The GUNNY'S SACK

October 2002

You know there is no end to some of the nastiness we see in the media about riders and motorcycles. We've had a few reports recently from my boss, Oregon A.I.M. Attorney Sam Hochberg, about what he sees on TV now and then that gets HIS hackles up. He just told me another one: Seems that on the VERY popular NBC show "ER," there was a scene with a young girl who was on the back of a bike when it wrecked. She arrived basically DOA in the emergency room. Not much talk in the script about what CAUSED the wreck. Not ANY talk about safety training. Just this little exchange. One doc says "What was she doing on the back of a motorcycle?" The British doctor, "Dr. Corday," says: "What is ANYBODY doing on a motorcycle?!"

It couldn't hurt to complain to NBC. They're big boys, they can take it. Tell 'em your Gunny sent you, and e-mail an extra copy of whatever you write to me, if you would, at AIMGunny@aol.com.

NEWS BITS'N PIECES:

TORONTO, CANADA: Here's some more media hype I saw; this one online. The headline: "Dozens of Outlaw motorcycle gang members, including some top leaders, were arrested in raids on biker clubhouses in Canada and the United States."

In Canada there were supposedly over 500 officers involved in this abomination, but the press made it look even bigger than it really was. In the USA, the same game is being played. I'm not saying I think all riders are saints. We have a few sour apples, too. Our biggest problem as I see it is much the same as the Harley parked outside a bar that everybody sees but no one ever sees the five or six pick-ups parked there too.

HARRISBURG, PA.: This is some good news. Pennsylvania Motorcyclists have "taxed" themselves to ensure safer riding. They voted in some increased funding for their state Motorcycle Safety Program. It's the best way to prevent motorcycle accidents, injuries and deaths, says ABATE of Pennsylvania. And Joe Public still thinks we have a death wish because we ride. This bill had 68 co-sponsors.

All SMRO's (State Motorcycle Rights Associations) could take a lesson here. In Oregon we did about the same thing a couple of sessions ago and it works.

 

NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA: This bit comes to me (word for word) from Animal, my good buddy from the north country: "Each year I emcee a toy run up in New Brunswick. This year we raised over $10000 in cash and toys which is an awesome amount for up here. $5000 of it came from the inmates of the Dorchester Penitentiary." Wow! Even convicts in Canada love kids. And why not.

 

TOKYO, JAPAN: Government is stickin' it's paws where they shouldn't be again, this time in Vietnam, and it's about motorcycles. In September, their government put a cap on how many bikes and bike parts they would allow Yamaha build in their Vietnam plants. I guess they wanted to give a leg up to their locally-owned motorcycle businesses there. Nice idea, but it sorta backfired. Yamaha just said "screw it," and shut down their Vietnam plant, at least for now.

 

EARTH ORBIT: A biker's wife is the pilot of the space shuttle Atlantis, at this writing. The crew is headed up to the international space station. Pilot-astronaut Pamela Melroy is the third woman to fly as a space shuttle pilot. Seems she hesitated about her husband getting a scoot. But listen to what she said:

"I thought to myself, the guy's an airline pilot flying international and I'm a shuttle pilot. Who am I to tell him it's not safe enough? To hold either of us back from doing something that we're really excited about, because the other person would be worried about you, would just be wrong. We just don't do it." Now THERE'S a "top-flight" woman with the right attitude!

 

NHTSA:(National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) From these good safetycrats comes this critical information: "{...on a national level, motorcycle deaths have for the last four years been steadily rising. The latest figures show that 3,181 people died in motorcycle crashes in 2001, up nearly 10 percent from 2000, according to Rae Tyson of NHTSA in Washington, D.C. It's fairly obvious to me that some folks don't take into account that ridership has increased phenomenally in the last several years and many of these new riders - some of 'em baby-boomers who are just NOW starting to ride - have NEVER TAKEN A RIDING COURSE! NHTSA says they are perplexed at the sudden rise and tend to blame it on states that have repealed their helmet laws. Well let me tell them this: If we had BETTER and MORE rider ed, you'd see a big DROP in accidents and death. And a LOT of these new boomer-riders have never ridden a big bike, and that's what NHTSA's own stats say they're riding. Well, if the last time you rode was on a Honda 350 in 1973 and you get yourself up on a brand-new Fatboy, you're just askin' for it if you don't get out and get some training. A WHOLE lot has changed in the past 30 years about riding. If we're all better riders and crash LESS, we can continue to tell NHTSA where to put their statistics.

 

DEHLI, INDIA: So I come across this article from Reuters, and I find out that India's transportation situation is the same as in a LOT of the poorer but up'n coming countries. In short, they all go nuts for motorcycles! Now, some folks think it's just because the buggers can't afford a car, and that IS part of it. These are countries that are just now getting invigorated with growth and change -- kinda like it was here in the USA, a long time ago. Bikes are THE most practical thing a person could buy there! Cheap on gas, but flashy and cool. There are a whole slew of models and wild colors -- even from major companies like Honda -- that we NEVER, ever see here in the US. Sounds great for them -- I'll stick with my Valkyrie.

 

GUNNY AGAIN:

Remember that the Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) program is in place to help riders who have had any sort of mishap on the road. Our A.I.M. Attorneys around the country are here for us and they are part of our riding world, so they know of that which they speak. You can reach these guys by dialing 1-800-ON-A-BIKE or 1-800-531-2424. You can reach Sam Hochberg here in Oregon at 503-224-1106, or toll free at 1-800-347-1106.

Get Your Gunny's Sack by e-mail: You can get this column straight your computer a good month or two before it shows up in your local biker newsletter. To get the email version, just pop out an e-mail directed to Bill Bish, at "NCOMBish@aol.com" and he'll make sure you get the Sack as well as Bill's e-mail version of "Coast to Coast Biker News." Both are monthly publications that are distributed free to the motorcycling community courtesy of Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (A.I.M.) and the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM). In fact, if you're a really BIG fan of the Sack, they are now archived on the NCOM WEBSITE, which you can get to by either www.AIMNCOM.com or www.ON-A-BIKE.com - click on "News," and you'll see a few years of old Sacks layin' around in cyberspace for ya.

 

GUNNY-AT-LARGE: For those of you in the West who do get the e-Mail version of this here Sack, please note that the NCOM West Coast Regional Conference will be held all day on November 2nd, at the Jantzen Beach Doubletree Inn, in Portland, Oregon. There will be an NCOM FULL BOARD meeting in the morning, followed by bikers rights seminars, including a talk about the anti-terrorist laws and how they may affect us, and a big party at night! It's all free, except the hotel. Call 503-283-2111, and ask for the NCOM rate of $69 a night. If you can't make it, I'll report on the happenings next month. Till then,

 

Keep the round side on the bottom.
Gunny, Oregon A.I.M. Chief of Staff