Attention ALL members, URGENT action required 

Disreputable Behavior Correction Necessary

For the US Dept of Transportation Secretary

 

Greetings Freedom Fighters,

I am asking each and every single member of ABATE OF FLORIDA to step up to the plate at this time and write three letters in response to a recent public statement by the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation, Mary Peters.  

 BACKGROUND
Previously, motorcyclists from around the nation were of the opinion that we did not need our own tax dollars used against us.  We took a stand on having a zero tolerance policy in terms of federal interference in State’s rights issues, specifically in regard to our work on repealing state helmet laws.  We worked together on this as a common goal and in June of 1998, we prevailed and passed federal legislation to prohibit use of funds at the USDOT’s disposal for the purpose of lobbying state legislatures in regard to their safety initiatives.  Our main focus was to keep them from spending our federal tax dollars to lobby against us in our own state legislatures and we accomplished that goal.  The provisions of the law clearly were to keep them from soliciting state legislators in regard to things like mandatory helmet laws.

 In 1996, we had succeeded in removing Section 153 penalties from the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) which effectively ended the federal blackmail of states without mandatory helmet laws. 

 IN RECENT YEARS
We have seen activity intent upon usurping the laws we put into place to protect us from people bent on protecting us from ourselves.  We have seen the intense NHTSA development of propaganda in an attempt to influence state legislatures.  We saw the activity level picking up considerably in 2003, 2004 and 2005 that started to come to a boil in 2006. 

By the summer of 2006, Florida was in NHTSA crosshairs and they began to distribute propaganda in regard to multiple and larger publications that included some NHTSA-fabricated statistics or guesses in regard to our Florida repeal of the mandatory helmet law.  The disdain here is due to the number of lives they claim could have been saved if the fatally injured riders had been wearing helmets and they simply lack the facts to support that.  We know personally of numerous fatalities that helmets would not have prevented.

 In the fall of 2006, we saw US Senator Lautenberg from New Jersey (Transportation Committee) openly attempting to usurp the intent of our Section 30105 legislation (Restriction on lobbying activities) by sending an official letter to Governors of every state in the U.S. urging them to tighten up and enact mandatory helmet laws.  He directed them to contact his senior transportation counsel to take action and in this letter he stated “…it is urgent that we come to grips with this national epidemic”.  He very clearly was violating the intent of the federal law we had passed. 

Earlier in 2007, we saw the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) come out with the same propaganda.  This is probably the most significant of the events we had seen thus far, in that throughout NTSB’s history, the scope of motorcycling was not something they had previously involved themselves in.  Worse yet, the reports they issued were not the standard type of details work and research that normally come from the NTSB because they were using information supplied to them from NHTSA and the DOT.  The NTSB Chair forwarded letters to the Governor in every U.S. State and Territory.  The significance of this event also led to our own Doc Reichenbach scheduling a visit and meeting with the NTSB chair to be certain we open a line of communication there and had the opportunity to present facts from the other side of this argument.

October 2007 Crash Facts published by NHTSA also included instruction clearly usurping the provisions of the law we passed to keep them from lobbying our legislatures.

At different times since she was appointed to office in the fall of 2006, we have heard noise from Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters we have not liked.  Prior to today, her November 2007 “broad new effort to reduce motorcycle fatalities” was the worst yet.  No worry about keeping people from running over us, but all about saving us from ourselves using the NHTSA math about how many lives would have been saved if fatally injured riders had been wearing helmets.

 OUTRAGE TODAY
What is different about the noise we are hearing now is that she is flagrantly usurping the provisions of the federal law we passed (Section 30105, Restriction on lobbying activities).  Not only is she kicking us in the shin with that, but she turns around and slaps us in the face by trying to redirect funding that we know can truly help make a difference in saving the lives of motorcyclists.  She has legislation submitted to Congress that would allow states to use federal motorcycle safety funding to promote the use of motorcycle helmets.  Currently, states are limited to using the funds for motorcycle safety training and awareness programs only.  This is nothing less than an outrage.  Please see her proudly displayed yet very shameful proclamation below:

 **********begin DOT press release **********

 DOT21-08
Thursday, February14, 2008
Contact:  Brian Turmail
Tel.: (202) 366-4570

U.S. Transportation Secretary Peters Unveils Legislation to Help States Target Motorcycle Helmet Use

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters today sent legislation to Congress seeking greater flexibility for states to target one of the leading causes of motorcycle deaths across the nation – riding without a helmet.  An avid motorcyclist, she credits her helmet and riding gear for saving her life during a 2005 motorcycle crash.  “My helmet prevented me from being a brain injury patient when I crashed my Harley two years ago,” Secretary Peters said. “We know helmets save lives and I want states to be able to join in urging riders to take personal responsibility for their safety by wearing a helmet every time they ride.”  The legislation submitted to Congress would allow states to use federal motorcycle safety funding to promote the use of motorcycle helmets. Currently, states are limited to using the funds for motorcycle safety training and awareness programs only.  Secretary Peters noted that states need additional resources to combat a sharp increase in motorcycle fatalities. In 2006, motorcycle fatalities reached 4,810, an increase of 127 percent since 1997, Secretary said. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that motorcycle helmets not only saved the lives of 1,658 motorcyclists in 2006, but that 752 additional lives could have been saved if all motorcyclists had worn helmets, she added.

Calling motorcycles “our nation’s greatest highway safety challenge,” Secretary Peters launched a comprehensive federal initiative to improve motorcycle safety in October 2007. The action plan emphasizes more rider education and training, tougher standards for helmet certification labeling, law enforcement training, and road designs that consider motorcycle dynamics.

For more information on DOT’s motorcycle safety initiative, please visit: http://www.nhtsa.gov/motorcycles/index.cfm

 **********end DOT press release **********

You can go to this press release directly on their site at http://www.dot.gov/affairs/dot2108.htm   but all of their main release listings can be seen  at   http://www.dot.gov/affairs/briefing.htm .

You will also want to view the last link listed at the bottom of the press release if you have not seen this material yet in regard to their 2007 reports and to understand she has also appointed herself the motorcycle helmet poster child.