Passes & Canyons Blog

Sen. Lois Court (at right, in blue) is heading up SB-12, to fight distracted driving.

In my last post regarding the Senate hearing on SB-12, outlawing non-hands-free use of cellphones while driving, I laid out in generalities the arguments made by the three people who spoke in opposition, plus the issues raised by some of the senators. I also discussed some of the responses from those who support the bill.

Now I want to offer my own thoughts on those arguments, in a more particular manner. I could have spoken at the hearing but I’m not good at extemporaneous rebuttal. I need time to consider and compose my responses. I’d make a terrible trial lawyer.

Sen. Kevin Priola questioned whether this bill would open people up to penalties if they pick up their phone, through which they are listening to music, to switch to a different song. Sen. Lois Court, who is promoting this bill, replied that the whole point is for people not to use their phones while driving. I agree; that’s the whole point. If you have your phone in your hand and are looking at it while changing the music that is no different whatsoever than looking at it to dial a number. You’re distracted. Your eyes are not on the road. That’s the whole problem.

Sen. Faith Winter asked why current laws are not enough. Texting is already illegal while driving in Colorado. Sen. Court replied that her bill is backed by law enforcement agencies because currently it is extremely hard to tell whether someone is texting or entering a phone number. Both are distractions so why outlaw one and not the other?

Sen. Kerry Donovan said the bill would disproportionately impact those too poor or too technologically inept to have smart phones, which have hands-off capability. I say that if the call is that important, pull over and stop and then make the call. If it’s not important enough to do that, then it’s just not that important at all and can wait until you get to your destination. Driving in important.

Speaking against the measure, Tristan Gorman, of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, argued that the impact would be greater on the poor and would open up the possibility of use in racial/ethnic profiling. I say that if you’re poor that should be a pretty good incentive to obey the law and not get fined, both on this issue and every other issue. There’s a saying, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” I’d add, “or if you can’t pay the fine.”

As for profiling, others made the point that if a cop is intent of profiling, there are plenty of other “issues” they can already turn to. Meanwhile, the incidence of this type of abuse by police is found to be very low in Colorado.

Gorman also challenged the idea of heavy fines when there is no proof of harm. No, there is no harm in making a phone call. However, when making that call leads to injury or death, it is too late to say, OK, now it’s a crime. Again, the whole point of this and many other laws is to prevent tragedy. If a particular behavior is known to lead to tragedy in some instances, don’t behave in that manner. This is not rocket science.

Denise Maes of ACLU of Colorado argued that education was the better approach, such as sections in driver’s education programs, billboards urging people not to use their phones while driving, public service announcements, etc. I’m not the only one who thinks that relying solely on those methods is not effective. Yes, some people would say, “Oh gosh, this is illegal, I won’t do it,” but there are plenty of others who say “That’s bull, I can do this safely and they’re not going to tell me what to do.” For those who simply choose to obey the law, fine, they won’t be getting a fine. For the others, we need the stick because the carrot just isn’t ever going to work.

The one thing that the opponents kept coming back to was how difficult it would be for many people to bear the costs of the fines and, if they lost too many points on their licenses, the loss of their driving privilege. My reply is simple: Then don’t use your phone when you’re driving. And going beyond that, let’s show equal concern for these people’s victims. If someone is severely financially impacted by paying a $750 fine, that pales totally to the price paid by someone who dies or is permanently disabled due to that other person’s bad choice. If your bankruptcy prevents my death, I claim higher priority.

Wow, I’m just one hour into a three-hour hearing. I don’t see any need to beat this horse any further so I’ll wrap up here. This bill will be back for further consideration and I’ll continue following it. Stay tuned.

Biker Quote for Today

It was only a motorcycle but it felt like a mode of being. — Rachel Kushner

A bill fighting distracted driving appears to be moving forward in the Senate.

The gist of testimony Thursday on SB-12 was that nobody contests that the use of cellphones while driving is a problem, the only dispute is in how to deal with it.

SB-12 is a distracted driving bill introduced by Sen. Lois Court that would make it illegal to use a cellphone hands-on while driving. “Our cars are not mobile phone booths,” she said. Testifying in favor were a variety of motorcyclist groups and individuals, as well as a wide range of other organizations.

The primary objection of those speaking in opposition to the bill was in regard to the severity of the penalties and questioning the choice to punish violators rather than provide inducements for compliance. The carrot vs. the stick.

Opponents argued that the consequences would fall most heavily on those who can least afford the fines. It was also argued that a knee-jerk response to criminalize behavior is a) not effective, and b) amounts to “symbolism, not serious results.”

Additionally, one opponent questioned the severity of the penalties, saying they are greater than those for other offenses that are much worse.

A key issue was the idea that people would face these penalties even though they had not caused any harm. Two senators mentioned their own parents, who only have flip phones and do not have the ability to set them on voice activation. However, one senator shot down her own objection by stating that in reality, if her 80-year-old father tried to dial his phone while driving it would be a disaster.

Proponents of the bill, responding to these objections, pointed out that other laws were on the books that could be objected to in the same manner. For instance, the penalty for not having your car insured are greater than the penalties called for in SB-12, and nobody suffers immediate harm when you drive uninsured.

Of course, then if you are in a crash, the person you hit suffers financially from your lack of insurance. In the same manner, while nobody is harmed if you use your cellphone while driving as long as you don’t cause an accident, if you do cause an accident, the person you hit does suffer. And the whole point of the bill is to prevent the crash in the first place.

ABATE of Colorado‘s legislative liaison, Stump, made the point that, considering penalties vs. incentives, not having to pay a $750 fine and lose four points on your license should be considered by most people a pretty good incentive not to break the law.

Ultimately, using the phone while driving is a choice you make. If your doing so results in another person’s injury or death, that was not their choice, it was a circumstance thrust upon them by your choice. If you can’t afford to pay a $750 fine, make the choice not to use your phone while driving.

At the end of the hearing sen. Court asked that the bill be laid over so that it can be tweaked to satisfy some of the concerns addressed. Presumably once she feels she has revised it enough that it will be passed out of committee it will be back for another hearing.

Biker Quote for Today

You own a car. Not the whole damn road!

A section of the Buena Vista Rides home page.

I got an email the other day from April Kali, writing to tell me she has just launched her new motorcycle tour company in Buena Vista. The name is Beautiful View Rides. Get it? Beautiful View = Buena Vista.

Actually, April also goes beyond Colorado. Her offerings include a Southern Colorado tour, a Sturgis Motorcycle Rally tour, and a custom tour going wherever you like.

I’ll let April speak for herself here a bit:

The goal of Beautiful View Rides is to provide all inclusive motorcycle tours, so participants simply have to just “show up and ride.” I advertise the numerous options for participation: riding your motorcycle out, trailing motorcycle out, shipping motorcycle or renting. I offer assistance in all options and want to provide an experience that is easy to plan but is once in a lifetime. As a participant of my tours all you will have to worry about is taking in the scenery. All the logistics of the route, gas stops, dining, lodging, scenic stops, etc. are all planned. Just simply follow me! Plus, I limit the participating motorcycles to only 6 in order to ensure a smaller more intimate experience.

At this time I am mainly promoting a Southern Colorado Motorcycle Tour that will be offered four times this summer.

Unlike some tour companies, Beautiful View Rides does not provide motorcycles, but if you don’t come on your own bike April will connect you with rental outfits that do offer bikes.

April tells me she has been riding motorcycles since she was 18 (she’s 31 now), when she got a 2001 Yamaha R6. Before that she did spend a lot of time on her grandmother’s Motobecane moped starting at age 15. (And unlike scooters that so many people call mopeds, the Motobecane is an actual moped! It has pedals and a motor.) She rides a Street Glide now.

Now, April has a bit of competition in this new endeavor. Motorcycle tour groups have proliferated in the last 10 years in Colorado, so I’m wishing her success. I told her I was happy to add her to my list of tour companies and would mention her here on the blog. Have at it April. Best wishes.

Biker Quote for Today

A woman who rides a motorcycle is in tune with the universe, a candidate for high adventure. — Celestine Sibley

The State Capitol is the place to be on Thursday if you want to offer input on a bill to fight distracted driving.

Distracted driving will be addressed at a hearing at the Colorado Legislature on Thursday this week, so if you want to let your elected representatives know how you feel about the folks on cellphones trying to kill us this is your chance. We’re talking about Senate Bill 12. It will be in room 352.

Stump, the ABATE of Colorado legislative liaison, brought us up to date last week at the District 17 meeting. He’s encouraging as many riders as possible to show up and make it clear we care about this. Representatives from the bicycling community as well as the walkers community (yes, there is such a thing) will be there in support as well. If you’re coming aim to get there around 9:30 a.m. I’ll be there.

A similar bill was introduced last session but because it was introduced by a Democrat the Senate Republicans killed it. This sort of thing goes on all the time, in both directions. Maybe you want to tell your representatives to vote on the basis of whether a bill is good for Colorado, not their party. Anyway, Democrats now control both houses of the legislature so there is some hope this will pass this year.

It is considered to be a better bill this year as well. In addition to a fine, using your cellphone would now also cost you points on your license. The bill does allow for you to use your phone hands-free, permitting you to tap it to activate the voice-activation function if necessary. You can’t cruise along at highway speed hitting the numbers dialing.

Now, lest anyone think this will immediately stop everyone from texting while driving, be aware that to be stopped for this violation you would have to be actually observed by a police officer doing the no-no. Still, I see people dialing and texting; surely police officers see the same thing from time to time. At least some people will have it made clear to them that this is not acceptable.

Stump spoke with all the members on the Senate transportation committee to see how they expect to vote. Only one said they would definitely vote for it, most said they will make up their minds based on what the bill says and what the testimony is, and one said he would definitely vote against it.

I asked if he gave a reason why and Stump said he told him that addressing cellphones only just hits on part of the problem. OK, so you’re not willing to at least start chipping away at the problem? Do you have an all-encompassing proposal?

Personally, I suspect any time people make those kind of weak excuses the real reason is that they themselves are guilty of this behavior and figure “I’m a safe driver, why should I be subject to penalty for something that’s perfectly safe?” Yeah, you can text and drive safely, right up until the point when you don’t, and have that collision. By then it’s too late for the motorcyclist or bicyclist or pedestrian you just hit.

So if you care about this issue, come on down on Thursday. See you there?

Biker Quote for Today

Half of them are out to get you, the other half don’t see you. — Bernie Peterson

Rain is why God invented rain suits–get one!

The weather could not have been better the last few days as we rode our motorcycles around southwestern Colorado. Fall colors were at their peak, the temperature was perfect, and the sunshine made it all completely glorious. Crossing Monarch Pass on the way out to Montrose from Denver had been a treat, and our ride over Red Mountain Pass, between Ouray and Durango, was even better than its usual spectacular.

Now it was time to head home and the weather gods had turned against us. We woke up at John’s house to rain and the weather radar showed unbroken storm clouds over much of the state, and over all of our route home. Time to suit up.

Right away Bill had a problem but it was easy to rectify. Bill was on his brand new Harley Classic, his first bike ever to have a fairing, and he had been over-optimistic as to how much protection that fairing would offer him. He had only worn a half-helmet and in a brief shower we’d ridden through a few days earlier he had seen the inadequacy of that arrangement. Fortunately John had an old full-face helmet he no longer used and it fit Bill, so that problem was solved.

As for the rain itself, hey, that’s why we have rain suits. Let’s roll.

Leaving John’s the sky seemed to be clearing, as if the storm might move ahead of us, but to the north, over Montrose, it was a lot darker. We headed for Montrose and rode into it. From there our route was east, so there was no chance we’d be parting ways.

There was a very noticeable absence of motorcycles on the road, and we’d probably been riding for half an hour before we saw any others. This may be prime riding season in Colorado but on a day like this the only bikes you were going to see were folks who had places they needed to be. Like us.

Riding in the rain makes for a very different ride. Slick curves can be dangerous, as can sudden stops, so the pace is necessarily more sedate. Oncoming vehicles can through waves of water over you, so you stay as far to the right as possible when they approach. Riding close behind a truck is a guarantee you’ll get soaked, so you don’t close up to traffic ahead, and if someone passes you quickly drop back behind them.

Cold and Getting Colder
Reaching Gunnison, we were dry but cold. Time to stop at a fast food joint for warmth and coffee. The thermometers on the Harleys read 40 degrees. Monarch Pass was ahead of us and it would be another 3,600-foot climb to the top. Would there be ice up there? Not a pleasant thought.

About a dozen other riders were stopped at the same McDonald’s for the same reasons, and when we came in they asked what direction we’d come, hoping for news of the pass. We had nothing to offer them. After awhile one group said good-bye, they had decided to find a motel there in Gunnison. Later, another group put on their gear and headed toward the pass.

While weighing our options, Dennis overheard a young woman speaking on her cellphone as she headed for the restroom. She was telling her friend about snow on top of the pass. We waited for her to come out and collared her, asking for details. She confirmed the snow.

We decided to cross our fingers and go for it. If we saw bikers coming the other way and they were waving their arms to warn us off we would heed their warnings. Otherwise we were optimistic.

There was no snow or ice on top of Monarch when we got there, and with the highest point on our route behind us the way home was clear. Yes, we had two more hours of cold rain ahead of us but we took our time and made a couple more warm-up stops.

Gearing up again after one stop in Fairplay, Dennis, who lives in the mountains in an area vulnerable to forest fires, remarked that it had damn well better be raining at his house considering that he was having to ride all day in the rain. At our final stop, at the turn-off Dennis would take to get home, I told him with confidence that I was sure it was indeed raining at his house.

Bill and I rode on to where our paths diverged and I headed home. At home it was only minutes before I was enjoying one of the best things a day like this has to offer: a long, hot shower. Now that is bliss!

Biker Quote for Today

You’d kill yourself on a bike? You mean your wife won’t let you have one.

Riding on gravel took me a while to get used to.

Motorcycles are inherently more unstable than cars. When a car comes to a stop it stops. Period. When a motorcycle comes to a stop you’d better put your foot down or you’re going to fall over. Something about two wheels versus four, you know?

Now magnify the instability by adding a curve in the rider’s trajectory. Motorcycles lean in order to go around curves, so you’re already cocked to one side. And then add gravel in the curve. There’s nothing quite as thrilling as feeling your rear tire break loose in gravel on a curve, and this is not the good kind of thrill such as what you get on a roller coaster.

Give credit to the people who design motorcycles and motorcycle tires that losing traction on gravel, or ice, or wet leaves doesn’t automatically mean you go down. All it takes is to hit a wee patch of pavement again and you’re back in control. You’ll probably want to take it easy for a while, though, and let your adrenaline subside.

Motorcyclists generally fall into two categories, those who learned to ride on dirt and those who didn’t. It’s a huge difference. Dirt riding is all about breaking traction, riding the slide, and keeping the bike up. Those who never rode in dirt are at a significant disadvantage.

I never rode in dirt. While I had the opportunity to ride several bikes from time to time over a lot of years, I never got good at it until I bought my first bike, my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom. I learned to ride on the road and gravel was a particular nemesis. I hated gravel roads and gravel in a curve scared the bejeezus out of me.

The very first trip Bill and John and I took, before we even named our group the OFMC, we camped one night at Rifle Gap State Park, outside of Rifle, CO. It was probably 8 to 10 miles from the campground to town and we needed to ride in to have dinner. I had noticed when we first rode out to the park that there was a lot of gravel in some of the curves so I was already in high-caution mode. Heading into town the other guys left me way behind and I picked my way carefully along. Heading back to camp after dinner it was now dark, and thus even harder to pick out the hazards. They were back at camp long before I got there.

The difference, of course, was that they had had scooters and dirt bikes as kids.

“Didn’t you slide on some of that gravel in the curves?”

“Oh sure, but when you ride dirt bikes you learn how to stay in control.”

It took me a long time to get comfortable riding my street bikes on gravel roads, but I do it pretty well now. (Except for the Concours, which HATES gravel.) I still hate gravel in a curve. But I’ve been on the dirt more since I got my V-Strom. Maybe someday I’ll feel that rear wheel slide out and smile. But I’m not holding my breath.

Biker Quote for Today

I’m not the biggest motorcycle fan – they’re cool and a lot of fun, but they’re scary as well! — Taylor Lautner