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AMA SPECIAL REPORT THE NATIONAL AGENDA FOR MOTORCYCLE SAFETY By Larry Schwartz President, District III It was two years in the making, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA)and its partner, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation have finally completed and issued the National Agenda for Motorcycle Safety. Despite this account coming from our famous enemy, NHTSA, it is notable that there are many things in it, obviously brought into the work by the MSF and other motorcycle organizations, including National AMA, that make it a productive resource for every motorcyclist rights organization in the country. There are many items in this report that go to the heart of legislation we’ve been trying to see passed in the New York State Legislature, for years. The National Agenda is attempting to answer the question: “What are the most important issues in improving motorcycle safety?” Most of the answers are well thought out and will help us propose legislative packages about motorcycle safety and education. The only recommendation, from my point of view, that motorcyclists will have a real problem with is the encouragement by this report for the use of helmets. Aside from that, it contains jewels that will help us greatly as we seek to influence state and local legislators. One of the first items the report addresses is the need for research. Except for the famous Hurt Report issued in 1981, there has been no nationwide, in depth, analytical research done into motorcycle crashes. There is no common methodology so that work done on a smaller basis in various states, can be compared. Among the Recommendations made is one “to better utilize data collected by law enforcement personnel, a uniform traffic crash report for police officers should be developed and deployed. A similar format should also be developed for emergency medical services reports. This will permit meaningful comparisons among jurisdictions. All concerned parties should share the resulting information.” One of AMA of New York State’s objectives to to have passed a bill that is now in the legislative hopper sponsored by Ron Canestrari in the Assembly and Owen Johnson in the Senate which would mandate more thorough investigation into motorcycle, bicycle and pededstrian accidents. We are recommending that the bill be amended to include uniform traffic crash reports to be created by cooperation of the Bureau of Municipal Police and the Department of Motor Vehicles. One important section of the National Agenda deals with Motorist Awareness. This is an area that has been neglected in New York State for years and years. One of the “urgent” recommendations in the report is to “educate operators of other vehicles to be more conscious of the presence of motorcyclists.” The American Motorcyclist Association District III activist, Larry Schwartz, is attempting to get sponsored a bill that would require that all AUTO driving courses in New York State, whether public or private, contain a segment on “motorcycle awareness” using video and other material from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. There is another recommendation in that section which would mandate that motorists found guilty of violating a motorcyclist’s right of way would have to complete a motorcycle awareness class as a sanction. That is a matter which we will have to address. It is one of law enforcement and DMV regulations and we will be working with the proper authorities sometime in the future on making that happen. There is an entire section on motorcycle safety education and of course we already have the Motorcycle Defensive Driver’s course in this state run through the Motorcycle Association of New York State. However, the report also notes that the average cost of such programs nationwide is about sixty six($66) and we are a far cry from that in New York State. Our courses are much more expensive and there has to be a concerted effort by both the Department of Motor Vehicles and MANYS to bring that cost down. In the section on Roadway Characteristics there are many recommendations which we favor and hope to affect decision making in this area. Assemblyman Canestrari has already sponsored our “grooved road” bill which would mandate signage by any government entity that had torn up the pavement and “grooved” it for repaving. The report recommends : “post specific warnings for motorcyclists where unavoidable hazards exist.”…such as these grooved roads. There are other recommendations in this section that are truly important. For instance one says to “develop and revise highway standards on all levels—federal,state,county and local—to reflect the needs of motorcyclists and encourage motorcycle-friendly design, construction and maintenance procedures.” It also says: “Create a working group to recommend changes to highway standards to increase motorcycle safety.” This would be accomplished by passage of Senator Nancy Larraine Hoffman’s bill to establish motorcycle advisory councils in each of state D.O.T.’s 12 regions. These councils would meet at least twice a year and inform the D.O.T. commissioner as well as county and local officials of road conditions they have found to be hazardous to motorcycles. This bill is one of several being presented to the state legislature this year in the AMA of New York State’s Safety and Education Package. We need a sponsor for it in the Assembly, but this should not be difficult. This section also recommends taking steps “to remove slippery sealnts and repair substances applied to road surfaces.” This is an important issue as what’s called “crack coat” can become as slippery as ice in the heat of summer depending on what’s being used. I will be meeting with State D.O.T. officials on January 11th on a number of issues regarding safety items and bills we’ve had proposed in the legislature. In its Summary of Recommendations the report notes Motorist Awareness as an URGENT recommendation. If we can get our motorist awareness bill proposed in the legislature, it might have a good chance of passage. We are seeing the chairmen of both the Assembly and Senate Education Committees to ask them both to personally sponsor the bill mandating motorcycle awareness segments in AUTO driving courses. There are many more sections to the National Agenda for Motorcycle Safety, but there isn’t time to delve into all of them. I’ve concentrated on those sections that we will be using this year to try and have legislation passed. Anyone who wishes can see the entire document on line at the website of NHTSA which is www.nhtsa.dot.gov or that of the MSF at www.msf-usa.org. If you wish, you can write to NHTSA for a hard copy at: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 400 Seventh Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20590 Or phone NHTSA at (888) 327-4236 The Motorcycle Safety Foundation 2 Jenner Streeet Suite 150 Irvine, California 92618-3806 Or phone MSF at (949) 727-3227 There is so much more to tell you about this report that could help us, but space and time limit me. If you can, get the report and read it. |
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