Between sessions at the Meeting of the Minds.
The Motorcycle Riders Foundation had its annual Meeting of the Minds this past weekend in Denver. As ABATE of Colorado was the host for the conference I went over to do whatever volunteer work I could but on being told that all was in hand I only sat in on a couple sessions and then left. After all, I had not paid to register, plus the opening session touched on most of the issues to be discussed.
The MRF, in case you are not familiar, is a national organization working for motorcyclist rights, or MRO. As such, they, along with the American Motorcyclist Association, are among the primary lobbyists in Washington, D.C. working on these issues.
In the Friday morning session, Megan Ekstrom, Vice President of Government Relations and Public Relations, touched briefly on six topics the MRF is primarily focused on for the coming year. The fact that these issues have been in the MRF focus for some time gives an idea of how this work requires slow, continued effort before success is achieved.
• Autonomous Vehicles: You’d have to be living in a cave not to know that self-driving cars are coming our way, and it is crucial that the programmers who determine how these things detect and avoid people and objects include motorcycles in their algorithms. That would seem obvious but it can only be good to have someone making sure that happens.
• Profiling: Is it legitimate for police or the state patrol to set up motorcycle-only stops to check registration, licensing, etc.? If you’re stopping all traffic to check for these things then fine, go ahead. But stopping only bikers? Most of us don’t think so. The MRF is working at the national level to have this outlawed, while local, state organizations carry the battle forward on the state level.
• RPM Act: The Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act clarifies that it is legal under federal law to modify the emissions system of a motor vehicle that is converted for race-use-only. This would seem obvious. If it is OK to build racing vehicles that do not meet emissions standards, how can it not be OK to take an existing vehicle and turn it into a racer? Megan said the MRF has hopes that this legislation will pass this year yet, and if not, next year appears hopeful.
• Motorcycle Advisory Council: According to Mark Gardiner on Revzilla, “The MAC’s a 10-person committee made up of traffic engineers and road-safety specialists — an advisory body brought together to provide information, advice, and recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on ‘matters related to motorcyclist safety… and the implementation of noteworthy practices of highway infrastructure related improvements that will result in positive impacts on motorcyclist safety.'”
The issue, said Megan, is that of the 10, only 1 represents motorcyclists, although many of the others are themselves motorcyclists. The greater issue here is not entirely clear to me.
• Ethanol: As the Environmental Protection Agency pushes for higher percentages of ethanol in gasoline, motorcycles are at risk. Older bikes, especially, can be harmed by too much ethanol in the gas. While you could suggest that any alert rider can be careful not to use high-ethanol gas, some folks argue that that possibility should be forestalled so as to protect those who are unaware. And while I’m pretty aware, I recognize that there are people out there who don’t pay as much attention as I do. So I’m supportive of these efforts.
• Infrastructure Modernization: Similar to the RPM Act, it would seem obvious that as roads and infrastructure are built and improved, motorcycles are taken into consideration in the planning. But just trusting that to happen would be foolish. We need to keep an eye on things and ensure that what is so obvious to us is also clear in the minds of those doing the planning. “Oh gosh, that never occurred to us,” is not something we want to hear.
So. You may not belong to the AMA, the MRF, ABATE, or any other of these organizations. But be aware that you benefit from their efforts.
Biker Quote for Today
Love is all you need . . . oh, and a motorcycle.
I headed out to High Plains Raceway Saturday for the opening day of the Motorcycle Roadracing Association’s (MRA) 2011 season, and to do my first piece following racer Jon Kuo through the season. The weather was perfect and everyone was definitely jazzed for the season to start. The 
Giffords is chair of the United States House of Representatives Motorcycle Safety Caucus. I didn’t know that but you know the folks at the 
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.