Opponents of "Freedom of Choice"

Got Freedom? Not if these folks can help it!Below are insurance companies and organizations that oppose freedom of choice for adult motorcyclists. Is YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY on this list? Any organizations you belong to?If so, make your voice heard. Change insurance companies and tell the old one exactly why you are changing.

www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/New-fact-sheet03/MotorcycleHelmet.pdf
Taken from: Traffic Safety Facts; Laws; Motorcycle Helmet Use Laws April 2004
Who Supports Universal Motorcycle Helmet Laws?

AAA• Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety• Allstate Insurance Company• American Academy of Family Physicians• American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons • American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials • American Academy of Pediatrics • American Coalition for Traffic Safety, Inc.• American College of Emergency Physicians • American College of Preventive Medicine • American College of Surgeons • American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association • American Insurance Association • American Medical Association • American Nurses Association • American Public Health Association • American Trauma Society • Association of Women"s Health, Obstetrics, and Neonatal Nurses • Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine • Brain Injury Association • Center for Rural Emergency Medicine • Emergency Nurses Association • Emergency Nurses CARE • Epilepsy Foundation of America • GEICO • General Federation of Women"s Clubs • Indian Health Service • Motorcycle Industry Council • National Association of County and City Health Officials • National Association of Orthopedic Nurses • National Association of Public Hospitals • National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians • National Association of State EMS Directors • National Association of State Head Injury Administrators • National Center for Injury Prevention and Control • National Conference of Black Mayors • National Flight Nurses Association • National Safety Council • National Sheriffs Association • Nationwide Insurance • Native American Injury Prevention Coalition • Prudential Insurance • State and Territorial Injury Prevention Directors Association • Students Against Destructive Decisions • State Farm Insurance • Think First Foundation • Wellness Councils of America

Michigan Freedom Faces Veto

Motorcycle-helmet bill passes Senate; faces Granholm veto By Amy Lane

Legislation that would allow some motorcyclists to ride without helmets has passed the Senate, after clearing the state House last week.

The Senate on Thursday approved House Bill 4749, sponsored by Barbara Farrah, D-Southgate. The bill would give riders over 21 the option of going helmetless if they pay an annual state permit fee and meet other requirements. The measure calls for riders to purchase a $100, one-year permit or a $200, three-year permit. They must carry at least $20,000 in insurance to pay first-party medical benefits in the event of an accident, have been licensed for at least two years to operate a motorcycle, and have completed a motorcycle safety course. Riders who do not purchase a permit and ride without helmets face a fine of up to $300. The Senate amended the bill to put money raised by the new permit fees toward a greater number of law-enforcement purposes than previously listed in the bill, and the bill now returns to the House.

The legislation appears unlikely to see approval by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who supports the state’s current helmet law and has vetoed past helmet-law repeal.

MRF Call to Action RE: NTSB

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MRF CALL TO ACTION

For the past several weeks the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) has been actively working on a multi-tiered strategic initiative to counter the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) program to pressure states into enacting mandatory helmet laws. We are prepared today to launch the program beginning with a Call to Action to our State Motorcycle Rights Organizations (SMROs).

The MRF's Call to Action is to encourage our SMRO partners to send their top lobbying teams to Washington D.C. in late October and early November to visit with their members of Congress to voice opposition to the NTSB's lobbying efforts. It is our position that the NTSB is proposing to directly lobby the states with federal tax money based on poorly-drawn conclusions, using a very narrow scope, and not employing the rigors of research to which they normally hold themselves. This is simply not acceptable to the MRF and our SMRO partners. A clear message was sent by the Senate in the 109th Congress when they voted 69-28 to defeat the Lautenberg Federal Helmet amendment, which would have pressured states into passing mandatory helmet laws, based on the fact that this issue is clearly a State's rights issue. Accordingly, we will be asking members of Congress to write a letter to the NTSB reminding them of this fact.

During these SMRO visits we will also be presenting a bullet point statistical fact sheet developed in conjunction with the MRF Legislative, Motorcycle Safety, and Statistics Committees that clearly shows that the answer to motorcycle safety and reducing fatalities is, in fact, an aggressive approach toward CRASH AVOIDANCE and NOT safer crashing. In addition, we will be educating members of Congress on the many points contained in our Motorcycle Safety Action Plan, pointing out to them that states with the highest reductions in motorcycle fatalities and states with low fatality rates per registered motorcycle are not those with mandatory helmet laws, but rather states that utilize the many tools in the motorcycle safety action plan. Additionally, we will thank many of them for their belief in motorcycle safety shown by the creation of the 2010 motorcycle safety grants and the creation of the Motorcycle Advisory Council in TEA-LU. We will take advantage of this time to inform them as to how these programs are being used effectively.

The second phase of the MRF's strategic initiative involves the MRF holding a press conference in the first week of November in one of the office buildings of the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC. The press conference will feature a prominent member of Congress. Expect another Call to Action encouraging our members, our SMRO partners, motorcyclists in general and other concerned citizens to attend.

At that time we will be issuing a formal letter to the Chairman of the NTSB asking him to reconsider their proposed lobbying of the states and asking that he consider the statistical facts related to our Motorcycle Safety Action Plan and its effectiveness with regard to Crash Avoidance and NOT Safer Crashing as the goal.

For strategic reasons, third phase of our initiative will be announced once we complete the necessary research and sufficient discussions have taken place. We will go on record, however, as stating that we will not rule out asking Congress to take action against the NTSB, as we have done with NHTSA in the past, should they continue to ignore the spirit of previous congressional mandates against federal agencies lobbying states on mandatory helmet laws.

The NTSB Doesn't Get It!

A.B.A.T.E. OF PENNSYLVANIA RESPONSE TO THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD’S RECOMMENDATIONS OF 9-11-07

On 9-11 the NTSB issued recommendations to states to require all motorcyclists and their passengers to wear Department of Transportation federal motor vehicle safety standard (FMVSS) 218-compliant helmets.

A.B.A.T.E. of Pennsylvania, the Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education, has expressed their opposition to the NTSB safety recommendations. Accident prevention saves lives, not federal mandates. Greater penalties for right-of-way violations and stricter laws for inattentive driving would be more effective. Motorist need to pay greater attention to the action of driving. Being behind a wheel of an automobile is NO time to multi-task.

Pennsylvania already has a helmet law. The General Assembly passed Senate Bill 259 in 2003. That legislation modified the existing mandatory motorcycle helmet law to provide qualified adult motorcycle operators and passengers with the option to decide what is best for themselves. Pennsylvania Senators and Representatives supported a minimum of two year riding experience or successful completion of an approved motorcycle rider education program as condition for optional helmet use by motorcycle operators 21 years of age or older.

While the law does allow freedom of choice in the use of helmets it also contains safeguards for those not yet trained or skilled enough to make an informed decision on helmet safety. Enactment of the freedom of choice bill on helmets represents what our founding fathers intended when they wrote the Constitution….that government works best with the consent of the governed.

Facts not fiction…

Since the helmet modification Pennsylvania has experienced a sharp rise in motorcycle sales and a dramatic increase in biker tourism. In 2003 there were 263,696 registered motorcycles. In 2006 that number increased to 335,720. In 2005 there were 205 motorcycle fatalities.

In 2006 the fatality rate decreased to 187.

Between 2000 (before helmets were made optional) and 2005 (after), motorcycle registrations in Pennsylvania increased 48.3%. Fatalities in motorcycle crashes also increased, but only 36%.

A study by the State Legislative Budget and Finance Committee in 2006 found an 8.6% decrease in motorcycle fatalities, per 10,000 registrations, from 2000 to 2005.

Most motorcycle fatalities in 2005 involved bikers who wore helmets. Only 42.6% involved known non-helmeted motorcyclists, and the report does not say what portion of them died of something other than head trauma.

Conclusion: The NTSB implies in its recommendation that thirty state governments have somehow "got it wrong" when it comes to the validity of universal mandatory helmet laws. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most of these states have had, at one time or another, a universal mandatory helmet law, yet considered the results and modified their laws accordingly.

A.B.A.T.E. of PA believes that state legislators have more intelligence than the NTSB gives them credit for. A.B.A.T.E. of Pennsylvania states, “Nothing illustrates individual freedom more than bare-headed bikers, and many federal authorities detest freedom. We believe they will do anything to suppress it. “ The NTSB reached its recommendations with little or no input from the motorcycle community. This is just another incident of bureaucrats in Washington trying to ram regulations down the throats of all fifty states. We’ll have none of it.

Freedom from (Paying for) Hospital Errors

Hey Docs, nurses, et al... before you come after the bikers who want freedom of choice, maybe you should clean up your own house! Hospitals cause over 100 times the deaths that supposedly couild be saved if all bikers wore helmets, and we don't accept NTSB or NHTSA's numbers on that!

New Medicare Regulations Adopted to Reduce Certain Hospital Infections and Medical Errors
Medicare Will Withhold Payments To Hospitals For Failing To Keep Patients Safe

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Under new Medicare regulations, hospitals will no longer receive higher payments for the additional costs associated with treating patients for certain hospital-acquired infections and medical errors. The new rules will give hospitals a powerful new incentive to improve patient care, according to Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.

“Every year, millions of Americans suffer needlessly from preventable hospital infections and medical errors,” said Lisa McGiffert, Director of Consumers Union’s Stop Hospital Infection’s campaign (http://www.stophospitalinfections.org/). “These new rules are a good beginning for Medicare to use its clout to mobilize hospitals to improve care and keep patients safe.”
Under the rules adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), payments will be withheld from hospitals for care associated with treating certain catheter-associated urinary tract infections, vascular catheter-associated infections, mediastinitis after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, and five other medical errors unrelated to infections (bed sores, objects left in patients’ bodies, blood incompatibility, air embolism, and falls). The new rules will go into effect in October 2008.

To comply with a 2005 law passed by Congress, CMS evaluated a number of serious, preventable health care acquired conditions and identified these eight for the first round of non-payment due to the high volume of patients affected, the high cost of treating patients, and the existence of prevention guidelines. The agency intends to consider other hospital acquired infections and medical errors for non-payment in future years.

The new Medicare regulations include protections to prevent hospitals from billing patients when payments are withheld and to minimize avoidance of patients perceived to be at risk for infections. “We are pleased that the rules clearly state that hospitals cannot bill patients for the amount that Medicare refuses to pay,” said McGiffert. “CMS will need to make sure these protections are enforced so patients are treated fairly. And the agency should be on the lookout for hospitals that try to game the system by falsifying codes to avoid nonpayment.”
Catheter-associated urinary tract infections are the most common infection developed by patients in hospitals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that there are 561,667 catheter-associated urinary tract infections per year. According to a study in the American Journal of Medicine, the annual cost of urinary tract infections in hospitals is as much as $451 million.

Bloodstream infections are high in volume and cost, and are preventable. The CDC has reported that there are 248,678 cases of central line associated bloodstream infections every year. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement estimates that approximately 14,000 people die every year from central line-related bloodstream infections.

CMS failed to address the incidence of infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a virulent antibiotic resistant bacterium. According to CMS, over 95,000 Medicare patients had MRSA infections in 2005, running up hospital charges of almost $3 billion. MRSA was not selected for nonpayment because of coding issues and because CMS does “not believe there is a consensus among public health experts that MRSA [infection] is preventable.”

“CMS needs to take strong action to curb the spread of this powerful superbug,” said McGiffert. “Many hospitals do not share the attitude that MRSA infections cannot be prevented and CMS should be on the front lines with them fighting this deadly and costly problem.”
Hospital acquired infections are a leading cause of death in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 2 million patients suffer from hospital infections every year and nearly 100,000 of them die.

Research shows that hospitals could prevent many infections through stricter adherence to proven infection control practices.

The financial costs associated with hospital infections are equally staggering. Dr. John A. Jernigan, Chief of Interventions and Evaluations at the CDC, has said that hospital acquired infections result in up to $27.5 billion in additional health care expenses annually. Medicare foots the bill for a big portion of infection-related health care costs. A 2005 report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council found that Medicare was billed for 67 percent of the total number of patient infections reported by the state’s hospitals.

“Taxpayers spend billions of dollars every year covering the cost of patient infections,” said McGiffert. “Restricting Medicare payments for medical errors like patient infections will help ensure that the health care taxpayers pay for is safe and effective.”
A copy of the new CMS regulations can be found here (begin at page 290):http://www.cms.hhs.gov/AcuteInpatientPPS/downloads/CMS-1533-FC.pdf

NCOM News

NCOM:
THE AIM/NCOM MOTORCYCLE E-NEWS SERVICE is brought to you by Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM), and is sponsored by the Law Offices of Richard M. Lester. For more information, call us at 1-(800) ON-A-BIKE or visit us on our website at http://www.ON-A-BIKE.com.

NCOM NEWS BYTES
Compiled & Edited by Bill Bish,
National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM)


BIKERS RALLY TO SAVE SAFETY FUNDING When word got out that the US House of Representatives was considering a transportation appropriations bill in late July, and an amendment to eliminate funding for motorcycle safety funds was being proposed, the biker community rallied to the call and succeeded in saving $6 million in grant money provided to 44 states for motorcycle safety programs.

After being reminded by scores of concerned riders across the country that saving lives is more important than saving a few dollars, the amendment by Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling was never introduced and the Section 2010 motorcycle safety funds remained intact as the $104.4 billion dollar FY2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill (HR 3074) went on to pass by a vote of 268-153.


TRAFFIC DEATHS REACH HISTORIC LOWS, WHILE MOTORCYCLE FATALITIES CLIMB Declining traffic deaths has lead to the lowest highway fatality rate ever recorded, announced the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The number of people who died on the nationÂ’s roads fell by 868 deaths last year, the largest drop in total fatalities in 15 years; representing a 2% decline that contributed to the historic low fatality rate of 1.42 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT), reported U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters.

But while total highway deaths fell from 43,510 in 2005 to 42,642 in 2006, the lowest level in five years, motorcycle fatalities continued to escalate for the ninth consecutive year following a decade of steadily declining fatality rates. Data from NHTSAÂ’s 2006 Annual Assessment of Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Fatalities and Injuries shows that 4,810 motorcyclists were killed on AmericaÂ’s roadways last year, an increase of 5.1 percent over 2005. Motorcycle rider fatalities now account for 11 percent of total fatalities, exceeding the number of pedestrian fatalities for the first time since NHTSA began collecting fatal motor vehicle crash data in 1975.

Many blame the increase on the rise in popularity of motorcycles, with states experiencing record numbers of registrations and dealers selling record numbers of new bikes year after year for over a decade. Other experts cite the aging ridership, bigger bikes, changing traffic mix, miles traveled and other factors.

A comprehensive study into the causation of traffic accidents involving motorcycles is expected to begin later this year at the Oklahoma Transportation Center at Oklahoma State University, the first such motorcycle-crash study since the Hurt Report in 1980.

The National Transportation Safety Board conducted a motorcycle safety forum late last year to explore safety concerns in that sector of transportation.

While driving has never been safer in the U.S., internationally the United States ranks 42nd of 48 countries measured in the number of highway fatalities per capita. And although the fatality rate has plummeted since 1970, when the U.S. led the world in road safety with the lowest death rate among industrialized countries reporting data, it now ranks 11th in fatalities per distance driven.

Safety experts say the reasons are many. Bella Dinh-Zarr, the North American director of Make Roads Safe, a nonprofit organization based in London, said other countries have stricter laws, better enforcement, more accessible public transportation, greater awareness, public support and more rigorous training and licensing standards.

But expert after expert said the real problem was one of culture. With personal freedom being a cornerstone of the United States, many states are loath to pass legislation that curtails them, even when it comes to road safety. So while the governments of other countries can easily pass laws to make driving safer, like a national ban on hand-held cellphone use, those laws here are left up to the states to impose, and that is often not so easy. Fred Wegman, managing director of the National Institute for Road Safety Research in the Netherlands, said attitudes were different in Europe. There, he said, safety is not just about the individual, but is the responsibility of society as a whole. “European countries fundamentally pay more political attention to road safety,” he said.


HELMETS DONÂ’T SAVE LOUISIANA MOTORCYCLISTS Despite passing a mandatory helmet law in 2004, motorcycle fatalities in Louisiana are on a record pace and on course for one of the worst totals in the country, Highway Safety Commission executive director James Champagne told attendees at a safety summit in Baton Rouge.

The summit, produced by the Louisiana Motorcyclist Safety and Awareness Committee and the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission was convened to decrease the number of motorcycle fatalities and injuries in Louisiana. Achieving that goal is urgent.

Champagne told summit attendees that more motorcycle fatalities are projected for this year in Louisiana than in any other year in the state's history. If the trend continues, we will have not only the state's worst year, but also one of the worst totals in the country.

At the Louisiana summit, safety officials pinpointed reasons for the alarming increase in motorcycle fatalities. One is lack of professional training. Champagne says training should be required before a cycle owner or rider can apply for a license.

Ultimately, according to Champagne, almost all the factors that contribute to the problem can be reduced by new legislation, enforcement of existing laws - and mandated education.


LOUD PIPES TICKET DISMISSED The first and only ticket that police have issued to a motorcyclist under Denver's controversial new noise ordinance has been dismissed. Attorney Wade Eldridge, himself a biker, challenged the law on behalf of his client, Stuart Sacks, who was pulled over in LoDo and ticketed for having an "unlawful modified muffler," records show.

"The officer neither inspected his bike to see if it had the stamp nor did he use a sound meter," Eldridge said. "So the most they would have had was the officer's gut feeling that it was too loud, which is not enough."

Designed to curb motorcycle noise, the controversial new ordinance took effect July 1st and limits noise levels to 82 decibels from a distance of 25 feet, and requires motorcyclists with bikes made after 1982 to have a muffler with an EPA noise-certification stamp.

Eldridge, who is the Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) Attorney for Colorado and legal counsel for the Confederation of Clubs of Colorado, also claims the noise ordinance is unconstitutionally vague. The law "lends itself to arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement," he told the Rocky Mountain News. "The police can stop you for whatever reason."

Eldridge said the law leaves enforcement up to the "unfettered discretion of the individual officer," adding that his client was told he was stopped because his pipes were too loud.

Police Capt. Eric Rubin, who used to head the Traffic Operations Bureau, didn't know the details of that stop but said officers are using their training and experience in the field "as reasonable suspicion to briefly stop the rider" and check for the EPA stamp.

But the city's decision to drop the case highlighted a fundamental flaw in the law - Denver police aren't equipped with the $1,000 noise monitors needed to make the charge stick, said Eldridge, adding that, "In any case in which it's properly challenged, the city has an impossible burden." The reason Assistant City Attorney April Snook cited in her motion to dismiss the case was the city was "unable to prove charge beyond a reasonable doubt."

Ellen Dumm, spokeswoman for the city's Environmental Health Department, said an "oversight" caused the case to be dismissed. "The police officer did not inspect the pipes for the required (Environmental Protection Agency) sticker," she said, adding that the dismissal was a "one-time" thing and that the ordinance's enforcement will result in quieter streets.

Eldridge points out that even police bikes may be louder than DenverÂ’s allowable limits. According to court documents, tests conducted by the city on police motorcycles found sound levels at redline of 81.3 decibels and 81.7 decibels, and since the accuracy of the sound meters the city used is within plus or minus .5 decibels, police motorcycles may be in violation of the new noise law, Eldridge said.


PATCH BAN AT STURGIS BAR SPURS BOYCOTT, POSSIBLE LEGISLATION A beef with Hells Angels could inspire legislation to protect wearing motorcycle-club “colors,” a state legislator told Rapid City Journal columnist Bill Harlan during Sturgis Bike Week. One-Eyed Jacks saloon on Main Street was boycotted during the rally because it is the only bar in town that bans motorcycle club insignia, and they even barred South Dakota State Representative Jim Putnam from entering while wearing the colors of his own dangerous motorcycle club, the Lawmakers.

“If this persists, I’ll consider it,” said Rep. Putnam, R-Armour, who sometimes wears a Sturgis motorcycle rally necktie during the legislative session. “Putt” is not only a long-time motorcyclist himself, but is also a long-serving member of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists Legislative Task Force (NCOM-LTF), and anti-biker discrimination legislation is on their agenda.

Putnam added that legislation protecting motorcycle attire passed the state House in the early 1990s. It failed in the Senate, he said, but a similar Minnesota law has survived court challenges.

Now, Putnam supports a boycott of the saloon. “I’m not going in there,” he told the Journal. But One-Eyed Jack's owner Ray Gold is just as adamant about keeping his new ban on “back patches,” which he told the newspaper is to keep out the Hells Angels, whose Sturgis headquarters is near the bar.

But the ban on patches also angered Louis Nobs of Hibbing, Minn., who was barred entry wearing his Soldiers for Jesus colors. “You can’t ban patches for just one group,” he said. “If you ban them for motorcyclists you have to ban them for bowling teams, the Knights of Columbus -- everyone.”

Nobs is on the board of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists, and he helped distribute 60,000 fliers calling for the boycott.


ChiPS STAR NEVER GOT MOTORCYCLE LICENSE TV biker cop Erik Estrada has revealed he never passed his motorcycle test. Estrada played California Highway Patrol motorcycle cop Ponch in 1970s hit CHiPs, reports The Sun.

But he never actually had a motorcycle license for real. Estrada, now 58, had to hurriedly arrange a bike test when he was assigned to the California Highway Patrol for a new reality TV show.

And it took him three attempts to pass before he could appear on “Back To The Grind”, a show that gets actors to try their TV jobs.


WEIRD NEWS: A motorcycle was once plucked out of the Los Angeles sewer system. It's the largest object ever found in there!


QUOTABLE QUOTE: “Knowledge is power (Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est).”Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) English statesman and philosopher

This Biker has a Monkey on his back!

Is the monkey in violation of Tennessee's helmet law?

Michigan Bikers Fighting for Freedom - AAA Opposes

Do yu have a Triple AAA account? Maybe yu should seek alternatives?

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/11817426383390.xml&coll=6

AAA is pulling out all the stops on this issue. They are posting copies of the same crappy argument everywhere and everyday. They are also very careful not to post where any kind of response can be made. I would like to know how much they spend on this campaign and where the funds are derived from.

They did the same crap in TN!

Bikers need to quit buying AAA's services, NOW! These folks are in the insurance business and their ultimate goal is to have us off the road so they don't have to pay claims when their insured drivers kill us.