The NTSB (National Traffic Safety Board) has issued recommendations
to the federal government as well as some states to address the
rising crash numbers of motorcycles, these recommendations include
Colorado "Amend current laws to require that all persons
shall wear a Department of Transportation Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standard 218-compliant motorcycle helmet while riding
(operating), or as a passenger on any motorcycle".
The NTSB has never been involved in motorcycle safety until now. In
1975 NTSB ties with the DOT were dissolved, there fore they are NOT
a part of DOT. The NTSB has been responsible to investigate
aviation crashes and surface transportation crashes (includes rail,
pipeline and mass transit). NTSB has investigated ONLY 6 motorcycle
crashes or .15 motorcycle crashes a year over 40 years of their
existence. Normally when NTSB issues safety recommendations, they
rely on field investigators, PhD researchers and professional staff
to gather and analyze fact from fiction. They issue safety
recommendations for every tragic accident except motorcycles. This
time, the NTSB relied on the old, antiquated, already existing
research on motorcycle safety. We all know how updated this
research is. It is little or no help.
September 11, 2007 the NTSB admitted they came to these
recommendations in a way outside of the normal operating
procedures. This should bother motorcyclists because of the lack of
consideration and attention. The MRF will be working daily to see
that the NTSB recommendations on mandatory helmet laws do not become
a reality.
The NTSB will be sending their hired gun lobbyists and professional
staff to Colorado to lobby this effort. Unlike NHTSA, the NTSB is
not subject to a lobby ban. So they can lobby for anything they
wish while spending our taxpayer dollars. These recommendations do
not carry the weight of the law. NTSB has no regulatory or
enforcement capabilities. For more info on the recommendations go
to
http://www.ntsb.gov/events/boardmeeting.htm.
What you can do: Contact Governor Ritter's office,
CDOT Safety and Traffic Engineering Branch representative and make
them aware of this issue.
Let them know how the NTSB reached these recommendations with little
or no
input from the motorcycling community. Let them know Colorado
doesn't need to take inaccurate advice from an agency in Washington
DC. This is another ploy to have regulation initiated on individual
states.
Contact info:
Gov. Bill Ritter
136 State Capitol, Denver, CO 80203
(303) 866-2471