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Misreporting of 'at-fault' in Motorcycle Accidents
September Monthly Report - President, Local 27
Greetings from the irregular,aberrant I.E.! Well this is the last notice before the spectacular Local 27 Poker Run (or not). The committee (Kenny, Greg, & Jack) have been bustin tails puttin together a Grand Affair. I hope you all show your appreciation by showing up and bringing more than a few friends with ya! (they really don't need to be friends or even acquaintances, just have the price of admission) My understanding is that Darlene'n Danny'O have some great vendors lined up and this reporter feels that one would be hard pressed to Not have a good time. Be there on the 11th of October. You can go to the Local's web site at abatelocal27.org for the flier.
Speaking of abatelocal27.org you might like to go there, scroll down to "Newsletter" and register your e-mail address so when we come up with some emergency news you can be readily alerted. It also would be nice to have you all sign in at the guest book and leave a "Nice" comment. Signing up at Newsletter can also give us a way to mobilize troops when PAC action is needed.
Our membership Goddess was MIA at our Sept. meeting so no Membership Drawing was held but she did send along a list of those who need to RENEW! As of 09/09/09 Dan Hogan, Dave Molinar, Kelly Robertson/Ralf Rosales are in need of serious renewal. In October Michael Horkey, "Uncle Ron" Castner, Greg Covel, Stephen DuPont II, Harry Keith Grissom, Thomas "Duck" Russo, Nickolas Schneider, Elmer& Connie Simeon, Doc Rodriguez, Larry Temple, MC Tonning and Fred Wollenberg are in need of renewal. Come on folks lets "Get'er done!"
Speaking of Elmer and Connie Simeon I want to thank them for steppin up to the plate an knocking a homer by taking fliers and Bailing Wires to the nether regions of Marietta and Temecula. We are grateful to spread the ABATE word as far as we can.
Last and least for today campers. By our Charter we must hold elections by December, I think. Soooo we need folks to step up and do their turn at holding an Office in the Local. We must have a President, Vice-P, Secretary, and Treasurer just to remain a Local. I can guarantee you that we need a President, a PAC officer, and someone to write the monthly report. So all must take their turn. Step up and "Ask not what your Local can do for you, ask WHAT YOU can DO for YOUR LOCAL!
C'ya, HR
3 Doors Down
by Raymond Fleischman, Jr
ABATE of California - Local 27
Let me start this by stating that I have been involved in Motorcycle Rights here in California since 1993. After wearing my helmet under duress for a year I felt that you are either part of the cause or part of the cure, I chose to be a part of the latter. I am by no means alone in my conviction. I was tutored and educated by many long time activists through these years. I've given many, many hours of my time to try to ensure the preservation and continuation of my chosen lifestyle and that it remains legal here in the Golden State that for the most part goes unnoticed by a majority of our riders. In these actions I've had a greater civics lesson than my 12 years of schooling could hope to provide. I am even fairly at peace with the fact that most California motorcyclists are oblivious or flat ignorant of just what our legislature is up to in regards to us, though I'm less forgiving of the motorcycle press for its ignorance and lethargy in covering our issues. So it is aggravating beyond belief when after hours and hours of work taken from my, and others, free time to try to STOP the largest intrusion, SB 435, on motorcyclists’ basic Liberties (beyond the helmet law), only to loose one hard earned Senator's vote because of an idiot, thoughtless neighbor 3 DOORS DOWN!
After gathering thousands of signatures our Lobbyist delivered them to the respective State Senators. Senator Gloria Negrete-McLeod (SD 32) had agreed to vote against this useless Motorcycle Smog Check Bill. In the first round of voting she did, but as its author, Senator Pavley, saw it going down in defeat she offered to amend it. She said she would drop the Smog Check and change it to enable law enforcement to pull you over to check if you have a Catalytic Converter or Too Loud Pipes and give you a high fine for either. Senator Negrete-McLeod thought about a "painter" who lives 3 doors down from her and leaves for work at 6 am every day on his motorcycle. Her neighbors had asked him if he would mind not rapping it as he left to which he replied at double volume the next day. Nice! I hope his friends recognize him and arrange for an appropriate "Blanket Party" to teach da'jerk some manners.
Yes, folks, I know for a fact that loud pipes do save lives from personal experience but I also know, by the same means, that one "jerk/idiot" can screw us all. We have no way to defend ourselves against rumbling folks out of bed for a moment of decibel gratification. I spent 8 years of my life as "Crew Chief" of the "Sundancer" blown alcohol funny car, so it’s not that I am offended by awesome engine noise, but some of your neighbors are and some of them might be the surgeon who will operate on you or a loved one today, or the Judge who will determine just how much you will inherit from that relative’s estate. There are a number of people that you would like to get a good nights rest and not be awakened by obtrusive excessive exhaust noise, much less filled with a great resolve against all riders. Especially a politician about to vote on pertinent legislation!
Gee, thanks a lot idiot. C'ya, HR
misreporting of 'at-fault' in motorcycle accidents
by Denis Stalter
...at the last BoD meeting in Ontario Jean was giving a report from her experience at the 'safety summit'** earlier this year. Aside from the goofy recommendations like ..04% BAC for motorcyclists (like that's gonna make any difference), the thing that caught my ear was the statistic they were spouting off that motorcyclists were at fault 74% of the time these days. Used to be commonly accepted that the other vehicle was at fault over 2/3's of the time. Their reasoning was the dramatic increase in 20-30 year olds on sport bikes going too fast and doing stunts and the over 50 crowd getting back into motorcycling without the proper skills, riding around drunk.
I'm sure you've heard that stereotype repeated endlessly in news reports. Almost sounds believable.
Of course, another explanation would be the number of riders in the 20-30 age group has increased and so has the number of riders over 50 (uhhh, 10 years ago it was to 40-somethings that were the problem; wonder if it's just the baby boomers moving through the statistical charts ;-)
Later in the meeting some stories came out about riders being found at fault so far as the police report was concerned when it clearly wasn't the case according to witnesses and the riders themselves. Jean even talked of one case where the cops reporting the accident were finding the rider at fault and if it wouldn't have been for an off-duty sheriff witnessing the accident he would have been stuck with the medical bill for his injuries.
In a flash of intuition, my pea brain started putting 2+2 together and I wondered if maybe the cops were reporting accidents as 'rider at fault' in more cases than it was true and that was skewing the statistics. I figured if a room full of 50 bikers had that many stories off the tops of their heads, maybe there was something going on bigger than we realized. I'd hate to think there was some perverse incentive for the cops to do it but NHTSA grants can do strange things.
At the last Local 14 meeting I asked for stories of misreported 'at-fault' motorcycle accidents and got a fairly good one from a visiting club member where he was reported at-fault because an off duty cop had seen him splitting lanes earlier. In fact, he was the victim of a ROW violation unrelated to lane splitting that the cop didn't witness.
What I'd like to do for now is have the Presidents bring this subject up at their local meetings and see what the response is. If there are compelling stories, send them to me. At the very least, this would give Jean some interesting data to take back to the next 'safety summit'**.
If we get a significant number of stories back then maybe it'd be appropriate to put up a web form where the general riding population could also contribute. Think what could happen if we got some coverage in the motorcycle press about this issue and the response was overwhelming.
So, Presidents, please ask your membership if they have stories about accidents being attributed to riders when, in fact, the accident wasn't their fault and we'll go from there.
p.s. I've been meaning to send out something about this issue ever since the BoD meeting and the report about the biker hitting the RV finally spurred me into action...
Have a story about accidents being attributed to riders when, in fact, the accident wasn't their fault?
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