Did you know as motorcycle riders we have been deemed to be different from other motorists? We have been identified to stand out amongst the masses and it has been determined that we shouldreceive “special” treatment not afforded to the majority of others who operate vehicles on public roads. Solely identified and singled out by our two wheels, we have been selected and even targeted to be treated differently than others on the road. I believe that term they have for this is called profiling. Apparently we need to be singled out and swept off public roadways by local, state, and federal government agencies all in the name of protecting us from ourselves? We don’t know what is good for ourselves; we don’t know what kind of protection we need to keep us safe.

According to a release by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF), the US Department of Transportation – NHTSA followed through with providing a $70,000.00 grant to the Georgia Department of Public Safety for a motorcycle only check-point program. Just a note, New York has been doing motorcycle only check-points for a couple of years now. Funding was pushed through despite a request from 11 members of Congress asking the USDOT not to follow through with the grant until relevant question regarding the intent / benefits of the program were addressed.

Starting in 2012 all new manufacture motorcycle will have to have an EPA stamp on the muffler. The motorcycle muffler can only be replaced with a muffler that has an EPA stamp on it. This will takeaway the option that we have in modifying the sound of the motorcycle. This will make some people happy; it will hurt most of us that are responsible riders that don’t try to wake up the whole town.

Just this month the NHTSA called for a national mandatory DOT helmet law like Canada has. We still say it won’t happen here, but it is happening here a little at a time. Think about 3 wheelers and the new lead law that takes ATV’s away for children learning to ride and have a good time on the trails and private property. Which freedom is next?

Now if this was taken to a national scale and the government was to begin singling out groups solely based on predetermined stereotypes or profiles, forcing them to pull over, and subject them to a search without probable cause or incident all in the name of safety; I would imagine there would be a very long list of checkpoints all along our roadways. That would be met with widespread national panic and uproar about violation the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments / peoples civil rights. I guess as motorcyclists we are just an exception to the rule.

That is why we need to support groups that fight for our rights to ride free. These groups need our support to fight the government from enacting laws that take away our freedom to ride. Some of the groups that fight for our right to ride free are the, AMA (American Motorcycle Association) MRF

(Motorcycle Riders Foundation) ABATE (A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education) FORR (Freedom of the Road Riders). We need to get involved with these groups so they can fight for our rights on a national and local level to protect us for unreasonable laws that restrict our freedom to ride a motorcycle. It is a game of numbers the bigger the number the more power you have with the government. I am a member of the

AMA, MRF, and ABATE, I will also join FORR this year so that I am counted twice in the local government as well as the national level. The time for action is now before we lose our rights to the open road; if we remain apathetic we will lose our right to ride free and be restricted to where we can ride. Remember Myrtle Beach and the year long fight to right the wrong, let’s not let that happen again!