Lawmakers Support New Crash Study

Lawmakers Support New Crash Study

© 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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From a press release issued by the AMA:

Federal Lawmakers Support New Motorcycle Crash Study

PICKERINGTON, Ohio — The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports that 62 members of Congress have joined U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Wis.) in asking the House leadership to support a comprehensive study of the causes of streetbike crashes.

In mid-March, Green asked his colleagues to sign a letter addressed to U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, urging him to support a comprehensive, in-depth motorcycle crash study to find ways to prevent crashes. The last such study — “Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures,” commonly called the “Hurt Report” (after lead researcher Harry Hurt) — was done more than 20 years ago.

“With motorcyclist fatalities increasing 50 percent in just the last five years, the time to act is now,” the members of Congress said in the letter. “Initiated in 1976 and completed in 1981, the Hurt Report remains the benchmark of motorcycle crash research and, sadly, the only such comprehensive study ever undertaken in the United States.”

Rider-training and motorist-awareness programs are just a couple of the efforts to improve motorcyclists’ safety that were prompted by the Hurt Report.

Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations, and his staff in the AMA Government Relations Department’s Washington, D.C., office are working to get $3 million for an in-depth motorcycle crash study written into legislation now being considered for reauthorization by Congress: the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).

The new crash research would involve detailed at-the-scene study of at least 1,000 crashes to find out what goes wrong for riders.

Motorcyclists are urged to contact their federal lawmakers and to thank them if they signed the Green letter supporting motorcycle crash research. For those lawmakers who didn’t sign the Green letter, motorcyclists are urged to ask them to support the research and to contact Chairman Young expressing their support.

Motorcyclists can urge members of their congressional delegations to support funding for a comprehensive motorcycle crash study by sending a message through the AMA Rapid Response Center at www.AMADirectlink.com. The Rapid Response Center tells motorcyclists who the members of their congressional delegations are, and even gives addresses to send letters rather than e-mail.

Those who signed the letter are U.S. Reps. Richard Baker (R-La.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Rob Bishop (R-Utah), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), Michael Burgess (R-Texas), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Brad Carson (D-Okla.), Julia Carson (D-Ind.), Chris Chocola (R-Ind.), Tom Cole (R-Okla.), Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Jerry Costello (D-Ill.)

Also, U.S. Reps. Danny Davis (D-Ill.), John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Jim Gerlach (R-Penn.), Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Mark Green (R-Wis.), Melissa Hart (R-Penn.), David Hobson (R-Ohio), Tim Holden (D-Pa.), Michael Honda (D-Calif.), Christopher John (D-La.), Timothy Johnson (R-Ill.), Sue Kelly (R-N.Y.), Mark Kennedy (R-Minn.) and Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.)

Also, U.S. Reps. John Kline (R-Minn.), Ray LaHood (R-Ill.), Nick Lampson (D-Texas), Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio), James Leach (R-Iowa), Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.), Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.), Jim Matheson (D-Utah), Candice Miller (R-Mich.), James Moran (D-Va.), Robert Ney (R-Ohio), Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), C.L. “Butch” Otter (R-Idaho), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.).

Also, U.S. Reps. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Todd Russell Platts (R-Pa.), Jon Porter (R-Nev.), Jack Quinn (R-N.Y.), Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), Dennis Rehberg (R-Mont.), Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Timothy Ryan (D-Ohio), F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), John Shimkus (R-Ill.), Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), Rob Simmons (R-Conn.), Michael Simpson (R-Idaho), Ted Strickland (D-Ohio), Michael Turner (R-Ohio), Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)

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