Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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.. (I 11II Political lifeline t For once, y ou -= s c.o rO'l ....... C'J ...c:: At long last, the DOT t ies are asking for your o pinio n . We wo uld not have believed it, eithe r, except . they sai d so them selves In an u l-< (';j ~ ORV Programs for ·Nat'I. Forests By Philip C. Briggs Like a sleeping bear aroused by the first signs of spring, the Forest Service's ORV program planning effo rts have come alive. Dormant since I wrote last (Cycle News, Septe mber 16, 1975 ) t he planners are n o w flailing abou t , t rying hard t o me et a 19 76 dea dline-and we may just get tram pled in the rush. • Nearly a year ago. National Forests in Arizo na appo inte d a Citizens ORV Panel to assis t them in their efforts to desi gnate areas of ORV uSC' and n on -usc as mandat ed by Execut ive Order 11644. The init ial, and nondefinitivc meeting of the panel was he ld in April ; the second, a field trip, was held in September. Writt en co mmen ts of the members (o ne biker, me, o ut of 25) were so lici ted after each meeting. The co nten t o f tho se comments is unknown. bu t the Forest Service has noted that the panel recommended that the program should be on a statewide rather than an individual Forest basis , and that a comprehensive Environmen tal Analysis Report (EAR), would be prepared. The EAR (!) would identi fy the magnitude o r impacts, pu blic a t t i t u d e s , al t er n at i ve s a n d e nviron men tal co nsequen ces. Until just a co uple of wee ks ago . that' s the last most Panel members (let alo ne the general public) heard . New Year's arrived , and with it a le tter to the OR V-user mem bers of the panel requesting data on : kinds and num bers o f veh icle s used on and off-road on Nation al Forests; num bers o f people invol ved; amount o f use ; kinds of roads and trails used ; dollars invested in ORV recreation ; growth po ten tial; eco nomic imp act of OR V use on outlying co mmunities; et c. The material was to be turned in by mid·J anuary , with the rough draft or these portions of the EAR to be completed by J anu ary 3 1. A tall orde r, but these arc very ne cessary data if the EAR is to f ulfill its promises. Unfon unately mos t of this dat a can o nly be guess ed at fo r Arizo na. Worse ye t, a Fo rest Service spo kesman advised that we DRV users were their o nly data so urce! Beside s the inadequa cy o f relyin g on laymen for suc h vital dat a. and the insufficient time available to gather wh at little data arc available , the whole idea sounds ever so much like posting the fox to guard the hen house! And I'm sure the no n-Ok V members or the panel (many of whom use vehicles in pursuit of the ir avo ca tio ns ) will freak wh en they find ou t about this arrangemen t. The Fo rest Service has been. in the interim, working to co llec t resour ce data fo r use in the process; thin gs like 36 areas of sensitive so ils; endangered specie habitat ; wilderness and roadless area bo undries; and research areas. No t being privy to all this I can 't say yet what this portends, but there is lots or room for trouble fro m over-zealous soil scie ntists, wildlife biologists, and the like. The only thing I have heard does not bod e well ; a friend notes that o n his district, 70% has been classed as having sens itive soi ls- the. remainder is mo stly so lid rock mountain to ps! In spite o f prom ises from all le vels o f the Forest Service to keep mo st of the forest s open, I'm gett ing worried . Adding up the clues. you get the feeling that the y have very little concept of the demand for DRV e xperienc e, an over-sensitivity to poten tial ad verse impacts - and neither the time or the desire to do the job right . Does th at scare you ? Do es it scare yo u enough to motivate you to do something? On March 4 , 1976, from I :00 to 9:00 p.m., all of Arizona Forests will jo in together to ho ld a one and only "Open House" at the Ramada Inn East. 3801 East Van Buren in Phoenix to gather general public input. There will be maps of each Fores t to faci litate discussion. They are looking for the public's view s on their ORV program. parti cularly what areas are used, by who m. and how mu ch. It is impo rtant to all o f us that ou r num bers and desires be made known . A lot of you, especially in outlying areas, will not be able to atte nd. In reco gni tion of this, and the criti cal need to presen t this inform ation to the Forest Service. Arizona's motorcycle dealers association has sen t each de aler in the state a map of Arizo na, a supply of rider ques tionnaires, and a reque st to post them in a prom inent place. Go to yo ur de aler and mark those Fore st areas you ride in, and fill o ut a questionnaire, They'll be gathered up. and turned in that fatefu l afterno o n. That's not your Final shot , but it is yo ur bes t. After all the info rmatio n is compiled (from all group s, including these that want to clo se every thing) it will be used to complete the draft EAR. This do cumen t, co mple te with maps show ing closed and open areas, roads, and trails, will be made availab le for publ ic commen t Septem ber 30. That will be yo ur last chan ce, as the designations will be finali zed December 3 1. 1976. Last call. The complexion of O RV us e h as c ha nged enormou sly in Califo rnia in the last co uple of years due to land closures. It can happe n here in Arizona. Get ou t and vote. Advance Notice of S t andards R e vision publish ed durin~ J anuary in t h e F ederal R egister (FR - V. 4 1, No. 15, p. 33 15-33 16). What th ey say they want to do (b ut no t necessarily wh at th ey mean ) is to be gin the formal process of revising 18 basic safety sta n da rds th eir est ablishe d under th e High wa y Safety Act of 1966. In doing so, th ey 've asked fo r co mrn en ts from various o ther gove rn m ent agencies, non-governmental safet y gro up s, and (fina lly ) fro m the public . But the w ay th ey 've as ked is interes t ing and bears rep eating. U Almo st every A m eric an has ex pe ri enced first-hand the problems whic h the NlITSA is at tem p tin g to combat with its highway safety progr am stan dards . Thus, each Americ an in his 0'WTl way is an e x pe rt on one o r m or e facets of the program .. . " Gotcha! Whether t he y meant to or not , t he bureaucrats have fin ally ad mitted in print that (fo r instance ) motorcycle riders m igh t kn ow more abo u t motorcy cle sa fet y than they do . Now wha t red-blooded American bikee co uld resist su ch an invitati on? However, before giving th em both barrels, know the gr o und rules. Written co m men ts on highway sa fe ty programs shou ld be addressed as fo llo ws; Docket Section, NI ITS A (Ref. Docket 76-2) Rm . 5 108,400 Seventh s i., S.W. Washington, D.C. 20590 They're asking for, b ut not five co p ies o f you r demanding, com me n t. The Standards What they're ask ing fo r co m men t o n are t he origin al 18 high way sa fety program sta ndards as p ublished by DOT in th e Code of Federa l Regul at ions (a mo ns ter in its own right). What foll ows is a brief, and ad mittedly fragmen tary rund own of some of t hem - t he o nes most p er tinent to you as a rider. The co mmen ts an d p o ssibl e quest ions to ask o ur mas ters/servants (?) in Washingto n are meant to be tho ugh t-provo king rather t han definitive, Sta ndar d 1: Periodic Motor Vehicle Inspection Purp o s e: T o i nc rease, through inspection. th e likelihood tha t every vehicle . . . is properly equipped and is being ma intain ed in reasona bly safe wo rk ing order. First ques tio n , of course , is does yo ur sta te even ha ve a periodic inspection program ? If so , does it wo r k, ho w is it ad ministere d , how lik ely is it th at yo ur sta te's program simply has degenerated int o a graft-ridden mechanic's b en e fit ? Do yo u even want to be bothered wi th the hass le o r periodically subm itting to an yo ur bike /car jvan /what ever insp ec to r o f dub io us co m p e te n ce to judge wh et her it's fit to' use o n the road? Arc bi ke s even co vered in your state. and if so , to wh at degree of relevance to reality ? (As a side no te, o ur Lam e Camel o nce "passed" his bike thro ugh a Florida sta te inspec tio n even th ou gh it had several m issin g sp o kes and a loose swingar rn, j ust to prove a po in t. ) Stan dard 3; l\lotorcycl e Safety Purpose: To assure tha t mo to rcy cles, moto rcycle operato rs and th eir passengers m eet standards which co ntribu te to safe operation . . . In thi s one, the specifics co me af ter the pream ble . The helmet issue has already been worked to de ath. What or motorc ycle o perato r licensing o r rider safety educat ion? T he fact is, that the DOTties still don't kn ow what they want, be cause they don't know ye t wh at works and wh at doesn 't. We might note here th at there 's con siderable o ver lap in coverage between this standard and Standard 4 IDrivc:r Education ) and St andard 5 Driver Licensing). Ironically , the Department says it wa nts every high schoo l student to have th e opport unity to enroll in a driver trainin g course, bu t app ar en tly they only mean a course in driving au to mo biles. It 's not as blatant as discrimination by race or sex, but it's close. Think back on your own learning experiences , rid er trainin g (if you had any), and remember wh at (if anything special ) you we nt t hro ugh to get a motorcycle operato r 's license (if such a thing even exi sts in yo ur state ). Should give yo u food for t ho ug h t. Standard 7: Traffic Court. Purp ose: To p rovide p rompt impartial adju dication of proceedings involving mo tor vehicle laws. Wide open for com me nt , huh? U, in fact, yo u feel th at th e tr affic court sys tem provides prompt, impartial separat ion of the driver from his money , without re gard to impact on highway safe ty, by all means, get your opinio n o n the public re cord. Standa rd 10; Traffic Reco rds Purp ose: To assur e that appropriate data on traf f ic accidents, drivers, mo tor vehicles, and roadway s are availabl e (for safe ty research ). and . . . Standard 18; Accident Investi gatio n and Repo rting Purpose: . . . to establish a u niform, comprehensive motor vehicle traffic acciden t investigation pr ogram for gathering information . . . fo r use in planning, evaluating and fu rt her ing highway safety p rogram goals. These two stan dard s are incl uded to ge th er because th ey are obviou sly related (o ver lap p ing, eve n) an d becau se: th e system fo r investigating, re porting , and rec ordin g data o n mo torcy cle accidents has been woefully inadequat e , and st ill is. One reason the helmet debate has be en so wid e-open, pro and con, is that jurisdictions n ot have e no ugh kept s tates or adeq uate accid ent records ; not e noug h acciden t reports in t he pas t have even men tioned wh ether or no t th e vic t im was wearing a helmet (or any o ther protective devi ce ), had rider training , or was properly licen sed for a motorcycle. Few (if any) invest igators are skill ed eno ug h to dete ct a helm et failure whe n they see it . The data base nationwide is so fragmentary th at th e best anyo ne can do is draw vague stat ist ica l inferences (like the one drawn in a 19 70 Sacr amento County study by th e In suran ce Institute fo r High way Safe ty th at "prove s" rider ed ucation co n trib utes to acci den ts but th at 's another story in itself . .. ). T he whole situation - data base , inves tigation methods, reporting - is so bad t ha t eve n th e DOT has ad mitted it