FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jeff Hennie, MRF Vice-President of Government Relations
jeff@mrf.org
(e-mail)
16 February
2008
MRF Strongly
Opposes US DOT Attack on Training Funds
The
Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) has learned that United States
Secretary of
Transportation Mary Peters sent letters to Capitol Hill with
draft
legislation outlining her intention to raid the 2010 motorcycle
training and
awareness funds set aside by Congress in the last Highway
Bill (PL
109-59). Peters announced on Thursday,
February 14 that she
would like
to see the earmarked training and awareness funds made
available to
promote the use of helmets in individual states.
"The
MRF is extremely disappointed that Mrs. Peters would choose this
small, yet
critical, grant program to raid. We
understand her desire to
encourage
helmet use, but couldn't the Secretary of Transportation find a
more
suitable program to fund her personal helmet hunt?" said Jeff Hennie,
Vice
President of Government Relations for the MRF.
The 2010
funds were a direct result of years of intense lobbying by state
motorcyclists'
rights organizations (SMROs) and individual motorcyclists
from across
this country, and were intended for two very specific aspects
of
motorcycle safety – motorcycle rider education and motorist awareness
of
motorcycles. These two aspects of motorcycle safety have been grossly
under-funded
at the state level for years, often solely at the direct
expense of
motorcyclists themselves through licensing and registration
fees.
The 2010
funding program, in its second year, is a way for the
motorcyclists
of this country to get a little help from the feds to save
lives. The
fact is that helmet use has always been a major plank in the
platform at
the US Department of Transportation (DOT).
So why now take
away funds
desperately needed for other areas of motorcycle safety? The
training and
awareness programs in statewide operation now are in jeopardy
of reduced
or zero funding every year. This federal program was designed
to allow a
trickle of cash to the states to at least keep current programs
running. Should Peters get her way, that trickle
becomes nothing but a
drip. In addition, the current 2010 grant program
is not funding failing
programs. In
order to qualify for the grant, each state has to demonstrate
success in
its programs by reducing fatalities.
Secretary
Peters narrowly skates around an existing law that bans the
federal
government from lobbying states to enact statewide legislation.
She does
this by not asking that the money be used for helmet LAW
advocacy,
but by asking the money be used for helmet USE advocacy.
What's
actually happened and how concerned do we need to be? You may be
asking
yourself that very question about now.
Here is the real world
scenario:
Mary Peters has sent two letters to Congress - one to Speaker
Pelosi and
the other to Senate President Cheney. The letters include draft
legislation
that would amend section 2010 to allow funds to be used for
the
promotion of helmet use. At this point there is no actual legislation
- just an
idea. If and when legislation results,
the MRF will be issuing
a call to
action strongly opposing Peters' proposal, and will work
tirelessly
to convince every Senator and Member of Congress not to support
this raid on
the 2010 funds. At this point, however,
the funds
appropriated
for your state are safe.
=================================================
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NEWS Motorcycle Riders Foundation
236 Massachusetts
Ave. NE
Suite 510
Washington,
DC 20002-4980
202-546-0983
(voice)
202-546-0986
(fax)
http://www.mrf.org
(website)
=================================================
(c)All
Information contained in this release is copyrighted. Reproduction
permitted
with attribution. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation, incorporated
in 1987, is
a membership-based, national motorcyclists' rights
organization
headquartered in Washington, DC. The first motorcyclists'
rights
organization to establish a full-time presence in Washington, DC,
the
Motorcycle Riders Foundation is the only Washington voice devoted
exclusively
to the street rider. The MRF established MRFPAC in the early
1990s to
advocate the election of candidates who would champion the cause
of rider
safety and rider freedom.
The MRF
proudly claims state motorcyclists' rights organizations and the
very
founders of the American riders' rights movement among its leading
members. The
MRF is involved in federal and state legislation and
regulations,
motorcycling safety education, training, and public
awareness.
The MRF provides members and state motorcyclists' rights
organizations
with direction and information, and sponsors annual regional
and national
educational seminars for motorcyclists rights activists, as
well as
publishing a bi-monthly newsletter, THE MRF REPORTS.