Speaking with a group of MSF RiderCoaches recently brought topic of mandatory safety courses for motorcycle riders. I know some states are looking into such action and one or two have already put laws like this into place. While I feel it is a good thing, I can't help to think it will steer away riders from going through the process and ride without a license - which many already do.
With that how does one address all the un licensed riders out there, and there are far morethan anybody would think. If the goal is to educate riders for better skills, how does one address the non licensed issue?
Then finally, what about all those whom already have their licenses? Granted a large majority would benefit from any kind of skills education but how do you get them to do it on a mandatory condition? Do states notify all and require them to complete a course to renew their endorsements? How many would just say screw that and ride without?
Yes I do believe that having a requirement for new riders to complete a course of some kind prior to receiving their license may be a good thing, but there are tons of riders out there that would gain important skills to keep their arses safer and while education is key to helping prevent conflicts, how do you make them do it? Developing some sort of mandatory program for riders just may backfire and raise the amount of non licensed riders.
Creating or passing a law is really the easy part of this whole scenario, enforcement of that law is the difficult part. As you see on a daily basis, everyone knows that it's illegal to drive while under the influence of alchohol or drugs yet, people do it every day and unfortunately, quite often, it's discovered too late that someone has broken that law and gotten into an accident. Maybe the way to enforce it is by requiring the owner of the motorcycle to present a certificate of completion from a safety class when they register or renew the tags for motorcycle.
Our local H-D dealer gets $300+ for his rider courses - problem #1. State offers courses, but locations are widely scattered and dates seem to be random - problem #2. We can't seem to effectively enforce the requirement to have insurance to drive a motor vehicle - problem #3.
I don't want to dump the responsibility on a dealer, but would it not be wise for a dealer to "throw in" the $300 class as part of the sale of a new or used bike to a newbie?
I hesitate to suggest making a class mandatory, but how about offering incentives? For example, insurance companies could offer a discount if you have taken a riding class.
However, you can't just hop in a car and drive, or in an aircraft and fly - you have to demonstrate your ability to perform the task in a safe manner. Riding is not different in that respect.
GOMO, several times you use words like "ride without a license - which many already do", but you neither quantify nor qualify that. Do you have any figures, and if so where do they come from and how reliable are they? Over here in the UK a government minister recently claimed (to support some new, ever more restrictive measure or other that he was touting) that 40% of bikers don't pay their road tax; the truth is that the Department of Transport's own figure was only 6.5%, but it took a lot of effort to get the b*stard to admit he'd been talking compete crap and by doing so conspiring to make bikers in general look bad in the public eye. You've got to be clear about the credibility and accuracy of your info before making wide-ranging accusations like that.
Like tejasandre says, Mandatory is the opposite of freedom, and whilst freedom is only ever relative, and tempered by the effects we have on those around us, you've got to wonder ... if we're genuinely trying to reduce biker injuries and fatalities, wouldn't it be a better idea as grampadac says to require safety courses for regular vehicle drivers and include motorcycle awareness classes in them? Ah, but that would affect most of the adult population/voters, and so since we could reasonably suppose that they wouldn't be very keen (cost, time, etc.) then that would be a vote-looser wouldn't it ...?!
When politicians claim to be trying to do the right thing, you always have to ask the question "the right thing for who?".
__________________ MONTY Work to Ride, Ride to Work
GOMO, several times you use words like "ride without a license - which many already do", but you neither quantify nor qualify that. Do you have any figures, and if so where do they come from and how reliable are they? Over here in the UK a government minister recently claimed (to support some new, ever more restrictive measure or other that he was touting) that 40% of bikers don't pay their road tax; the truth is that the Department of Transport's own figure was only 6.5%, but it took a lot of effort to get the b*stard to admit he'd been talking compete crap and by doing so conspiring to make bikers in general look bad in the public eye. You've got to be clear about the credibility and accuracy of your info before making wide-ranging accusations like that.
Like tejasandre says, Mandatory is the opposite of freedom, and whilst freedom is only ever relative, and tempered by the effects we have on those around us, you've got to wonder ... if we're genuinely trying to reduce biker injuries and fatalities, wouldn't it be a better idea as grampadac says to require safety courses for regular vehicle drivers and include motorcycle awareness classes in them? Ah, but that would affect most of the adult population/voters, and so since we could reasonably suppose that they wouldn't be very keen (cost, time, etc.) then that would be a vote-looser wouldn't it ...?!
When politicians claim to be trying to do the right thing, you always have to ask the question "the right thing for who?".
Hello Monty,
A couple years ago the New York State DMV did a registration vs icense check on motorcycles. The numbers showed that almost 50% of the names that the bikes that were registered in did not have a motorcycle endorsement on their drivers licenses. Granted there are situations to take into account:
Multiple motorcycles own by one person.
NYS allows a motorcycle to be registered with out proof of license although proof of insurance is required. To get such insurance, in most cases, one has to at least have a permit.
Those numbers would reflect a reduction in the overall percentage, but I do not think by much. The state also release a statistic that estimated 90% of all the motorcycle accidents in NYS involved riders with no record of any rider education and/or training - that's a scary high number.
I am not one for making anything mandatory, especially when it comes to our sport; but I definitely feel that education is a key factor to reducing accidents. This education should include not only motorcycle riders but anyone that operates any vehicle on our roadways. The motorcycle awareness program in this state is pretty much null, that doesn't help. I volunteer and speak of motorcycle awareness issue's to local driver education programs, but without constant awareness present the information I present probably drifts away fairly quick. I also know that if I didn't speak to these classes, the information would be presented in a 5 minute review - that's probably how most of the classes in the state approach it - once again not good for us.
So my question to folks is whether or not they feel making the requirement to make education and/or skill classes to riders would be benifical? Their are a lot of issue's to consider when approaching such an action, but in the overall picture would it help reduce the number of accidents? I am not sure, but looking at how the number of motorcycle accidents in the USA are exceeding percentage wise over all other vehicles something needs to be done to address the problem. Sure they are in the process of doing a new study relating to motorcycle accidents and the outcome of that will be interesting to review, but by the time that is finally released there is a good chance a percentage of accidents could have been prevented by some action.
This is one reason why I am a big advocate of motorcycle rights organiztions that fight for education (on all sides). As much as I try to be the best rider I can by bettering my skills, awareness, and metal processing there's always the others on the road that I can't control.
The best thing my old Pop ever did for me was send me on an additional rider training programme which basically followed the same system and used the same training manual as the UK police. 29 years on i couldn't even guess how many times that one action of his might have saved my life or at least prevented serious injury. No way am i against rider training. And as for those who don't bother even getting their legal licence to ride, well i don't have much sympathy with them.
BUT: the riders' rights groups (i've been member of MAG over here in the UK for years) need to press home this point: in the UK at least, and I imagine the US is similar, the majority of accidents resulting in injury or death to a motorcyclist are caused by other road users; therefore at the very least, any additional training requirements placed on motorcyclists must be matched by similar requirements on other road users, i.e drivers of car, vans and trucks.
I'm sure politicians would happily leap on any recomendation for more rider training from the biking community itself, as they could be seen to be "doing something about the dreadful problem of bikers". But like i said, additional training for ALL road users would be unpopular with the general public, who of course are the voters, so it won't be popular with politicians, and that's why it's this that we have to press extra hard for.
p.s. the way i see it, being a biker isn't a "sport", it's a way of life; the moment it is considered merely a sport, it becomes a whole lot easier to justify the authorities messing with it, or even banning it altogether. Don't think it couldn't happen, a Swiss MEP (Member of the European Parliament) has already proposed an EU-wide ban on motorcycles other than for official (i.e. police) use. Fortunately he got nowhere ... for now.
__________________ MONTY Work to Ride, Ride to Work
Mandatory Safety 
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