Bill introduced to block motorcycle-only checkpoints

PICKERINGTON, OH – March 4, 2011 – (Motor Sports Newswire) – A federal lawmaker has introduced legislation to prevent the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) from giving money to states and local jurisdictions for motorcycle-only checkpoints, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports.

On March 3, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) introduced the bill. The legislation, with original co-sponsors Reps. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), would prohibit the DOT “from providing grants or any funds to a state, county, town, or township, Indian tribe, municipal or other local government to be used for any program to check helmet usage or create checkpoints for a motorcycle driver or passenger.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is part of the Transportation Department, recently gave Georgia a $70,000 grant to conduct one or more roadside motorcycle-only checkpoints. New York state has operated a similar program using state funds. The AMA has been tracking this disturbing development of motorcycle-only checkpoints since it first appeared in New York several years ago.

For more information, go to
http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/rights/issueslegislation.

SOURCE: American Motorcyclist Association

####

Riders asked to oppose Georgia motorcycle-only checkpoints

PICKERINGTON, OH – February 23, 2011 – (Motor Sports Newswire) – The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) is urging riders nationwide to contact Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to urge him to stop the Georgia State Patrol from conducting any motorcycle-only traffic checkpoints.

Tens of thousands of motorcyclists from around the nation could be subject to Georgia motorcycle-only checkpoints if those checkpoints are in place before, during and after Daytona (Fla.) Bike Week, which runs March 4-13.

Ed Moreland, AMA senior vice president for government affairs, suggests that riders contact the governor through the AMA website at http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/rights/issueslegislation and ask that any motorcycle-only checkpoints be suspended until key questions are answered. Those questions, which have been posed by the AMA to Deal and other officials, include: How do motorcycle-only checkpoints increase the safety of motorcyclists? Where do states draw their authority to conduct motorcycle-only checkpoints? Is “probable cause” required to stop a motorcycle and, if so, what constitutes probable cause?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gave Georgia a $70,000 grant to conduct one or more roadside motorcycle-only checkpoints. New York state has operated a similar program. The AMA has been tracking this disturbing development of motorcycle-only checkpoints since it first appeared in New York several years ago.

“The AMA believes that the primary source of motorcycle safety is in motorcycle crash prevention and not in arbitrarily pulling over riders and randomly subjecting them to roadside inspections,” Moreland said.

“The NHTSA should focus on decreasing the likelihood of crashes from occurring in the first place,” Moreland said. “No public money should be applied to promoting such a program without first addressing questions from the motorcycling community,” he said.

In addition to letters submitted to the past and present governors of Georgia, the AMA has questioned the potential discriminatory and legal nature of this program and submitted a list of questions for clarification to the New York State Police concerning that agency’s program.

The AMA also sent a letter to NHTSA Administrator David Strickland urging him to suspend the grant program that gives states money for motorcycle-only checkpoints until questions have been addressed. To view the AMA’s letter, click here:
http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/legisltn/documents/Strickland_Law_Enforcement_Grant_8-9-2010.pdf.

To view Strickland’s response, click here:
http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/legisltn/documents/Strickland_11-15-2010.pdf.

SOURCE: American Motorcyclist Association

####

Motorcyclists Across the Country Anxiously Await Court Decision on Constitutionality of New York’s Motorcycle Checkpoint Program

NEW YORK, NY – February 18, 2011 – (Motor Sports Newswire) – Motorcyclists across the nation are awaiting a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York which they hope will declare New York’s “motorcycle only” roadway checkpoints to be unconstitutional. The case Wagner et al. v. The County of Schenectady, et al. could end up in the United States Supreme Court. The checkpoints, which target well-known motorcycle events, force motorcyclists traveling to and from those events to leave the roadway, regardless of any wrongdoing, and have their vehicles and equipment inspected for safety and non-safety equipment violations and stolen VIN numbers. Motorcyclists have been detained as long as 45 minutes in makeshift stockades while undergoing the inspections. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration recently began Federal funding for motorcycle checkpoints nationwide in order to assess their effectiveness despite objections raised by members of Congress.

The New York lawsuit is the first to challenge the constitutionality of motorcycle checkpoints. The plaintiffs are being represented by Proner & Proner, a plaintiffs personal injury law firm with a long history of doing “pro bono” legal work on behalf of motorcyclists. The Proner firm commenced the lawsuit on behalf of four motorcyclists who were detained at two separate checkpoints.

The checkpoints are funded by a grant from the New York Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee and the troopers who work them are paid overtime. Although the stated purpose of the checkpoints is to promote safety, the majority of the more than a thousand tickets which were issued during the first year of the checkpoints had nothing to do with safety and instead focused on non-safety violations such as loud pipes. The written guidelines for the checkpoints specifically state that one of the purposes of the checkpoints is to look for stolen and forged VINs and the police readily admit that they often have undercover members of their gang and auto theft units working the checkpoints looking for signs of criminal activity.

The Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly made it clear that any roadway checkpoint whose primary purpose is general crime control constitutes an unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment and is presumptively unconstitutional. Notwithstanding that fact, the progress reports which the police prepared on the checkpoints specifically state that the grant funds are used “for overtime for intelligence gathering and the subsequent criminal and traffic enforcement.” The police admit that the checkpoints, which focus only on equipment violations and forged and stolen VINs, do not address any of the major causes of motorcycle accidents such as reckless driving, driver inattentiveness and alcohol impairment.

Lawyers for the Plaintiff Riders and Defendant State Police are both seeking summary judgment on the Fourth Amendment claims. The future of motorcyclists’ rights hangs in the balance.

For more information contact: Mitchell Proner 212 986-3030 or MProner@Prolaw1.com

SOURCE: Proner & Proner

####

Congress members ask to suspend funding for motorcycle-only checkpoints

PICKERINGTON, OH – October 1, 2010 – (Motor Sports Newswire) – Federal lawmakers have sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking him to suspend a grant program that provides money for law enforcement agencies to set up motorcycle-only traffic checkpoints, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) reports.

In a letter dated Sept. 30, House members told LaHood that safety-related funds would be better spent in other areas to improve motorcycling safety. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) drafted the letter and then circulated it to his congressional colleagues for signatures before sending it to LaHood.

Besides Sensenbrenner, those who signed the letter are Reps. Thomas Petri (R-Wis.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Aaron Schock (R-Ill.), Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), Lee Terry (R-Neb.), Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Joe Wilson (R-S.C.).

To read the letter, click here: http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/legisltn/documents/SensenbrennerLetter.pdf

Sensenbrenner and the other lawmakers want LaHood to suspend the Motorcycle Law Enforcement Demonstrations Grant program run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is an agency of the federal Transportation Department. Under the grant program, NHTSA plans to award up to $350,000 in total — to be divided among as many as five law enforcement agencies — to set up traffic checkpoints that target motorcyclists.

The demonstration program is modeled after a controversial program conducted in New York where the state police set up a series of checkpoints that targeted only motorcyclists, raising the ire of the AMA and motorcycling community. In 2008, for example, New York State Police announced plans to set up 15 checkpoints near motorcycling events that summer.

“Crash prevention must be the primary source of safety,” the lawmakers told LaHood in the letter. “With that being said, why does NHTSA continue to focus on secondary factors that do not prevent motorcycle crashes?”

The AMA fully supports the congressional letter to LaHood. The AMA earlier formally questioned the potential discriminatory and legal nature of the grant program. On Aug. 9, the AMA sent a letter to NHTSA Administrator David Strickland urging him to suspend the grant program until questions have been addressed. To read the letter, click here: http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/legisltn/documents/Strickland_Law_Enforcement_Grant_8-9-2010.pdf.

While law enforcement officials may defend the program as a safety measure to decrease motorcycle crashes, injuries and fatalities, there is no proof that it’s effective, said Ed Moreland, AMA senior vice president for government relations. In fact, the practice has upset motorcyclists nationwide.

“The AMA believes that the best way for NHTSA to reduce motorcycle crashes is to employ proven strategies, such as rider education and motorcycle awareness programs, that decrease the likelihood of crashes from ever occurring,” Moreland said. “These strategies must be research-based, and motorcyclists would be much better served by applying the funding to the national motorcycle crash causation study that is currently underway at Oklahoma State University.”

This sentiment is supported by Sensenbrenner and many of his colleagues in Congress through the recently introduced H. Res. 1498: Supporting Efforts to Retain the Ban on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Ability to Lobby State Legislators Using Federal Tax Dollars and Urging the NHTSA to Focus on Crash Prevention and Rider Education and Training.

To urge your representative to support H. Res. 1498 go to the Issues & Legislation page, then enter your zip code in the “Find your Officials” box.

SOURCE: American Motorcyclist Association

####