Big Brother's Still Watching

Big Brother’s Still Watching

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DAVID EDWARDS

George Orwell’s dire predictions notwithstanding, 1984 wasn’t that bad a year for motorcyclists. Actually, compared to the safety-nik days of St. Joan of Claybrook’s National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration, 1984 was a banner year, with nary a save-motorcyclists-from-themselves revival in sight.

Still, there are some dark clouds on the horizon for 1985, and surprisingly they’ve been blown our way thanks to automobiles and ATVs.

In a roundabout way, the car folks may be responsible for increased helmet legislation this year. This, thanks to the Transportation Department's edict that all 1987model cars will be equipped with airbags unless two-thirds of the nation’s drivers are regularly using seat belts by that time. Since the powers that be in the car industry have deemed that seat belts are better things than air bags, we now are seeing a rash of largely unopposed mandatory seat-belt legislation at the state level. In New York the law is already on the books; New Jersey and Illinois are next.

And what does all this have to do

with increased helmet legislation? Well, remember one of the best arguments against the compulsory wearing of helmets: that helmet laws would be akin to mandating that all drivers wear seatbelts. You can now wave bye-bye to that reasoning.

Another reason for pessimism is that the same do-gooders who want laws saying that everyone should be belted into automobiles, naturally think that every biker should be helmeted, regardless of the issues of personal freedom or unconstitutionality. As a result, expect helmetuse clauses to be added to upcoming seatbelt laws.

The American Motorcyclist Association’s manager of legislative affairs, Gary Winn, has been watching the gathering storm clouds. For 1985. he sees a protracted state-bystate struggle to keep helmet laws off the books in the 33 states that currently don’t require helmets for adult motorcycle riders. “When the legislative sessions are over this year,” Winn says, “I’m afraid we’ll be breathing a sigh of relief and licking our wounds.”

Street riders aren't the only ones that have to worry about the omnipotent eyes of Big Brother, either.

Dirt bikes may soon come under federal gaze, following the precedent

set late last year when the National Consumer Protection Safety Commission called the four Japanese manfacturers to Washington and told them to expect stiff regulations in the all-terrain-vehicle market unless something was done to stem the number of ATV accidents.

The commission, alerted by more than 50,000 emergency-room treatments and almost 40 deaths among three-wheeler riders in 1984, has the power to recall all ATVs and require safety equipment such as roll-bars, foot-boards and dead-man throttles to be installed. A minimum user age limit was also discussed.

And you can bet the commission can do the same thing to dirt bikes, if its members feel the need. The AMA’s Winn is hopeful that a couple of things will prevent that. First of all, the injury rates among offroad motorcyclists are markedly lower than those for three-wheelers, many of w hom wear little or no safety equipment. Second, dirt-bike sales are down, while the wildly popular ATVs continue to make sales—and injury—headlines.

Still, the precedent is there, and it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to see the Feds turn their attention to dirt bikes. George Orwell, for one, wouldn't be surprised. 0