JB Turns Activist: Fights Motorcycle Injustice!

[James Burleigh]

[SIZE=12pt]First it was Save the Trees! [/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Now it's Save the Motorcycles![/SIZE]

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"The people, united, can never be defeated! The people, united, can never be defeated!"

Jb

 

[Hit the Road Jack]

It's a conspiracy to sway you over to the 'scooter persuasion'!

 

[Toecutter]

Good luck with that! At least you still have a job!!!

 

[RsvlFeej]

I looked at the AMA's website, but did not find any fun facts and features supporting the green sustainability environmental friendliness of the motorcycle. Anyone got any info on that?

Nothing official, but seems it would be an easy argument to make that obviously bikes cost less to buy (and by extension required fewer raw materials and manufacturing processes to build) and use less fuel by their ubiquitousness (ubiquity?) wide use in third world countries.

If said tree-saver wasn't in such a bright hammock, I'd have to consider you highly suspect as a jihadist sniper - Did you find out about honeydew (the aphid and scale insect kind) first hand?

 

[Old Michael]

You get paid for travel and parking?

Oh my.

 

[James Burleigh]

You get paid for travel and parking?Oh my.

Um, no.... :ermm:

Good luck with that! At least you still have a job!!!

Got this job after getting laid off and being out of a job for 6 months last year.... It's tough out there right now. (Toe, did you see your fireboat picture?!)

It's a conspiracy to sway you over to the 'scooter persuasion'!

Man, I watch students fly by my office on scoots going 45 MPH on a major city street with thick traffic, and dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. And I think, "Lord help you if a car pulls out and you have to grab a handful of that puny front brake, because you have no idea what's going to happen when you do that." Scary.

 

[FarWestFastEddie]

After reading JB's post, I do not know weather to laugh or cry, is he a two wheeled dirt firster?

or retro non op FJR wannabe ? please do note, he does reside in the Bay Area, thats one strike,

he lives or works at Berkeley, two strikes, claims to ride, but no bike is listed, foul ball, does seem

to have a sense of humor and common logic, wants to fight the scholastic system, so I guess he

just singled to first, bottom of the 3rd, one on, one out, and now we have a pitching change,......

FWFE

 

[James Burleigh]

After reading JB's post, I do not know weather to laugh or cry, is he a two wheeled dirt firster?or retro non op FJR wannabe ? please do note, he does reside in the Bay Area, thats one strike,

he lives or works at Berkeley, two strikes, claims to ride, but no bike is listed, foul ball, does seem

to have a sense of humor and common logic, wants to fight the scholastic system, so I guess he

just singled to first, bottom of the 3rd, one on, one out, and now we have a pitching change,......

FWFE

:blink:

 

[03silverbullet]

Good for you Hans! Go get them!

I find it very surprising that a um.. progresive place like Berkley would do such a thing. But then again....

 

[madmike2]

IMO, you might have been less confrontational and rather asked for more information:

Sir, would you please explain why motorcycles are discriminated against? It seems to me that they use less gasoline than the greater percentage of automobiles and pickup trucks since most travel is by a single person per vehicle. Because most official business is by single occupant vehicle a motorcycle would certainly have less impact on limited parking and traffic density on highways and city streets. The manufacturing of motorcycles is easier on the environment as motorcycles are smaller so require fewer natural resources in the process. Etc., etc., etc., you get the idea....

There is probably another agenda/hidden bias but asking for information while educating from our perspective might have been more acceptable.

Let us know if you get a response. You could always begin the process by contacting your state representative and ask why you are being discriminated against for using a vehicle that is recognized by the federal government for use in the HOV lanes. That might threaten to hurt them in the pocket book which would surely change minds faster.

 

[stryg8r]

I looked at the AMA's website, but did not find any fun facts and features supporting the green sustainability environmental friendliness of the motorcycle. Anyone got any info on that?
"The people, united, can never be defeated! The people, united, can never be defeated!" :yahoo:

Jb

There's some good info here. Check out the Motorcycle Fact Sheet.

https://www.ridetowork.org/

I had a related issue where I work. We had one parking spot reserved for bikes close to the building, but then someone in the security dept decided it would be better used as manager parking. I gathered some info, rallied the troops and lobbied to get the spot back. We now have 2 spots reserved that are used by 6 to 8 bikes during the summer. :yahoo:

Get as many folks as you can to start writing similar letters. Sounds like your taking the right approach, but I'd refrain from making any assumptions about the current policy (motorcycles dangerous). If you can get someone high in the food chain to advocate for you you'll have a much better chance of changing the policy. I'd try and find other advocates with the ability to influence policy.

Good Luck!

 

[ionbeam]

After reading JB's post, I do not know weather to laugh or cry...he does reside in the Bay Area, thats one strike,he lives or works at Berkeley, two strikes, claims to ride, but no bike is listed..foul ball...now we have a pitching change,......

Fifteen post FWFE, note JB's nearly 2,000 posts, now go read some of those posts. Bases loaded home runs at almost every at-bat.

A motorcycle offers a small footprint in many ways. It is a 100% occupied vehicle, gets better mileage than a double occupied vehicle, parks in 50% of the space of a conventional vehicle, low impact on traffic, able to maneuver through traffic congestion resulting in less idle time & more time traveling to the destination (good for mileage, efficient travel, quicker arrival).

 

[Fred W]

The (rather large) company that I work for has a similar policy. They do not allow motorcycles to be used for "business use". This would include running business related errands during work hours or travelling to and from meetings or customers.

Their reasoning is that they are "self insured" and have determined that the risk of personal injuries resulting in claims is too high.

Since they provide me a cage and keep the tank full, I really can't argue with their rule. :blink:

 

[YooperDick]

My suspicion (clearly labeled) would be an insurance issue. By disallowing use of motorcycles for business travel they distance themselves from accident liability.

 

[FJR Flyer]

Luckily, the federal government allows personally owned motorcycles for official travel. We have a bunch of guys here who ride on business. The mileage rate is a little less than for a car, but, hell, gettin' paid to ride ain't bad. They also allow personally owned aircraft for official business and will reimburse for that, too.

Sometimes, being a fed ain't so bad. These days, its lookin' pretty damn good.

 

[scubatech]

Way to go JB.

 

[Auburn]

JB - hope you succeed. Problem is your argument makes sense and your thinking outside the established box - which greenies don't understand. I'm root'n for you to get the policy overturned.

 

[Kevin Daly]

Oh James,

Obviously you haven't been working for the university long. Two points.... First everything is done by committee rarely is any policy made unilaterally; I would imagine this is especially true at Berkley. Of course that is not to say that the policy is necessarily arbitrarily implemented unilaterally but thats another story. Second, your rant "author of the policy’s making a unilateral, uninformed, prejudiced assumption regarding motorcycles as “dangerous” and therefore too great a liability for the university.)" is likely to not win you support in the world of extreme PC that is universities. Never telll it like it is; thats too direct :dribble: :dribble: Why just the other day in a meeting with the Dean of my college, I said that the faculty in my department doesn't have the "balls" to review a peer as less than "excellent" in an annual review (something that irks me real bad) and the dean jumped on me claiming that "balls" is a sexist statement. Gimme a ****** break have we forgotten the concept of a metaphor people?

Anyway, I would have also highlighted the discontinuity between Berkley's parking policy and their travel police as well. I say this assuming that motorcycles are allowed to park free (or with minimal cost) as with most universities. this policy is in place for exactly the green reasons you are using to justify change in policy.



Finally I would add by quoting the greatest orator of our time President Obama, "persistence" really does work at a university. If you are willing to spend more time than it is worth change can be made. :dribble: :dribble:

Lucky for me WVU doesn't discriminate vehicle type :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

 

[dcarver]

JB, I hear yah and applaud your efforts. Seems you might have adequate power to make a change here. How about a mass motobike demonstration at BaZerkley later this month? We could go hooligan on them and ride our pfft pffft skooter bikes while chanting 'Fight injstice, ride a bike' or some other nonsense that only Bazerklians understand...