Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

EI Mirage ·R. • e CAPITOL Motorcycle operator training vs. mandatory helmets On th e 3rd of February, 19 75, Assembl yman Paul B. Carpen ter introduced legislation that would have required mandatory headligh ts, mandatory helmets, and mandatory protective clothing for Californ ia mo to rcyclist s. At the request of M.O.R.E. , and afte r attending a peaceful rall y in Griffith Park, Mr. Caprenter agreed to tentatively 'drop ' his Assembly Bill 6 58 and introduce different legislati on t hat would 'sti ffen' the driving examinati ons for both motorcyclists and the operators of automobiles, etc. Further, Mr. Carpenter also agreed to introduce legislation that would provide an 'operator trainin g program for motorcycles' in the school system. This operato r training p ro gram would be in addition to previous M.O.R.E.sponsored legislation that provides class room m o t orcy cle ed ucation, and would provide actual in struction upon motorcy cles. Of co urse the traini ng program wo uld be an 'ele ctive ' an d wo uld re q uire p aren tal co nsen t. Mr. Carpenter h as n o w in tr od uced the new 'operat or trainin g' legislation in a skeleto n form under th e number o f Assembly Bill 180 9. Using your M.O.R.E. Legislative Guide (provided to all M.O.R.E. m embe rs ), write a letter to your Asse mbly man and your Senator urging passage o f A B 18 09. Also , place a telephone call to your elected representative's District Offi ces, lettin g them know that you request passage of AB 1809. And, last but far from least, let 's remember Mr. Carpenter at th e next elections and support him as he is supporting our best interests ! Ocoti llo Wells . · 36 The State of California is in the process of purchasing various parcels of private property th roughou t the state for use as off-highway vehicle areas. Some of these areas have hist o rically been used by off-readers, and as the resul ts of a Supreme Court decision several years ago, the right of public access has already been established. Often, th is gives the State an 'edge' in the purchase, causing the sale price to go down. One suc h pi ece of land un der conside ra ti on , is the o ff-ro ad riding area known as Ocotill o Wells. In o rder fo r th e St ate to m a ke use o f the Supreme Court decision , th ere must be 'proof' of suc h use. Any peron s or clubs that have been using the Ocotillo Wells area, sh ould write im me diately to Mr. Robert Bangs, Real Estate Division, State of California, 9 15 Capit ol Mall , Room 108, Sacramento, CA 9 5814, tell him that y o u have been usin g the area and also indicate for how lo n g. The Bond Act of 1974 provided 1.5 million dollars for Off-Highway Vehicle Sites. It appears that the new Secretary o f th e Resources Agen cy is m aking plans for other uses of these funds . We must let the Reso urces Agency know that we intend fo r these funds to be used for th eir original purpose, and th e best wa y to do it is to put 'heat ' on the Legislature to use the funds as intended. Every California motorcy clist sh o uld write a letter to Senator Walt er Stiern, St ate Capitol Bldg., Rm. 2086, Sacramento, CA 95814, and a second letter to Assemblyman Larry Chimbole, State Capitol Bldg., Rm. 2167, Sacramento, CA 95 814. Ask them to urge legislation that would result in the acquisi tion of the El Mirage off-road vehicle area. This area incorpora tes app ro xim ately 2,000 acres of BL\lland and 2,000 acres of private ownership. Off· Highway Vehicles (or M,O .R.E. on Green Stickies ) In 19 7 1, legisla tion was proposed th at wo uld h ave prohibit ed an y o ff-road veh icle use in th e State o f Cali fo rnia. Fort unately, because at that time th e State Legislature was ' d o wn ' on off-reading (and motorcycles in gen eral ), there was an alternative piece of legislation available that created a registration and licensing program for off-road vehicles with the major portion of the resultant funds to be used for off-road vehicle facili ties and trail networks. This legislation , when it was en acted, became dubbed as th e 'Green Stickle ' program. Originally, the law would have read th at all motorcycles would be req uired either to be licensed fo r highway operation , or lice nsed for off-road operation. M.O .R.E. fought long and hard to m ain tai n an excep ti on 'closed course' would require a sp ecial iden tification device costing a on e-tim e fee of 13. A 'closed course' is defin ed as: "includes, but is not lim ited to, a speedway, racetra ck, or a prescrib ed and define route of travel that is closed to all ":''?tor vehicles other than those of partictpan ts, A closed cou rse is no t available at any time fo r vehic ular access by th e general public. " 3. All othe r m otorcycles, whethe r operated on p rivate land or th e pub lic land, will be required to be iden tified un de r th e 'Green Stickie' program. Now, before you start looking fo r the loopholes , let me explain a few addi ti on al items. If this la w is en acted , you will not be allowed to transport, haul, move, o r leave standing any motorcycle that is no t identified by one of the three foregoing methods. This means that law enforcement agen cies can stop you and cite you for moving a vehicle not identifie d by o ne of the foregoing methods, and th e fine is heavy. Yo u wo n't even be ab le t o hi de it in your van! But, th ere is a loophole - i f you want t o take it ! All y o u have to do is clai m t o the Dep artment o f Motor Vehicles th at y our bi ke is a speedway bi ke o r a drag-bike and ge t the one-time $3 identification device. That way you can transport the bike anywhere, even to the desert. There is only o ne p roble m with th at, an d we want you to know about it in advance. At the same time th at the Departmen t of Motor Vehicles issues y o u the $3 identification device, your name and ad d ress (plus the serial numbers and description of your bike) go into the co m p u ter records of the Dl\IV. This allows the County Tax Assessor in y o ur co un ty to obtain such infonnation abo ut ' y o ur 'p ers o n al .,.",~ - ---= ~ c fo r motor vehicles used in competitio n, specifically, closed co urse com pe t ition . Our reasoning being th at there was no ~e in licensing speedway bikes, drag bikes, etc., ' when such mo to rcycles never we re used up on the public lands. Th e la w was finally passed with these exceptions contained therein. Unfortunately , the ex cep ti o ns cre ated 'loo ph oles' and thanks to a co uple of nitwits named Harry Whalen and Alice Rhea, the majority o f California off-reade rs defied the law with th e clai m th at their bikes were go in g to be used in 'close d co u rse co m pe titi o n '. This put th e California Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies in the position of not being able to enforce the law, be cau se their area of jurisdiction ended when the motorcycle was taken "off-ro ad ." Consequently , in 19 73, the St ate Legisl ature enacted a ne w law that removed all of the excep t ions, th ereby requiring ei th er a license plate or a 'Green Stickie ' on every motor vehicle. .M.O. R.E. was s~cce ssful in havin g this law repealed ill 1974, wit h the unders tan din g that the subject would be fu rther resear ch ed an d a ' be t ter la w' in tro duced in 19 75 . That new law has now been intro d uced in the fo rm of Asse mbly Bill 1864 (Ch appie), and th e following is the main impact of t he new law: 1. All motorcycles operated upon a highway would be required to have a license plate . 2. Any motorcycle ope rated on a property' and send you a tax bill every year. If you are won dering how m uch that tax bill will be, we can only say t hat it depends upon the assessed val ue of your motorcycle(s) and the tax-rate of your coun ty and ci ty . _In the case of sn owm o biles, it amo unted to $22 per snowmobile, per year ! And yo u don't stand a ch an ce of getting any of that m on ey back, except in law enforcement and Board of Supervisors' salaries. You m ight want to co m p ar e th at $22 with nothin g in return, to the 'Green Sti ckie ' program at $7 .50 per y ear , with o ff-roa d veh icle facili ties and trail networks in return! . Sure, these programs are slow in coming, but that is because only a few people joined the program and the fu nds are slow in coming. I know that some of you ar e goi ng to as k what we can do a bo u t th is 'terrible law? Th e only answer that I can give y o u is that there is relatively nothing that we can do, because the entire State Legislature kn o ws how badly the ex isti ng law has been abused. We had the la w ' working fo r us ', b ut as I said before, than ks to a co uple o f n itwi ts, th e p rogram has bac kfire d an d n ow we are going to have to su ffer the co nsequences. Perhaps the next time tha t you are at a desert race with yo ur newly ' Green Sti ckere d' bike, an d yo u run into Harry the Whale or Alice Rhea, you will wan t to offer t he m so me fo rm of 'Thanks'. Russ Sanford SCENE: WORLD SPEEDWAY The European scene Eight mo nths ago Steve Gresham wal ked out of British speedway ... and was branded a failu re. Now he's the new he ro o f British League Newport an d is qui ckl y proving he has what it takes to become a majo r force in European speedway. After a co uple of so-so meetings he blossom ed into a mo re than useful mem be r of a Newport side that eould lift the Gulf Oil British League championship. In a recent league ma tch against Swindon - a side that includes two English test stars, Martin Ashby an d Bob Kilby - Gresham returned his best ever score . . . dropping only one point to an opponent. Enthused Newport manager Maurice Morley: " Every one thought we were mad to take a ch an ce on Steve , but already he 's repaying ou r faith with points. " While the flamboyant Californian improves meeting by meeting, the quieter Autrey is firmly establishing himself as a world-elass star and has already scored his first maximum of the season for his club-side Ex eter. With World Championship ti me and the AMA still app roachin g pondering a British suggestion that two top Americans compete in a Brit ish fo ur round qu alifyin g series from whic h th e top tw o scorers wo uld go fo rward to th e Inter-Conti nental Final at Malm o, Sweden, Au trey is ru n ning into t o p fo rm and. providing th er e are no major an d un expect ed se tbacks, he sh o uld provide America with a Wo rld Finalist. In fact if the AJ\'1A cannot so rt out which riders to fly across to Britain fo r the proposed qualifiers at Exeter, Ne wport, Poole and Wimbledon, they should put Autrey out o f his m isery an d tell him: y o u are a ce rtain starter at Sweden. Certainl y there's no other American with his world-wide experience capable o f m at ching him on European circuits. If the AMA need an y further proof of Scott 's ability t o make the World Final this year the y sh o uld remember that in an individual meeting a t Malmo last fall he finished second ... and bec am e the first rider to beat World Champion Anders Michanek in Sweden! The Weslake engine If f o r nothing else 1975 will go down in the spe edway boo ks as th e ye ar of experimentation. The British finn of Weslake is still working o n their new engine and Swedish engineering maestros are further developing the four-valve J awa co nversion kit that Christer Lofq vist used in last year's World Final. But the real mechan ical brea kthrou gh has been engine ered by 44-year·old Aus tralian veteran Neil St reet, an ex -Wor ld Final is t who , most seasoned observers reckoned to be over the hill. Wh ile everyone was wa tchin g the Wesla ke and Swden 's Endfo rs Racing Engine in dev loprne nt, th e wiry Street closed his workshop d o ors to casual acquain tances and has now un veil ed his o wn four-va lve c o nvers ion.

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