing herself. That list
should be available any day now and the MRF will bring it to your
attention when it's available.

Another study the feds conducted in the great state of Georgia concerning
alcohol use and peer to peer pressure to not drink and ride is completed
and is currently awaiting approval from DOT Secretary Peters. The findings
of that study are also under wraps until she gives it the thumbs up.
Secretary Peters has been awfully busy these days taping a motorcycle PSA
on personal protective equipment. A sneak peek was not available but one
can venture to guess that it will revolve around a low speed crash she had
with her husband a few years ago. Stay tuned to your TV set for air times.

The MSF had some interesting news about a press event they held earlier
this summer in California. In order to put media types directly in touch
with motorcycle safety they did what any logical safety organization would
do, have them actually crash a car into a motorcycle. You read that right;
they innovative folks at MSF actually staged a near collision with
reporters in a car and a trained stunt rider nearly running into the
passenger vehicle. The theory is that the near miss will give the
reporters a real world view of what can happen when car drivers don't pay
full attention to the road and particularly motorcycles. Not a bad idea
from your friends in Irvine, CA.

Another interesting fact brought to the table by the MSF was the fact that
the state of PA, an avid MSF advocate, actually had to cancel beginner
rider courses due to lack of interest. Also in CA there have been reduced
wait time in some markets from 90 days down to as little as one week.
Perhaps the training bubble has burst in some areas, is oversaturated or
just needs more promotion. Either way its a welcome dilemma as opposed to
courses filling up overnight and often exceeding capacity. It is this
rider's opinion that more training available to the general public, the
better.

Your friends at NHTSA closed the meeting by informing the group that they
will in fact be pursuing some national standards for rider education,
currently there are none. It's important to note they will not be
developing curriculum. They are very clear on that instead they will
develop a set of standards on what to expect a rider course graduate to be
able to do. Its unclear how this will sort out, but rest assured, the MRF
will be there every step along the way to usher in this new set of
standards and to make sure its a gold standard and nothing less.

If Washington DC felt a little crowded last week with motorcyclists it
wasn't because of the NTSB or NHTSA meetings. It was because ABATE of
Nebraska sent six of the best citizen lobbyists to town to work over their
congressional delegation. This marked the first trip to the Nation's
Capitol for the NE based group during my tenure. ABATE President Larry
Schutt and gang did a terrific job lobbying their Senators and
Representatives. Perhaps its coincidence but Senator Chuck Hagel chose
that very day to announce his retirement, what's the matter Senator? Too
scared to meet with the bikers? It came to ABATE of NE's attention that
they were the only state in their region that had not come to DC recently,
so they did the admirable thing; put a team together, raised a little
money and came to DC. So those of you whose state has not been to DC
lately, take a cue from the cornhuskers, stop sitting on your hands and
make the trek to Washington. You won't be disappointed.

Jeff Hennie


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(c)All Information contained in this release is copyrighted. Reproduction
permitted with attribution. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation, incorporated
in 1987, is a membership-based, national motorcyclists' rights
organization headquartered in Washington, DC. The first motorcyclists'
rights organization to establish a full-time presence in Washington, DC,
the Motorcycle Riders Foundation is the only Washington voice devoted
exclusively to the street rider. The MRF established MRFPAC in the early
1990s to advocate the election of candidates who would champion the cause
of rider safety and rider freedom.

The MRF proudly claims state motorcyclists' rights organizations and the
very founders of the American riders' rights movement among its leading
members. The MRF is involved in federal and state legislation and
regulations, motorcycling safety education, training, and public
awareness. The MRF provides members and state motorcyclists' rights
organizations with direction and information, and sponsors annual regional
and national educational seminars for motorcyclists rights activists, as
well as publishing a bi-monthly newsletter, THE MRF REPORTS.