Time to Put the SHOEI on the Other Foot

Time to Put the SHOEI on the Other Foot Date: 6/17/2006 From: [email protected] OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN MOTORCYCLIST ASSOCIATION & THE MOTORCYCLE RIDERS FOUNDATION To: Dal Smilie, AMA Chairman & Karen Bolin, MRF President America may be democratically governed, but it is celebrity driven. Every day, hard-working tax-paying citizens riding motorcycles are maimed and killed by inattentive and negligent automobile drivers, while calls for increased measures to mitigate inattentional blindness go unheeded. But let that injured rider be a star football player, and everything changes: The media reports he wasn't wearing a helmet--as if wearing a helmet would have prevented the guilty driver from turning in front of him--fueling a public frenzy that compells politicians and bureaucrats alike to act or risk losing position and paycheck. So act they did. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has announced a two-day public forum on motorcycle safety beginning Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Washington DC. They make no secret of the fact that their action was triggered by the recent accident involving Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ... and no one should be surprised if at this forum a nationwide universal helmet law is once again proposed. In fact, I think that we, the concerned motorcycle riders of America, should propose it: As a bikers rights advocate, I am sick and tired of all the time, money and energy being wasted by parties on both sides of the helmet law debate. It drains us of precious resources better spent on motorcycle awareness ... better spent on addressing the fact that 67% of all multi-vehicle motorcycle accidents are caused by the Inattentional Blindness and negligence of cagers [automobile drivers], and neither (1) wearing a helmet, nor (2) mandatory helmet laws do anything to reduce that statistic. Helmets may save lives, but focusing on crash survival (by mandating helmets for motorcyclists only), rather than crash avoidance (through severe, specific right-of-way violation penalties, driver education and motorcycle awareness programs to mitigate the Inattentional Blindness of cagers), is not only (1) ineffective public policy and a waste of public resources, but also (2) discriminatory, and (3) tantamount to blaming the victim for the crime ... like saying it is okay to shoot people if they are not wearing Kevlar vests. This seems simple and obvious to me, but some of those in the political trenches say legislators will not shift their focus to Motorcycle Awareness and mitigating Inattentional Blindness unless and until we concede on the helmet laws. So, let's concede. LET'S SUPPORT A UNIVERSAL HELMET LAW. Let's be sure, however, that the law is truly UNIVERSAL. To that end, I propose two mandates: Mandate 1: THE HELMET LAW MUST BE UNIVERSAL. Few rational people will argue that in most situations a helmet offers some degree of protection to the head it covers. And since ALL Americans are entitled to equal protection under the law, let's make sure that wearing a helmet is mandated for ALL motor vehicle operators and passengers. Excluding cagers from protection they should be equally entitled to would be discriminatory. Mandate 2: THERE MUST BE A UNIVERSAL HELMET. The only way to guarantee equal protection under this law is to give everyone the same helmet. I recommend a full coverage helmet and visor with electronics restricted. This may cause bikers to sweat in slow traffic, but the trade-off is that cagers will not be distracted by having cellphones stuck in their ears, and they'll be more likely to use their mirrors for rear views instead of putting on make-up. *** It is time we put the SHOEI on the other foot. As a member and elite legislative supporter of the American Motorcyclist Association, and as a sustaining member of the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, I hereby respectfully request that these two organizations give serious consideration to the proposals presented herein as well as the implications thereof, and that these proposals and implications be properly incorporated into your respective MRO strategic frameworks as well as your specific joint and/or separate responses to the NTSB and our government as a whole. Sincerely, Bruce Arnold [email protected] http://www.ldrlongdistancerider.com/ Please post comments and replies here: http://pub42.bravenet.com/forum/3562429698/fetch/708594/ _________________ In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.~ Robert Frost