Special Report: the Moving Forces Behind Motorcycle Legislation
Special Report: The Moving Forces Behind Motorcycle Legislation
LEGISLATION FORUM
J. BRADLEY FLIPPIN
THERE HARDLY EXISTS a motorcyclist who has not heard of the various pieces of legislation that
have cropped up in the U.S. The one that has stirred the biggest controversy is, without a doubt, the compulsory helmet law. Have you ever wondered what brought all this about? Have you ever tried to examine, in a bit more depth, exactly what all this means to today’s motorcyclist? What is ahead as a result of all of this legislation? Is this really a national scheme to restrict and restrain the motorcyclist until he will give up the ghost and turn in his wheels? Anyone who reads the letter columns of the various motorcycle magazines surely must have had these thoughts pass through his head. The usual conclusion: “What is being done about all this? Isn't there anybody who is really interested, on a national level, in our plight?”
The answer is an emphatic “yes.” Many people are interested in the motorcyclist’s “problem.” As one would expect in our democracy, there is no one agency or central focal point for all that pertains to the motorcyclist. There are, however, several agencies and organizations that are becoming involved in various degrees.
The National Highway Safety Act of 1966 was the real starting point for the current legislation and regulations. This act. signed into law by President Johnson on Sept. 9, 1966, became Public Law 89-564. The first definitive results of the Highway Safety Act are well defined in a 22-page brochure entitled “Highway Safety Program Standards,” published by the National Highway Safety Bureau (NHSB) of the Federal Highway Administration.
The NHSB’s Highway Safety Program covers 1 3 specific areas. Two of these apply to all motorists equally: 4.4.1 Periodic Motor Vehicle Inspection and 4.4.5 Driver Licensing. A third, Standard 4.4.3, directly concerns motorcyclists. Entitled “Motorcycle Safety,” its stated purpose is: “To assure that motorcycles, motorcycle operators and their passengers meet standards which contribute to safe operation and protection from injuries.” It directs that “Each state shall have a motorcycle safety program to insure that only persons physically and
mentally qualified will be licensed to operate a motorcycle; that protective safety equipment for drivers and passengers will be worn; and that the motorcycle meets standards for safety equipment.”
It further states, “The program shall provide as a minimum that :
A. Each person who operates a motorcycle: 1. Passes an examination or reexamination designed especially for motorcycle operation. 2. Holds a license issued specifically for motorcycle use or a regular license endorsed for such purpose.
B. Each motorcycle operator wears an approved safety helmet and eye protection when he is operating his vehicle on streets and highways.
C. Each motorcycle passenger wears an approved safety helmet and is provided with a seat and footrest.
D. Each motorcycle is equipped with a rear-view mirror.
E. Each motorcycle is inspected at the time it is initially registered and at least annually thereafter, or in accordance with the state’s inspection requirements.”
Except for the obvious, how will all this affect the motorcyclist? What are the various agencies and organizations doing with these “standards?” One has only to ask. Five such agencies are located in the nation’s capital. They are; A. National Highway Safety Bureau of the Federal Highway Administration (one of the six operating agencies under the Secretary of Transportation)
B. National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances
C. American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators
D. National Commission on Safety Education (one of the 60 commissions, departments, and institutes of the National Education Association)
E. American Automobile Association
In addition, two organizations located
outside of the national capital region also are vitally interested in the motorcyclist. They are:
F. Motorcycle, Scooter and Allied Trades Association (MS&ATA)
G. National Safety Council
The following is an in-depth report on the views and positions of those people and organizations in Washington, D.C., that work with the motorcyclist’s “problems.” Despite the fact that the views and opinions expressed by the persons interviewed are their own and may not necessarily represent the official positions of their respective organizations it must be remembered that they are influential in formulating such positions.
NATIONAL HIGHWAY SAFETY BUREAU (NHSB)
This governmental organization is one of four bureaus under the Federal Highway Administration. Prior to April 1, 1967, the NHSB was part of the Department of Commerce. On that date Public Law 89-670 established a cabinet level department under a Secretary of Transportation-the Department of Transportation. The NHSB, headed by Dr. William Haddon Jr., consists of three main sections: Motor Vehicle Safety Performance Service (vehicle standards), the Highway Safety Programs Service (state program standards and implementation), and the National Highway Safety Institute (research and safety manpower development). Under the Highway Safety Programs Service is the office of Motor Vehicle Programs. The acting chief of its Motorcycle Safety Division is Lewis S. Buchanan, who has been working with the motorcycle, professionally, for about four years. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland and came to the NHSB in July 1967 from the Injury Control Program of the U.S. Public Health Service (Department of Health, Education and Welfare). Many readers will remember him as one of the guests on NBC’s “Today” show and a program on automobile and motorcycle safety. He is the author of the comprehensive little 12-page booklet, “Motorcycles in The United States,” which he prepared while with the Public Health Service. The booklet is full of statistics, facts and hints for both the motorcyclist and the automobile driver.
Being a member of the American Motorcycle Association (AMA), Buchanan is no stranger to motorcycling. He practices what he preaches. He currently has a bike which he rides back and forth to work. He has ridden on and off infrequently for about 14 years. As he put it, “When I started working full time on the motorcycle ‘problem,’ 1 thought I needed to know more about what was happening to the guy on the street so I could speak authoritatively. So, I started riding again. I’m basically a highway safety specialist who rides a motorcycle, not a motorcyclist interested in highway safety.”
Buchanan stated his group’s function: “Our job is to help the states with comprehensive safety programs so the states can do the safety job. The way we do this is to provide grant funds on a matching basis. The state spends its own money on an approved project, and we pay part of the bill. This is to stimulate the states to do more.
“The second way we help is to provide technical consultation to the states developing highway safety programs. That’s part of my job, to help the states when they have a problem, whether it be operation, licensing or helmet standards. It’s to give them the benefit of my experience.
“We have 10 regional offices each of which works with four to six states. Our regional staffs are the generalists. They assist in processing grant applications, and they act as an intermediary between the state and us, thus providing a two-way information exchange. If they have the knowledge to answer a query, they will; otherwise, they’ll send it on to us or call us to come out to the state. This is where we ultimately will provide a great deal of service, but we just don’t have the staff to do a first-class job. It’s the kind of service that can be very beneficial to the states in helping them implement safety programs.
“I think it’s important that the people interested in motorcycling be made aware that there is money available for safety programs that can be spent on motorcycle safety. So far we haven’t had many such projects submitted. Only three or four states have submitted applications for funds, and these were in the area of motorcycle operator licensing the development of written tests, road tests and license examinations. One state submitted a project under which they will hire an educational specialist at the state level to go out and work with the individual school systems to implement motorcycle safety into their driver education programs. This is something 1 like, but unfortunately, we just aren't getting enough of it.”
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Buchanan cautioned, however, that “the projects must be generated at the state and/or local level and must come up within the channels of the state government and be approved at the state level before we can even consider them. In other words, it must have the blessing of the state, and the person responsible in the state is the governor. It is the governor’s highway safety program, and he’s the one that is made responsible at the state level, delegating responsibilities where practicable.
“It must be remembered that part of the money for the project must come from the state. The Highway Safety Act authorizes some large sums of money for several fiscal years, but we didn’t get that kind of money appropriated. Last year we had something like 25 million dollars appropriated, when we actually had about 270 million dollars authorized. We hope that after the Viet Nam situation is settled, we'll get the kind of money that has been authorized.”
What effect has the Highway Safety A ct had on the motorcyclist?
“Some feel the Highway Safety Act has been discriminatory against motorcyclists and that we are placing unnecessary restrictions on them. 1 think it is important that the motorcyclist realize this motorcycle safety program is just one small part of a large, comprehensive program designed to save lives.
“We are killing our own people in motor vehicle crashes at the fantastic rate of 5 3,000 a year. We are crippling hundreds of thousands with permanent disabilities, and we are injuring an additional four million people a year. It’s just unreasonable that in this country, where we have the technical capability, we waste the lives of Americans, we waste money, we waste machines and we waste time in this manner. It’s unrealistic not to have a program and to have to look forward indefinitely to more of the same in the future. We are going to have a comprehensive highway safety program. We may not be able to do as many things as we have in the past, but we are going to have many, many more cars and motorcycles on the roads and many more people driving.”
What is the main purpose of the NHSB regarding mot o rey ' c l is t s7
“1 think one of the most significant things is that we are trying to get the states, as they develop highway safety programs, to consider the effect the program will have on motorcycles, to try to include the motorcycle and to provide comprehensive planning for highway safety.
“We also are trying to provide the states with technically accurate information, so the requirements they make will be realistic. Some requirements that have been enacted in some states, and many others proposed at the state level, are not really safety measures and are not very realistic. We are trying to help the states develop realistic and effective highway safety programs. We think we have a good start in this direction.
“Most of the emphasis so far has been on the helmet and operator licensing. The real impact in motorcycle safety probably will be made in operator training and education, both in high schools and outside. We want to help more states develop effective motorcycle operator training programs.”
What is the biggest problem the motorcyclist faces today ?
“I think the biggest problem is learning how to operate his motorcycle safely. 1 don’t think the new motorcyclists are trained well enough in defensive driving techniques. They have had no adequate way of learning. Some studies have shown that the accident rate is about twice as high during the first six months of learning. Also, about one-half of the crashes occur with persons of less than two years experience. I believe that an aware motorcyclist, who is driving defensively, can anticipate many of the hazardous situations and, by anticipating, he can avoid them.
“We are developing a manual in each of the 13 program areas. The drafts have been completed and should be released soon. Volume Three of the set will provide guidelines on how the states should implement the motorcycle portion of each of the highway safety programs. One of the recommendations is that states require a special motorcycle license or learner’s permit before the motorcyclist rides on a public street.
“Here are the specific statements about motorcycle learner’s permits:
1. The applicant should meet the same minimum age requirement as for an automobile instruction permit.
2. Instruction permit should be issued only after the applicant has passed the knowledge and medical test.
3. Instruction permit should be valid for a specific period of time.
4. The applicant should operate the motorcycle on public roads only under the direct visual supervision of a person who has, for at least one year, been licensed to operate a motorcycle.
5. The applicant should not carry a passenger except as may be required as part of an approved operator training
program. , ... 6. The applicant should not operate the motorcycle during the hours of darkness, except as may be required as part of an approved operator training course.
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7. The applicant should wear the required helmet and eye protection at all times during operation.
“These are the kind of restrictions we recommend for the learner. We think they are reasonable. When we wrote this book, we consulted many, many people in the motorcycle industry. We sent copies of the initial draft to the MS&ATA, the AMA, several motorcycle magazines, all of the major manufacturers, each state and many national organizations and we received their comments.”
When asked how long it might take a person to obtain his regular motorcycle driver’s license (or endorsement), Buchanan said, “It’s possible to get the learner’s permit and be able to pass the test immediately. The tests are not that severe. The typical teen-ager, who has ridden somebody else’s motorcycle, knows the principles of balance, knows how to lean in the turn, and probably could pass the riding test without much practice.” He went on to say that this, by no means, meant that the newly licensed rider was an expert. Far from it. All it means is that he has conquered the fundamentals and now must work to gain the skill that only can be obtained through experience.
Buchanan indicated that any discussion of the National Highway Safety Bureau function wouldn’t be complete without some additional explanation of the important part played by the Motor Vehicle Safety Performance Service. He suggested consulting Fred Koch.
Koch is the acting chief of the division on Standards on Pedestrians and Motorcyclist Protection. He indicated that the Federal Highway Administration, in October 1967, released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making concerning Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. This 34-page document listed 47 separate items, covering the areas of accident avoidance, crash-injury reduction, postcrash factors and maintenance and repair.
Koch pointed out that this advance notice is not a legal requirement. It was intended to provoke industy/user/government exchanges of ideas. The division could, in effect, move right to the proposed rule making stage. However, the technique they are now using allows them to review the advance comments prior to the Notice of Proposed Rule Making, which appears in the Federal Register. Once this is done, opinions will be further reviewed, and engineering position papers will be prepared to provide a complete analysis of the proposed rule and the comments. When this is approved, the rules become federal standards.
Items of interest to the motorcyclist in this document include dockets on brake systems, braking, brake linings, hoses, tires and tire protection. In addition, rear-view mirrors, maximum speed control for motor vehicles, including motorcycles, and rider protection on motorcycles are covered.
It should be noted that the advance notice does not spell out the standard that is going to be used, nor does it even indicate there will be a standard. It says only that “The administrator is considering the issuance of a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard specifying performance requirements for...” The comments received as a result of this advance notice will guide the administration in determining if such a standard is required, and, if so, what it should be.
For example: Docket No. 2-17 Rider Protection-Motorcycles reads, “The administrator is considering the issuance of a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, which would become effective Jan. 1, 1969, specifying requirements for foot rests, handlebars, rollbars, and exhaust system protection to reduce the likelihood of injury to motorcycle operators and passengers. Comments due: Dec. 4, 1967.” (Because of changes in personnel and resultant working habits, the closing dates for comments have been extended.) To be continued.
