SAFETEA-LU legislation expires September 30, 2009. The safety nannies are already busy at work trying to insert another federal mandate for helmet laws. Have you contacted your three federal legislators lately or asked them to oppose the mandate? ~FF
1) Dest Daytona/Biketoberfest Potential Road Hazard
2) Reader Feedback: SC Motorcycle Training
3) Reader Feedback: Real Problem SC's Motorcycle Permit Rules
4) Reader Feedback: Different Tags for Permit Riders
5) Educated Bikers Needed in the Movement to Defend Liberty and Choice
6) Need-based grants a smart investment in state’s future
7) CNN Video Debating Motorcycle Helmet Laws
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1) Dest Daytona/Biketoberfest Potential Road Hazard
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Fred--lease try to get this out ASAP, before Biketoberfest.
Those of you visiting Dest Daytona, usually drive in the first entrance, closest to the dealership. When you leave, you are often routed out the exit next to Love's truck stop, so that you can make a Left on to US 1.
Please, please be aware that there are hundreds of trucks a day entering and leaving the truck stop, and THEY CANNOT SEEE YOU!! For example, you are in the left turn lane, coming out of DD, with a truck in front and maybe behind. If that front truck decides to back up for any reason, you are toast. You can't make him hear you, and you can't get out of the way fast enough to save you bike, cause there is no where to go except the truck in back who can't see you, either--only your ass. This has happened more than once, most recently last week to a friend. The truck stop is there to stay--please, don't assume.--KNOW--that the truckers cannot see you, especially at night.
Have fun in Daytona, ride safe--there are thousands of idiots whose riding experience was a dirt bike when they were 14--and even more cagers who just don't pay attention, or care.
Ride safe, and we're glad to have you!
jeani and rick. C'ton expatriots living in capture in Daytona Beach
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2) Reader Feedback: SC Motorcycle Training
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SC Motorcycle Training
Letter sent to Herald-Journal
Subject: MOTORCYCLE SAFETY
The recent editorial on MOTORCYCLE SAFETY was good, but did not touch on all the factors dealing with motorcycle safety and what must be done to ensure South Carolina implements guidelines (laws) to be effective. First, I ride and have for many years, second I wear a helmet by choice and have had motorcycle safety training, and lastly I am a retired federal Dept of Defense OSHA officer and motorcycle safety training was a large part of my job. In order for any motorcycle safety program to function in South Carolina with the goal of decreasing motorcycle deaths and injuries, changes must be implemented and the program must have the backing of the state and be funded by the state. Some suggestions for the motorcycle safety task force to consider should be:
1. The motorcycle training program in South Carolina is not working and needs overhauling, in its present state, it does not meet the needs of motorcycle riders. Revise and place under the control of Dept of Motor Vehicles for all training and testing. Several states have already done this and it works well.
2. Funding should not be a problem, there is adequate funds in the state government system being wasted on Pork Projects, simply shift the funds to support the cost of operating this program. Charge a fee for the training to help defer the expense of operating the program, but make it a reasonable fee, say $25.00.
3. Place a time limit on "Beginners Permits" say 120 days, and do not renew the permit. If the training is accessible to the rider, 120 days is adequate to get into a class. Do not issue a motorcycle license endorsement without proof of satisfactory completion of the state approved class.
4. Ensure the Dept of Public Safety enforces the traffic laws already in force, this is not presently being done, far too much speeding, reckless driving on our roads.
5. Ensure that our roads are maintained with safety as the primary objective. Many of our highways are unsafe for motorcycle travel and contribute to motorcycle mishaps, such as pot holes, uneven pavement and inadequate warning signs to name a few.
6. Make this task force permanent and function under the DMV, with a good cross section of members from state law enforcement, DMV, Highway dept and motorcycle riders organizations, rotating members every 2 years. The charter must be to safe lives, and no special interest agenda from any 1 group.
7. Recommend the General Assembly pass a good strict DUI law.
If South Carolina is serious about reducing motorcycle deaths and injury on our highways, this task force will have a list of recommendations ready to present to the 2008 General Assembly for their action in January 2008. Anything less will just be a waste of time.
David Luttrell
Cowpens SC 29330
FF Note: Letters such as the above from stakeholders like David are likely to be warmly received by the task force. However please do not debate the device (helmet) with Ed Harmon or the task force; they are no more likely to change their minds on this issue than bikers like myself with the opposite opinion. Instead please suggest positive ideas to help South Carolina improve motorcycle safety. Negative and disrespectful letters sent to the task force are already being used to help support a bid for an all rider helmet bill; please do not fall in that trap and assist their efforts to take away our liberty. Our opponents wish to debate the device and stats because that is their choosen battlefield for victory. Don’t get suckered into an ambush.
Respectful letters with proactive or innovative suggestions to improve motorcycle safety in South Carolina may be sent to the following office:
Ed Harmon, Ph.D.
Planning and Evaluation Manager
SC Department of Public Safety
Office of Highway Safety
P. O. Box 1993
Blythewood, South Carolina 29016
Office: (803) 896-9971
Toll-Free: 1-877-349-7187
Fax Number: (803) 896-9978
E-mail: edharmon@scdps.net
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3) Reader Feedback: Real Problem SC's Motorcycle Permit Rules
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Real Problem SC's Motorcycle Permit Rules
I think your latest Ezine put the real motorcycle problem in SC in sharp focus – 100,000 people riding with learner’s permits? What % is that of the whole? How many of the 106 bikers killed just had learner’s permits? Why are bikers not taking the road test – because they can’t ride well enough to pass it? Why does the state allow bikers to keep renewing their learner’s permits? How about requiring a $500 insurance surcharge on any rider who has renewed his permit more than three times? Whatever it takes, we need to solve this problem.
Frankly, I was embarrassed to ride with a learner’s permit and got my regular license within a month. Maybe we should require yellow arm bands (“rookie stripe”) for anyone riding with a learner’s permit.
Fred Seitz
Beaufort SC 29902
"People who don't take risks generally make about two major mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two major mistakes a year." ~Peter Drucker
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4) Reader Feedback: Different Tags for Permit Riders
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Different Tags for Permit Riders
I think the different colored tags for those riding with learners permits would do the trick. So when a bike is registered they have to show their papers for the DMV to issue the right colored tags. Then let them ride after dark or violate the other laws and they can be easily spotted.
Roach Mercer
Andrews SC
FF Note: I can just see the dayglow chicken yellow paper tags… or maybe dayglow green paper tags now...
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5) Educated Bikers Needed in the Movement to Defend Liberty and Choice
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Written by FastFred Ruddock
SC Bikers would be wise to educate the next generation of bikers to help continue a winning fight in the legislature. I'm still paying for my education but it is the best investment I have made to date. Too often poorly educated bikers serving on public committees or task forces give all bikers a bad name due to an inability to speak or write proper English. One result is our opponents lose respect for us and sense we must all be poorly educated and inadequate to make decisions for ourselves. Another likely result is they will expect to easily defeat such poorly educated and organized folks with paid lobbyists in the legislature.
Our opponents assume as will the legislators that we choose and present our best members to represent our organizations. Those desiring to serve the biker community would be wise to make an effort to present a professional front by speaking and writing well or obtain the skills required to accomplish this goal. Those with poor command of grammar and the English language may take classes at local technical colleges. Those burdened with the duty to select representatives for the biker community should consider a potential representative’s ability to communicate effectively. The impressions made by your representatives could later impact your freedoms.
Read the following article. We have no excuse not to educate the next generation of bikers.
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6) Need-based grants a smart investment in state’s future
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http://www.thestate.com/opinion/story/189231.html
Need-based grants a smart investment in state’s future
THE ONLY WAY our state will ever meet or exceed national income and wealth benchmarks — not to mention education, health and even safety standards — is by lifting up those on the bottom. The surest way to do that is through education, but as a national research group reported last fall, South Carolina has one of the biggest gaps in the nation between the portions of our richest and poorest kids who attend college.
The reason: College costs too much, and we do precious little to help lower-income students afford it. In only six states is the cost of college out of reach for more students than it is in South Carolina. We concentrate our limited resources on making it a little less expensive for the middle and upper-middle-class students who would attend college with or without state assistance.
So we’re delighted that the University of South Carolina has taken the initiative to address this significant challenge to our state’s economic well-being, by promising a free four-year education to 200 low-income students a year. The Gamecock Guarantee is the first need-based free tuition program in the state, and one of a small-but-growing number in the nation.
Although the Legislature finally started providing merit-based scholarships in the past decade, those programs don’t cover the full cost of tuition and fees, even some students who meet the increasingly stringent admission standards to USC and Clemson don’t qualify for the scholarships, and many students lose them after their freshman year. The USC program aims to fill that gap for a significant number of students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend college.
As USC admissions director Scott Verzyl explained: “We realize there are many low-income students who are bright and capable but who are not considering a four-year college experience because they feel the tuition costs are unaffordable for them.”
In addition to helping meet a need our state has largely ignored, the new program should help address growing concerns that our state’s flagship university is becoming less welcoming to South Carolina’s students.
We hope Clemson and other state colleges will follow suit. Better still, we’d like to see our Legislature do more to address the problem of college affordability.
We have never adequately funded our colleges. We give them only half as much money per student as Georgia gives its colleges, and only a third as much as North Carolina. When lawmakers did increase the state funds going to higher education, they concentrated the money on those politically popular merit-based scholarships, which resulted in higher tuitions that drove college even further out of reach for students who qualify for admission, but not for scholarships.
Whether lawmakers address that problem or not — and it would be easier to address if we didn’t have so many colleges and campuses, each operating independently — they certainly need to offer more need-based grants. This year, South Carolina will award $12 million in tuition assistance based on financial need, and about $100 million based on high school grades — a lower proportion than all but three Southeastern states. What most of our neighbors realize that we don’t is that the correlation between high school performance and family income is so strong that merit-based scholarships serve mainly to perpetuate the status quo. They do precious little to increase the number of students who attend college. And if we ever hope to lift our state up by its bootstraps, that is by far the smarter investment.
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7) CNN Video Debating Motorcycle Helmet Laws
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CNN Video Debating Motorcycle Helmet Laws
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/09/12/hunter.motorcycle.safety.cnn?iref=videosearch
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