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   Legislation:

Welcome to the webpage of Kristy Hawthorne ABATE of Ohio,Inc., Legislative Director. This site is provided for access to public information in an effort to better serve the members of ABATE of Ohio, Inc., Residents of Ohio, and the Motorcycling Community.

    April 5, 2010

   Good day Freedom Fighters!

   I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on a meeting the Department of Public Safety on March 23, 2010 in Columbus. Motorcycle Ohio invited various stakeholders in the motorcycling community from around Ohio:

• DPS staff present: Director Cathy Collins-Smith
• Motorcycle Ohio Director Bob Secrest
• Director Ohio Traffic Safety Office Tina O’Grady
• Pete Kline, DPS Legislative Liason
• Mike Weinman
• ODOT representative Michelle May.

• Kristy Hawthorne
• Ed Schetter
• Jim Elgin
• Ken Howell
• Scott Wood
• Denny Wichert
• Barbara Clements
• Mike Stanley
• Imre Szauter
• Bill Bish
• Chuck and Melanie Geggie (GWRRA)
• Tom Whiteman (Lelsie’s Wings)
• Bill Johnson (BMW)

• Motorcycle Ohio transition
      Bob Secrest reported Motorcycle Ohio currently operates the Mobile Program sites around Ohio on a contract basis. This practice is administratively burdensome. To streamline operations, Motorcycle Ohio will be offering a grant program instead. This will allow sites to bid for a grant on a per student basis and allow for more permanent sponsor locations. Motorcycle Ohio will still maintain all student registrations, instructor certifications, scheduling and motorcycle maintenance. They are currently working on the grant application, which should be completed by June with deadline for interested parties to return applications in August 2010. The program dollars will be available beginning in January 2011.

• Efforts to reduce fatalities-
      The Ride Smart program was rolled out 2 years ago. This year’s focus will be Ride Alert. The kick off to the campaign will be held on April 23, 2010 at the Department of Public Safety offices, 1970 West Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio at 2:00 pm. This event is focused on media relations, but all are invited to make a statement about the number of motorcyclists on the road in Ohio. All are welcome to attend, flyer attached.
     Safe Communities Coalitions are funded through the DPS. An overview on the required motorcycle awareness campaign efforts for the 32 Safe Communities Coalitions included a materials order form that is attached to this email. The products are available for anyone to order.
      The University of Akron will be working closely with the DPS do an in depth study of fatal motorcycle crashes in the state of Ohio. They will scour available information about the crashes in order to focus efforts on the actual reasons the crashes happen in the first place. As Government agencies, campaigns are required to be statistically driven. This will end up being a great tool for all involved when it is completed.
     Motorcycle Ohio recently reformatted the maneuverability test that motorcyclists must pass to be endorsed. Sighting the reason of more “non-traditional” motorcycles on the road including the spyder and their inability to maneuver the same as a “traditional” motorcycle. In order to accommodate all styles of bikes the test was modified and Motorcycle Ohio trained the local BMV administrators on the reformatted test.

• ODOT Update:
      Michelle May updated the group on ODOT’s recent efforts to work with the motorcycling communities. Attached is a copy of the Motorcycle Safety – ODOT 2010 update.
      She also reported that ODOT has permission to run motorcycle safety and awareness messages on the electronic signs over major highways, which are also known as the “Amber Alert” signs, found in larger cities. Because of Federal rule making, they are only allowed to run these messages for one week during the month of May. Several in attendance expressed concern over the short time frame and Michelle acknowledges the need for more messaging. She agreed to discuss the possibility to add additional weeks throughout the riding season.
      Portable construction site electronic signs can be used for “share the road” messages at certain motorcycle events throughout the year. This will need to be limited to major events. A list was generated at the meeting to include Ohio Bike Week, AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, Awareness Parade, Gold Wing Rally and HOG Rally to name a few.

• Legislative Update:
      Michael Weinman is new to the position as legislative liaison for the Department of Public Safety, coming from the State Highway Patrol office. He listed several pieces of legislation that DPS is currently monitoring:
  
  1. HB 50 – removes personal information from the vehicle registration form
  2. HB 191 – increasing penalties for street racing
  3. HB 204 – motorcycle parking
  4. HB 425 – Towing Company’s mandates
  5. HB 463 – description of cab enclosed 3 wheel motorcycles
  6. SB 58 – ability for officer to request blood draw after an accident for BAC
  7. SB 65 and HB 128 – ROW bill
      Michael was looking for input from the group as to what type of legislative efforts need to be addressed. Suggestions from the group for items to look at included:
  • Motorcycle endorsement transfers for military based oversees
  • Handle bar height
  • Vertical plates
  • Defining a motorcycle with “outriggers” installed
      Michael agreed to clarify HB 27 passage for the Purple Heart Motorcycle License Plates, the timeline of when the local BMVs will be informed about the availability, explain the application process and exactly how many applications are needed before the plate goes into production.

• General Conversation included:
      A review of the Driver’s Digest section on “How to share the road with motorcycles”. The digest is the book that new drivers must study to get their permit. The “share the Road” section was added in 2003 and will be reviewed for the next printing of the digest.
      The driver’s education instructors are certified through the DPS. ABATE requested that the certification process include the “Share the Road” program ABATE’s Safety and Education Director has implemented. Tina Grady noted that the bicyclists have requested the same consideration. As the certification process is analyzed in the next year, this will be taken into consideration.
      Clarifications on how to become a Motorcycle Ohio Instructor and the costs ensued by the person interested in being an instructor.

Upcoming conferences scheduled for Central Ohio area include:
• National Association of Motorcycle Safety Administrator’s Annual Meeting – Columbus Ohio, August 20-22nd
• NHTSA 3 Region Conference – Official date not announced, but will be tied to meeting listed above.

    DPS Director Cathy Collins-Smith and Bob Secrest both agreed this was a valuable meeting that needs to happen on at least a yearly basis. This open line of communication with the agency is favorable to ABATE and the motorcycling community!

    March 2010

ABATE of Ohio Inc. March 3, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   Contact: Kristy Hawthorne, Legislative Director Phone: 740-403-0029 email: legislativedirector@abate.com   Governor Strickland signs bill to create Purple Heart License Plates for motorcycles       ABATE of Ohio Legislative Committee members joined Governor Strickland on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at the Ohio Statehouse in a ceremony to sign Am. Sub. HB 27 of the 128th General Assembly. The bill creates Purple Heart license plates for motorcycles as well as names several Ohio highways in memory of fallen veterans and a few other specialty license plates for vehicles, such as the Special Olympics.    Six veteran’s families of the fallen heroes and ABATE representatives watched as Governor Strickland put pen to paper in the final step of a bill becoming law. The 9 year-old son of Sgt. Jeremy Murray, put his hand over the Governor’s as he signed the bill, which includes a Memorial Highway designated for his father who was killed in the battle for freedom overseas.    Governor Strickland served on Veteran’s Affairs committee when he was Congressman of the 6th District and while in Washington DC, he consistently showed support for motorcycling issues. Governor Strickland stated, “I was proud to sign a bill into law that would ensure that Ohio’s Purple Heart recipients receive the honor and acknowledgement they deserve as these distinguished veterans ride motorcycles across our state.” History:     Originally the Purple Heart license plate bill was submitted as a “standalone bill,” House Bill 234, introduced in February 2009 sponsored by Representative Moran (D-42). As bills go through the process of committee hearings and floor votes, they can be combined or amended to include bills that are germane to subject of the original bill. In this case, HB 27 began the process as designating a highway in Mahoning County as the “Korean War Veteran’s Memorial Highway.” Several bills had similar objectives, like the Purple Heart license plate bill, and were lumped into HB 27 as amendments prior to passage as Amended Substitute House Bill 27. How to get the license plate:     Purple Heart recipients will have the option of purchasing the special license plates through the local BMV office. Documentation of the award will need to be provided at the time of application. The license plates and validation stickers shall be issued without the payment of any registration fee and service fee and without the payment of any local motor vehicle license tax levied. Once enough interest is generated through applications, printing of the new plates will begin. Contact your local BMV to get details.     ABATE applauds the effort of the motorcycling community, veterans and the 128th General Assembly to pass this bill and give the option for proud veterans who earned the Purple Heart to be recognized with special license plate for their motorcycles. We look forward to see them out on the roadways! ABATE of Ohio, Inc. (American Bikers Aimed Toward Education) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving the rights, improving the image, and promoting safe operating practices of Ohio Motorcyclists. www.abate.com ~end~

    February 2010

Going back to my roots – grassroots that is!

    Since the Senate and the House were tied up with a couple heavy lifting bills, such as SB 318 to fix the budget and the holiday break, the bills ABATE is tracking have not had any recent movement. But the Legislative goals for ABATE of Ohio has!
    A legislative committee has been formed to spearhead the legislative agenda for the organization. With members representing the geographical areas of the state, some of the goals for the committee include:

• Tracking bills affecting motorcycling
• Offering testimony on those bills
• Creating a communication system to get this information to you, the members
• Help get candidates to meetings
• Create candidate questionnaires
• Support the PAC fundraising and distribution of those funds to qualified candidates

    Does this mean that the committee will take care of all the legislative work? NO! We will be here to help get you involved in the founding principles of ABATE of Ohio, Inc. To be a force at the statehouse, be proactive with motorcycle friendly legislation and build a PAC fund that will serve the membership by getting candidates’ attention.
    The committee will be introduces at the State Education, Legislative and Safety Seminar on February 20th at the Holiday Inn Columbus Airport in Columbus, OH. Interested in getting politically active? The committee will present simple ways for you to be involved, especially with 2010 being an election year which all of the Ohio House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate is up for election. The candidates will be out and about in their districts, we want you to let them know what ABATE of Ohio is all about. The tools you will need to accomplish this will be available at the Seminar.
    Another important part of political activity during an election year is PAC fundraising. A silent auction will be held during the Seminar’s banquet Saturday evening. Mind you, the PAC committee has some lofty goals set for this fund. By May 31, 2010 we would like to see $3,000 in the PAC fund. The silent auction is the major fundraiser for the year. Some of the items secured so far:

• Overnight stay and 4 water park passes from Kalahari
• Overnight stay and 4 water park passes from Coco Key/Cherry Valley Lodge
• 2 tickets to a Columbus Blue Jackets Game on Monday, March 15th
• Overnight stay and golf for 2 at Sawmill Creek Resort

    Bring your donations with you to the Seminar, and don’t forget your own checkbook! The PAC fund has set stringent guidelines for distributing the funds to candidates this year. You won’t be paying for anyone to go to fundraising parties or golf outings. Recommendations from the membership for motorcycle friendly candidates will be taken into consideration, then the candidate must sit down with someone from the committee and/or an ABATE member constituent to listen to our concerns prior to receiving ANY funds from the PAC. This will give ABATE a direct line of communication to the candidates.
    We are excited about the progress made “behind the scenes” during this slow time at the Statehouse. Look forward to seeing you in Columbus on February 20th! As always, if you have any questions on the committee or how to make a donation to the PAC fund silent auction, please contact me at legislativedirector@abate.com.

            Kristy Hawthorne             “Momma Bear”

From: Motorcycle Riders Foundation Subject: 09NR33 - MRF News Release - DISTRACTED DRIVING SUMMIT To: ************@yahoo.com Date: Monday, October 5, 2009, 5:03 PM MRF E-MAIL NEWS Motorcycle Riders Foundation 236 Massachusetts Ave. NE | Suite 510 | Washington, DC 20002-4980 202-546-0983 (voice) | 202-546-0986 (fax) | http://www.mrf.org 09NR33 - MRF News Release - DISTRACTED DRIVING SUMMIT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5 October 2009 Contact: Jeff Hennie, MRF V.P. of Government Relations DISTRACTED DRIVING SUMMIT Distraction: The performance degradation of a primary task upon introduction of a secondary act. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood convened an important two-day meeting in Washington DC last week to shine a light on the increasing incidents and opportunities to be distracted while operating a car or public transportation vehicle. Naturally, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) was represented at that meeting. With the amount of distraction from increased use of cell phones (some with full keyboards), GPS systems, DVD players and the vast array of other complex video displays at an all-time high, it should not come as a surprise that the opportunity for an operator of any vehicle to become distracted has risen significantly in just the past few years. Distracted driving is certainly not a new issue. One could argue that the minute someone in Detroit came up with the idea to put lighters and ashtrays in cars, or when a little company called Motorola produced the first in-car audio entertainment device, or when Ray Kroc sold his first burger out of the window of his restaurant, distracted driving was born. What’s truly startling is the dramatic rise in the amount of “texting” people are doing behind the wheel. Some stats say sending and receiving text messages while driving is up 500 percent in just the past two years. Because of the complexities involved with typing on a handheld keyboard, some experts refer to texting while driving as the perfect storm for disaster. The two-day meeting brought together experts of all types including auto manufacturers, cell phone providers, government officials, state legislators, behavioral experts and even a rocket scientist from NASA who specializes in the distraction of pilots under heavy cognitive load. Cognitive load is the amount of brain power you use to complete a task, relative to the complexity of the task, or as we learned, thinking about or talking about anything overly emotional. The other forms of distraction are visual (eyes off the road) or manual (hands off the wheel). We know that distraction is a problem for all road users, and particulary motorcyclists and other vulnerable road users, but what can we do about it? Ray LaHood said it best when he opened the meeting with the statement, “You cannot legislate behavior.” Eighteen states and DC have enacted texting-while-driving bans. While this is a good start, it’s sort of missing the mark. Banning texting may remove one part of the equation, but that means it’s still ok to eat a burrito, watch a movie, paint your nails, pick something up off the passenger side floor, or talk on a hands-free cell phone, all while checking out your hair in the flip-down vanity mirror. Any ban at the state level should be against all forms of distracted driving, not just a few specific forms. THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW Senator Chuck Schumer from NY and Amy Klobuchar from MN both made an appearance at the event to plug some legislation they both support. Their bill, inappropriately called the Alert Drivers Act, would force states to pass texting bans or forfeit a whopping 25% of their road money. The feds have a long history of using this sort of “carrot and stick” approach to forcing states to enact legislation, and it’s problematic for a variety of reasons. The MRF simply cannot support the bills (S. 1536 and HR 3535) to force states to pass texting bans for the simple reason that this is the same method that is used to force states to pass helmet laws, and blackmailing the states to enact legislation that they may or may not want should be strongly discouraged. The two-day meeting is certainly a good start to the conversation about distracted driving, but far too much focus was given to texting instead of keeping all distractions on the table. We at the MRF hope that discussion continues, and we look forward to working with the powers that be to put distracted driving on the decline. KILTS VS BIBS – ROUND FOUR! I have to hand it to the Bibs this year. Those old guys spent the summer working out or something because they dragged us Kilts up and down the tug-o-war arena. After suffering devastating losses two years in row, the Bibs came back en force. Although league officials are murmuring about a possible violation in tug-o-war rules by the suspendered bikers, we won’t let that tarnish an otherwise flawless victory. So that leaves it all tied up for the ropers, 2 for the Bibs and 2 for the Kilts. Rumor is the Kilts are embarking on a vision quest sometime in the off-season to soothe the soul and re-emerge next fall in Peoria, IL for MOTM and the fifth show down. Don’t miss round 5, the Thunder-Dome! ========================================================== Do not reply to this email, it will be discarded. ========================================================== Ride With The LeadersTM by joining the MRF at http://www.mrf.org/join.php or call 1-202-546-0983 Registration is easy and secure for MRF Regional and Meeting of the Minds conferences. Visit our website at http://www.mrf.org/events.php for further details and registration information. Send in your nominations and donations for the MRF's Young Activist Scholarship fund today. For complete details, visit http://www.mrfae.org/yas.php. Sign up today for the MRF's new roadside assistance program by visiting http://www.mrf.org/mrfroadside.php The program is available to MRF members and non-MRF members. © All Information contained in this release is copyrighted. Reproduction permitted with attribution. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation, incorporated in 1987, is a membership-based, national motorcyclists' rights organization headquartered in Washington, DC. The first motorcyclists' rights organization to establish a full-time presence in Washington, DC, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation is the only Washington voice devoted exclusively to the street rider. The MRF established MRFPAC in the early 1990s to advocate the election of candidates who would champion the cause of rider safety and rider freedom. The MRF proudly claims state motorcyclists' rights organizations and the very founders of the American riders' rights movement among its leading members. The MRF is involved in federal and state legislation and regulations, motorcycling safety education, training, and public awareness. The MRF provides members and state motorcyclists' rights organizations with direction and information, and sponsors annual regional and national educational seminars for motorcyclists rights activists, as well as publishing a bi-monthly newsletter, THE MRF REPORTS. Motorcycle Riders Foundation | 236 Massachusetts Ave. NE | Suite 510 | Washington | DC | 20002