You would think that I’d have a day off from political discussion when I decided to stop by WinterPlace Park just down the road from me and scope out that portion of the Delmarva Bike Week proceedings – neither major-party Congressional candidate had planned to do any campaigning there. In truth, my two-wheel riding consists of my time on the manually-pedaled variety so I went when I did to check out the tunage of Crossroads. (Later tonight I’ll put some pics and thoughts over on my Myspace blog regarding that part of the day. Look for Weekend of local rock number 17 there.) But I did ride my two wheels over there since it was a nice easy two-mile ride.
Well, I thought it would be a day off of sorts until I saw this trailer.
I saw the trailer and immediately thought of yesterday’s post. I believe I am exactly right when I say that there’s a political advocacy group for every single person in the country, and ABATE is the one for motorcycle riders. And when I spoke to their workers briefly, one of them used the term ‘mommyocracy’ and a post was born, along with the promise to allocate the word and make them slightly more famous. They had several people working the event today.
The group is probably most famous for its stance against helmets being required when riding motorcycles. And while I don’t ride a motorcycle, I can understand their desire to make their own decisions when it comes to that aspect of riding; to me these laws fall right in the category with seat belt laws in cars. (For the record, I do wear my seat belt and I ride my bicycle with a helmet. On a bicycle, a helmet is much more protective of a collision at 15 MPH than a motorcycle helmet would be with a collision at 55 MPH – unless you’re wearing a lot of shock-absorbing body armor the internal injuries which would result probably just mean you die with a pretty face.)
While they didn’t change any of the helmet laws in Maryland in the last General Assembly term, ABATE was pleased about helping to get three bills through and signed into law:
- SB712 establishes a fine and licensing suspension for failure to yield the right-of-way if it contributes to an accident which kills or seriously injures another motorist.
- SB713 allows specified auxiliary lighting on a motorcycle to improve nighttime visibility.
- HB844 changes the size of Maryland’s motorcycle license plate to the standard 7″ x 4″ adopted by most other states. That’s going to allow situations like the one on this bike to be rectified:
There were also two other bills signed into law that they were watching, one which altered the definition of a motorcycle (HB221) and the other for an ATV Safety Task Force (HB114/SB28). While the three bills I pointed out above sailed through with little to no opposition, the final three were opposed by a few GOP Delegates and Senators, including Senator Andy Harris who voted against HB221, HB114, and SB28 at each opportunity. Delegate Rick Impallaria also was steadfast against the three bills when the House voted on them. It’s also interesting to note on HB114/SB28 that as originally introduced it was a helmet law for ATV’s, but the General Assembly watered it down via amendment to simply be a task force to study the issue. ABATE wasn’t originally part of the task force; Senator Larry Haines sponsored the amendment to add them.
ABATE also has a political action committee called the Motorcycle Riders PAC, and while they’re not a big-money PAC they did chip in $4,700 during the 2006 cycle, according to the National Institute for Money in State Politics and their Follow the Money website. It’s a bit surprising that they weighed donations in favor of Democrats when the GOP pushed harder for their interests based on bill sponsorship and voting patterns. (Never mind that the Republicans tend to be against a ‘mommyocracy’ as a matter of principle too.) They should really reconsider the largest contribution, which went to District 38B Delegate Norm Conway – he did nothing to advance their interests and not much for the rest of us either.
This is just more proof that everyone has their own advocacy group, but for the most part ABATE seems to be one of the good guys. They didn’t set out to grow government or shift tax dollars their way, but instead advocated for what’s seemingly common-sense legislation.
