Have I been having fun? Oh yeah! Switched from windows to Mac. Thats fun, new learning curve there. And just spent a nice liesurely a.m. read on NHTSA's SAFETEA-LU Highway Safety Plans fy06 and fy07. Will include link at the bottom for those inclined to see just how much NHTSA cares about "bikers". Mind you now, these were quick scans which by extension result in quick interpretations and conclusions. So I do in fact, encorage those who do care to read this stuff. Yeah it's long and it's boring. But thats how they get us. They count on you not reading it and then not doing anything about it. To date it seems to be a plan thats workinig for them and not for us.
So the quick basics: Baseline data for 06 show sharp spikes in fatalities for alcohol impairment, motorcyclists and interestingly pedestrians. 07 is "goals". Much of the data is based on (VMT ) "Vehicle Miles Traveled" which we know is bogus as many states don't report and what reporting is done is skewed (for instance, did you know for many years Sturgis had no motorcycle miles traveled?). That said however, It cannot be denied that motorcycle fatalities are increasing at an alarming rate and as mentioned in a previous post recent data demonstrates that an increasing number of these fatalities are the "motorcyclists" fault.
In 06 I did not notice anybody with motorcycle expertise among the planers yet there were three planners with Bicycle/pedestrian knowledge (or at least thats as per labled). 07 shows the additiion of a Ms. McPherson as a motocycle safety planner.
The Matrixes by which cities rank maybe over my head. There is nothing I see in the documentation that demonstrates how the figures were arrived at. By that I mean, "what were the variables?" and "how were they interpreted or factored in?"
The only differentiation I found was "were they or were they not wearing a helmet?" and this is a vaugue reference.
There are 14 (06) and 12 (07) plans pertaining to Bicycle/pedestrian safety and only 1 (06) and 3 (07) plans pertainiing to motorcycle safety. Of significance is one plan (with a large chunk of money allocated to it) labelled "as yet to be determined???", Now I'm not really sure what that means and how that will keep us safe. I suspect it means we will not see that money. However that is conjectue on my part.
Of course we all know the old adage "follow the money" will usually lead to the truth. So here it is. Only one catagory recieved less fundiing than Motorcycle Safety and that was "Planning and Admistration". Motorcycle Safety recieves only 2.6% of the total funds allocated. In comparision bicycle/Pedestrian safety planning recieves 4.61% and Occupant Protection planning (you know for the folk that kill us cause like they need it for when they are cell phone impaired) receives 16.43%. Percentages don't show the whole picture though until you translate them into cash. Around $400,000 +/_ for MC safety Planning and close to two mil +/- for bicycle/pedestrian safety planning.
Again this was a quick read (I mean they be like a whole lot of pages. You too can enjoy them), but I saw no mention of cell phones (studies demonstrate that driving while using cell phones equates to driving while under the influence of alcohol and the statistics are proving it. Unfortuately bikers are all to often the statistic), the "phenomena of inattentional blindness" and "other driver distrations" that are consistently being shown to be the primary cause of biker fatalities.
Of the plans mentioned and the monies allocated I saw no evidence of any MRO or BIker Rights Advocate involvement.
So once again (my contention) we (Bikers) are screwed. THE QUESTION: How and why? THE ANSWER: Very simply we (bikers) allow it. Plans like these have been developed for every state on a National level. Every state has an MRO or some "biker" advocacy group. On a national level we are supposed to have AMA, MRF and NCOM looking out for us. So what is happening?
Off the bat I can think of two possible (note I said possible) reasons:
1. We are consistently playing in the wrong ball park. We are playing politics with politicians and are in some cases being sold out by our own leaders in efforts to be politically correct. ABATE itself (in Florida and around much of the rest of the country) has changed it's acronym from "A Brotherhood against Totalitarian Enactments" to "American Bikers Aimed Towards Education" (damn wasn't that a marketing ploy) sought out certified MC rider course instructors with the dream of capturing the Safety monies. When we forget our mission and what we are about and start chasinig dollars and political correctness then we prostitute ourselves and we lose. We lose by playing on they're (the governments) playing field with they're toys and we lose the "Brotherhood" (because politicians are not "brothers") thereby losiing ourselves.
2. The "biker" demographic as a whole is changing. It has now become fashionable to be a "Biker", those that use to be afraid of us are now part of us. They dress biker, they ride new chrome, they call each other "bro", but they don't fight "biker". In the past the biker world was based on respect, me, my bros and my territory. Now we allow the government to disrespect us and trample all over our territory. Try engaging "bikers (?)" at your local bike night in a discussion of "Bikers rights". Hell, try and engage them in a discussion of American rights. And then try and get them to take action.
Crazy Horse knew the indian way of life was dying, but he fought anyway, until his own people sold him out and killed him.
As goes the Indian, goes the "Biker", goes America. Is that to much of a leap? I think not....rc
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/whatsup/SAFETEAweb/pages/SafetyPlans.htm
