URGENT! Lane Sharing in Jeopardy?

[twowheelnut]

Heads up peeps! State Senator Alan Lowenthal (Dem, 27th District), is supposedly preparing legislation that will make lane sharing illegal in California. We cannot let his happen!!! As of today, I have very limited info from a damn good source. The source is investigating and will be making further reports as he gets more solid info. At this point we do know that this will be an attached item buried in another proposal.

At this point, I would suggest that you all get the word out to your fellow motorcyclists and start thinking about who you will petition should he turn this into a proposition for passage in the legislature.

• Call/write your local state reps.

• Get your CHP and other MC LEO’s involved

• Notify your local clubs, ABATE, AMA, etc.

• Post on other forums that you may belong to

• Write letters to the editors of local mags and newspapers

I’ll post anything I hear about, but in the meantime, FIRE UP THOSE PENS & KEYBOARDS!

Write the Senator here.

 

[SoCalMike]

Only the Senator's Long Beach constituents can send an email to that website. Looks like snailmail and phone calls are the way to go.

I'm definitely going to be an activist on this one! It'd be great if the AMA or some other organization organized a ride to this guys office. I think he'd get the point if a few hundred motorcyclists were buzzing his office on a regular basis! I'm not necessarily a Harley fan but those loud aftermarket pipes of theirs would be perfect for this ocassion! :angry:

 

[SoCalMike]

I think I'll write to Senator Ducheny here in San Diego. She seems to be a friend of the motorcyclist based on her "Freedom to Ride" legislature. :clap:

***********************************

Senator Ducheny Fights for Your “Freedom To Ride”

2005/02/22

Senator Ducheny

Senator Ducheny Fights for Your ?Freedom To Ride?

Sacramento – Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny (D-San Diego) has introduced legislation that restores Californian’s “Freedom to Ride” by amending California’s mandatory helmet law which has been in effect since1991.

SB 969 will exempt from the helmet law any driver who is over 18 and has completed a motorcycle riding training program or has been issued a class M1 license for two or more years. Current law says that all motorcycle riders must wear an approved helmet at all times or face a citation and fine.

“This is about restoring personal freedom and choice,” said Senator Ducheny, “the state shouldn’t be the “parent” for adults capable of making their own decisions. Californians want less, not more governmental control of their lives.”

Motorcycle rider training programs give motorcycle riders the training and education that California riders need in order to avoid accidents in the first place.

“There is no real difference in motorcycle accident or fatality rates between states with mandatory helmet laws and those that do not have such a requirement,” added the Senator.

In recent years, several states have eliminated the legal requirement that motorcyclists wear protective helmets when riding. The following facts are irrelevant and misleading when making a determination to eliminate a mandatory helmet requirement for all motorcyclists:

SB 969 is supported by ABATE of California, Inc. and the Modified Motorcycle Association of California.

Senator Ducheny represents parts of San Diego and Riverside Counties and all of Imperial County.

# # # # #

LINK

 

[Toecutter]

Crossposted to BARF. Thread link

 

[Toecutter]

Crossposted to BARF. Thread link

And it's really become a stirred up hornet's nest. Quick, we need some details!

If someone from this forum is in his area, perhaps a diplomatic call to him would confirm his intentions, if any, and/or find out the reason behind his actions.

 

[Thug]

They have tired the same **** here in Oz, there is a recommendation that it be made illegal and it has stirred all and sundry to have their say and 99.99% argue with sound evidence from around the world that lane filtering/sharing is acceptable practice and is safer for motorcyclists in traffic. To ban it would make it much more dangerous.

They had a protest here in Victoria one morning on the highway into the CBD and it caused chaos! imagine several hundred bikes all taking up one space in one lane! the cagers were going ******* crazy!

I would suggest the same sort of protest and the legislators will see for themselves just what an idiotic idea it really is.

Cheers

 

[Thug]

Here are some research docs you may what to use in your fight...

• ACEM, 2004 ‘Maids- in depth Investigations of Accidents involving Powered Two Wheelers’ Final Report https://maids.acembike.org

• Advisory Group on Motorcycling 2004 Final Report to Government www.dft.gov.uk

• ‘Arrive Alive’ Victorian Motorcycle Roads Safety Strategy 2002-2007

• Austroads National Cycling Strategy 2005-2010

• Buche, T. Williams, S, Tyra A. Motorcycle Safety Foundation , Irvine, CA 2004 ‘ A proposal for Defining, Measuring and Documenting the Effects of ‘Safety Renewal’ A Concept whose Time has come’ A paper for the 5th ifz Motorcycle Conference ‘ Safety- Environment– Future’ Munich Germany

• Department for Transport 2005 ‘The Government’s Motorcycling Strategy’

• Department of Infrastructure Energy and Resources Tasmanian Road Safety Strategy 2005-2006

• Elliot, MA, Baughan, CJ, Broughton, J. Chinn, B, Grayson, GB. Knowles, J Smith, LR Simpson H. 2003 ‘Motorcycle Safety: A Scoping Study’ prepared for Road Safety Division Department for Transport

• Haworth, N. Smith, R. Brumen, I. Pronk, B. 1997 Case Control Study of Motorcycle Crashes Dept of Transport and Regulatory Development Federal Office of Road Safety Contract MUARC report CR

• Hurt, HH Ouellet, JV Thom. DR 1981 ‘Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures’ AKA The Hurt Report’ Traffic Safety Center University of Southern California Los Angeles California www.cs.wisc.edu

• OECD 2004 ‘Keeping Children Safe in Traffic’ https://titania.sourceoecd.org

• Oxford Systematics 2000 ‘Motorcycle Transport –Powered Two Wheelers in Victoria ‘ Report for VicRoads

• Rand Europe WSP Civils Department for Transport UK 2004 ‘ Motorcycles and Congestion: The Effect of Modal Split’

• Transport for London Street Management London Road Safety Unit 2004 ‘Powered Two Wheeler Causalities in Greater London’

• Victorian Motorcycle Road Strategy 2002- 2007 Vicroads Publication number 01088

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[twowheelnut]

Crossposted to BARF. Thread link

And it's really become a stirred up hornet's nest. Quick, we need some details!

If someone from this forum is in his area, perhaps a diplomatic call to him would confirm his intentions, if any, and/or find out the reason behind his actions.

Bob, my contact, who shall remain nameless until I get the go ahead to release, is working on it. Some of us know this person who is a stand up indiviual who does a lot of good work. This may take a bit of time, but trust me... when I get the low down, I'll put it out there.

I noticed on BARF that there is comment about the LEO's never supporting this kind of legislation. Well, that attitude may be changing because they'll go with the LEO's exemption this time round...

 

[flyindebris]

From the Pashnit forum: https://www.pashnit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4754

Re: Bill in CA to illegalize Lane Sharing ?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, we can put this one to bed. I just got off the phone with Senator Lowenthal's office in Sacramento. The Senator will not be introducing any such legislation this year. This is according to a staffer named Josh. Josh was uncertain how the rumor originated, except that the Senator's office considers many proposals for legislation, and this one may have been proposed by a constituent.
Let's all calm down - remain vigilant, but calm. Lane sharing is one of the best things ever, and I would heartily support efforts to make it a common practice everywhere in the US, as well as defend it here in California. This particular threat is not real.

Cheers,

Kurt

 

[twowheelnut]

It's still real. Operative words are 'this year'.

 

[madmike2]

Geez, TWN, doesn't yuh trust yer dooley e'lected o'fishuls? I wuz athinkin' they wuz all out to pertect our freedoms.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Once a year, we should create a biker's ride day where we ALL ride our bikes, and none of us share lanes. We'll see what that does to traffic like they did in Australia. There it caused hour delays for people getting to work, I'd wager that it would be worse than that here.

 

[FJRmogul]

Once a year, we should create a biker's ride day where we ALL ride our bikes, and none of us share lanes. We'll see what that does to traffic like they did in Australia. There it caused hour delays for people getting to work, I'd wager that it would be worse than that here.

A year is a long time to wait between rides (waiters know ), so lets have a ride day once a month!