Passes & Canyons Blog

This is great. I got the answers I was looking for on the issue of tiered licensing, which was raised several times at the Meeting of the Minds awhile back.

The person providing the information is Don Creamer, who is the state Legislative Affairs Specialist for ABATE of Colorado. Rather than paraphrase Don, I’ll just present his info directly.

First Don gave a better synopsis than I have of what tiered licensing can look like. Here’s what he said:

Tiered licensing consists of restricting riders to certain size engines on their bikes based upon their age. As an example, a 16 year old may only be able to ride a bike with 50cc’s or less, and this would be noted in some way on their operator’s license. In Europe the “unlimited” class (i.e., any engine larger than 650 cc) is limited to those 24 or older. For that reason many riders wait until they are 24 before they consider getting a bike.

This type of licensing relies upon the flawed assumption that age equals maturity and ability to handle a larger/more powerful machine.

When I asked Don what the issues were, as far as ABATE is concerned, this was his reply:

Fairness is also the driving issue (sorry for the pun) when it comes to tiered licensing. When you look at the numbers of fatalities involving automobiles as opposed to motorcycles, the “need” for tiered licenses for only motorcycles is not supported. It is surprisingly rare for a young person to be killed on a bike that has a large engine – kids can’t afford them! However, kids are regularly killed (usually in bunches of two or more) in cars that have large displacements when compared to bikes. So, who do the lawmakers go after? The motorcyclists of course. We are an easy, visible target. Down here in the Pikes Peak region, the kids who can afford to buy the hot crotch rockets (Ninjas, etc.) are the military troops who want additional excitement after spending 15 months in Iraq or Afghanistan getting shot at. Those 19 and 20 year olds can afford it because of their regular paychecks, sign-on bonuses, etc. College and high school students can’t.

Look at student parking lots at schools, and you won’t find many motorcycles. Most of these kids drive cars to schools and to their jobs. They can’t afford a bike for nice weather and a car for when it snows or rains. Their parents would explode if the legislature required those kids to drive small cars which provide less protection (but can still go pretty fast.)

If the legislature wants to get serious about doing something for kids they will require the wearing of helmets by children when they are riding in a car! The traumatic brain injury per capita rate is 14 times higher there than from motorcycle accidents. Now THAT requirement would cause some yelling!

I hope that this helps.

So that’s the scoop. Thanks Don, I really appreciate your help here.

Biker Quote for Today

It’s simple—Just Ride!

Dennis announced happily, in an email with photos, that he has taken possession of his new Harley-Davidson FLHX Street Glide. That’s it in the photo.

That means the OFMC now has four Harleys, four Hondas, one Kawasaki, and one Yamaha. Dennis sold his Gold Wing.

The real irony of this is that it could have happened months ago. We were off on the summer road trip and one of the Harley riders had mechanical problems with his new bike. So he and several others hit the Harley dealership in Durango. Stranded there for half a day, they all spent some money, but Dennis had his eye on a Street Glide just like the one he has now.

There’s a real problem when a company has a product that is so in demand that it sells itself. The “salesmen” tend to become “order takers.” Well, this particular order taker who Dennis was talking with had a live one on his hook and didn’t do a thing. So Dennis walked out without the bike, but he knew now what he wanted.

And now he has it.

Biker Quote for Today

Sit tall in the saddle, hold your head up high – Keep your eyes fixed where the trail meets the sky – And live like you ain’t afraid to die – And don’t be scared, just enjoy your ride.

I discussed the recent Meeting of the Minds conference that was held recently here in Denver by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation. At the time there were a couple issues I was unfamiliar with that I wanted to learn more about. I now have more to report.

First off, I was apparently a little off in my description of the issue of mandatory rider training. I said that MRF members “are concerned about a move to make such training mandatory, because they fear that the capacity does not exist to offer that training to that many people.” That was what I thought I had heard, and maybe to some extent that concern exists.

However, I spoke last week with Terry Howard, State Coordinator for ABATE of Colorado, and she gave me a totally different take on the topic. Speaking strictly for ABATE of Colorado, Terry said the only issue she has with mandatory training is that it apply to motorcyclists AND to motorists. That was really a “Doh!” moment for me. Of course. It would be totally discriminatory to require motorcyclists to have rider training while not requiring drivers to have driver training. We’re both operating motorized vehicles on the same roads and highways. And lord knows we all know that those folks in their cars need better training on avoiding those of us not enclosed in steel cages.

But it occurs to me as well, that as much as we talk about how many motorcycle accidents are caused not by the biker but by the rider, the same is actually true of car on car accidents. Probably in most two-car accidents, only one of the drivers is significantly at fault. The other is probably just as much a victim of the other driver’s carelessness as we are when it’s a car on bike accident. So absolutely, if our legislators want to impose mandatory training on bikers, we have got to ensure that ALL motor vehicle operators have the same requirement. Of course, then we really get into the issue of training capacity, as I mentioned originally.

The other unclear issue from MotM is something Terry was not as able to clear up. That was the idea of tiered licensing. She said she doesn’t really know the issue because Colorado doesn’t have it. The only thing she could tell me is that she thinks it is possible Colorado could move in that direction because of the upswing in popularity of scooters. Anyone on a scooter bigger than 50cc has to have motorcycle validation on their license, but below 50cc there is no requirement. Terry told me that some ABATE members have raised the issue because they see these low-maximum-speed scooters as hazards slowing down traffic on busy arterials. But there is no such proposal currently and ABATE is not pushing for it. So I guess for now tiered licensing will remain an issue for other states, not Colorado.

Biker Quote for Today

Bikes parked out front mean good chicken-fried steak inside.