Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126847
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a nd SVIA President Alan Isley finished th eir pres en ta tio ns, Sta tler im media tely tu rn ed his a tte n tion to his
view o f th e man u facturers' respo nsibilit y con cerning safety.
" T he point is that th e rise (in
injury) is astro no m ical, " Sta tler said.
"Th e o n ly thi ng I see goi ng o n, and
co rrec t me if I' m wrong, is th ere is a
volun tary sta nda rds process underwa y, an d so far it has n ot directed
itself to th e dynamic sta bility o f th e
veh icl e. And yo u've got trainin g a nd
ed uca tion. I'd like to know what th e
individua l co m p a n ies a re doi ng to
. rna k e the vehicle itself safer. Are yo u
doing a nything righ t no w to improve
the safety o f the veh icle by way o f
addressing the sta bility issu e or a ny
o the r design factor?"
" T hese ar e not a hodge podge o f
bo lts a nd nuts," Sch m itt repl ied. " We
go th rough prototypes, pr od uction
machines a nd the re a re co m pariso ns
m ad e and the best design th a t is
a va ila ble is sold . If we had a whi ch -it
to mak e this thing 100% safe, so no
person co u ld ge t h urt, we'd hav e it o n
th ere."
" Can you mak e it any safer?" Sta tler
inq ui red .
" T h e machine we have now is th e
sa fest we ca n bu ild." Sch m itt a nswered .
" Wha t features have yo u made in
the vehicle tha t mak es it a safer vehicle?" Sta tler as ked.
" Mr. Statler, doesn' t yo ur q uest ion
pr esu p po se th at it 's not sa fe?" someone on the panel an swered.
"The q ues tio n is safer," Sta tler
repl ied.
" 1£ it is safe , wh y do yo u m ak e it
safer?" Sch mitt asked . " I g uess I do n ' t
u nderstand . If there is so me defect in
th e machine, th en yes, it shou ld be
made safer. Bu t we ha ve no defect in
the machine."
" We have not res'ol ved th e issue, "
Statler countered. " My quest ion is
th at in view of 100,000-90,000 serio us
injuries thi s yea'r a nd 324 deaths over
th e la st th ree years, isn 't th ere so me th in g yo u ca n do to mak e it markably
safer? If yo u can ' t bring that number
o f inj u ries down, th en I th ink increasin gl y th e evide nce begins to pile up
th at this ma y be an unreasonable risk
o f injury."
Some body on th e panel brought
up th e su bject o f automobiles being
a n unreasonable risk. " Yo u don 't
induce in stability wh en ridin g a n
a u to mo bile," Statler answered.
Statler and Isle y then exchanged
words rega rd ing proposed model legislation being prepared for introduction_to s tate_teg!s.1 ~ ~~r~~....
~_: __'
" Do yo u th ink when we meet here
o ne yea r h ence, we wi ll see th at dr ama tic effect (in the red uction of in juries)?" Statler asked. " As we m eet
h ere today . . . " Isley replied, " wh y
ar e yo u so rel ucta nt to tal k abou t th e
reduction in th e increase of th e in juries tha t yo u were so proud of in earlier sessions th is year? " ,
" I' ve never been proud, and I want
to ma ke this clear, o f any in cre ase in
injuries a nd if yo u think that you' re
wo nderfu lly wro ng ," Statler said ,
com p letel y mis u nders ta nding Isley's
po int and drawing laughter from the
audience.
Priorto th e discu ssion on safety,
Isley exp la ined th e SVIA's five-part
model leg islation to th e co m m issioners an d Statler rep eat edl y as ked , " Do
th e manufacturers h ave a n y obligations in th e model legi slation?" an d
cla im ed , " Yo u have no legal obligations as manufacturers, but yet yo u
are creati n g a legal obligation for
deal ers,"
" The deal ers ar e resid ents of a par ticular sta te, th e manufa cturers a re
n ot," Isley responded . "The manufacturers have to resp ond to broad
federal, national or voluntar y sta ndards th at are com mon a mong a ll
sta tes."
Statler, how ever , d idn ' t let th e su bject di e. ''I' m as ki ng a t th e nation al
level are yo u goi ng to si t down with
th e deal ers?" h e said . Wh en Isley
started to ans wer, Sta tler interrupted
with, "Are yo u' ,Ianning to sit down
wi th the natio la l moto rcycle reta ilers group am' work o u t a co m mon
p osition o n t' .is mod el legislat ion ?"
Isley co u nt , :ed wit h, " I inten d to
advise the rr .)f the m od el legi slation,
bu t I inte' 1 to wo rk on a sta te-bysta te basis aepen d ing o n the nee ds of
tha t p art icul ar sta te."
Panel five was made up of doctors
a nd th eir mostl y gr ueso me stories and
slides o f AT V acci dents. Dr. Art h ur
j ames o f th e Arroyo Grande H osp ital , near Pi sm o Beach , Cali fornia,
told ofconc ussions and cervical stra ins
a nd broken collarbones, wr ists, forea rms , femurs, etc. that h e had seen .
Dr. William Schiller of Ph oenix, Ari zona , said that ATCs are dangerous,
unstable at high speeds and that a
light front end ca uses cra shes. H e
based hi s theory on intervi ews with
crashers, but added that helmets would
have pr evented many of th e injuries
h e had witnessed .
Brent Kunzler, a regi stered nurse
from Brawley, Californ ia , sugges ted
th at alcohol be prohibited from recre a tio n ar eas in which th e ATVs a re
u sed after giving da ta on injuries susta inedinlhe.:C larpis,San d D.une area ,
Dr. West Livaudais of Floren ce, Orego n, said th at uponcrashing a n ATV,
a person ma y become a " miss ile" a nd
th a t causes co mpressio n inj uries,
Dr. George Trager sa id 32% o f h is
patients ad mi tte d alcohol use when
riding ATVs, a nd th e m ost co mmon
ca use for acci de nts in his area were
roll overs.
Panel seven wa s mad e up of mostl y
engi neers an d peop le represe nt ing
th e American H onda Motor Co. T he
people from H onda showed videos
representing ATVs a nd th eir safe use.
The engi nee rs' opinions varied .
Dr. Wade All en , a resea rch engin eer with a back ground in th e a utomot ive ind ustry, sa id th at th e ind ustry co u ld lea rn a great dea l about
safety by look in g a t the automobile
industry . Donal d Friedma n, th e retired preside n t of MCR Tech no logy,
sai d tha t ATVs shou ld be treat ed as
a utomobi les a nd sugges ted th e use o f
shou lder h arness restraints, lim itedslip differe n tia ls and ro ll bar s.
Th e tech ni ca l d irector of Dynami c
Resea rch In c., Dr. David Weir, to ld of
a stud y h e is p la n n ing to do in coopera tion with the SVIA and the staff of
the C PSc. " I'd like to co ncen tra u-today o n th e subject of the development
of test p ro cedu res as it relat es to AT V
stabi lit y a nd performance stan da rds,"
Weir sa id. " We have been asked by
th e SVIA to resea rch and develop a
techn ica l ba sis for suc h sta bi li ty and
per form ance-rela ted sta ndards. The
stabi li ty performa nce sta ndard wo uld
include su ch topics as turning, goi ng
uphill a n d downhill, a lso a cross
slope operation that would be a combination of th ose two , ob stacl e a vo id a nce, bumps, ru ts or di tch a nd such
things as brakin g an d acce leration o f
the vehicle.
" T hese do two things. First th ey
exercise th e dy namics of th e AT V a nd
second ly each o ne has so me face
va lidity as co m pone nts of a real world riding situat io n. We will be
co ns ide ring three kinds of th in gs: th e
first of th ese is wha t you mi ght ca ll a
test p rocedure, th e second thing would
be th e m easures or variabl es th at yo u
wou ld record a nd th e third step in a
sta n da rd would in vo lve putting so me
cri ter ia o r boundari es on th e measu res a n d in particular h ere we ar e
concerned with cri teria that would
have some sa fety relation s."
Statler later went on about a smaller
seat and a limited-slip differential
an d said , " You won't kno w wh a t they
a re if yo u h ave th e a tt itude th at th e
veh icle ca n no t be im proved."
One of th e m ore interesting proATV witnesses was T om Tilde n o f
Alaska. T ilde n told of how ATVs are
depen ded u pon by 80%o f the population for every day life. H e sa id th at
th e vi llage peop le in Ala ska use th e
AT V fo r tra nsportation , shop p ing,
goi ng to school, hauling wood a n d
fish , etc. Tilden told o f entire fam ilies u sin g AT Vs a nd sai d th at beca use
o f th e envi ro n me nt, Alaska has unique proble ms in rega rd to safety. T he
natives ha ve problems ge tti ng th e
pro per safe ty eq ui p me nt a nd sufficient tra in in g , accordi ng to T ilden .
H e invited the co m missioners to come
up to Ala ska , but n ot to ban th eir
ATVs.
.
Bertha Akey, a p rogram ass tsta nt
for Farm , H ome and 4-H Safety, to ld
of a 4-H safety training co urse n ow in
effect in Petal uma, California; th e
program was loaned 12 ATVs for use
in th e 'p arent safety training. Akey
said that without educa tion anything
ca n be dangerous whi le adding th at
ATVs are not safe babysitters.
Two of the motorcycle industry's
safet y eq u i p men t suppliers were
present a t th e h earing. john Gregory,
o wne r of jT Ra cing , (makers o f helmets an d riding apparel ), showed
a n d told of th e necessit y of safet y
' eq u ip m e'nt. Dean Fish er , of Bell H eI.-
rnets, told of a questionnaire that Bell
produced a sking wh y people don't
wea r h elmets . Most of th e responses
cited th at th e h elmet s were too heavy ,
too hot or th at hearin g was a problem
with th e h elmets, accordin g to Fisher.
H e a lso sai d th a t he felt most people
ha ve a p erceived lack o f co ncern
because th ey (t he ATVs ) have three or
four wheels .
Dana Bell , a mo torcycle racer a nd
m ot her, to ld th e Co m m issio ne rs that
two o f h er chi ldren race a t CRC
Enduros a nd w he n as ked if she
th ought a m otorcycle was safer th an
a three-wheeler, she a nswered th at
both were safe. " T h ree-wh eelers are
•
no t unsafe by design ," she sai d.
Test imony of John Ulrich
I'm J ohn Ulrb h , Ed itor o r two co u sumer, em h u...ia!'io1
publicauous , Cyc/t' Nruis ;IIKI ATI ' N"1JI,~ , a nd o ne
tr ad e ma gazine, A ll T rrm in ,.,.!Iid,. Ind ustry, ;111
p u b fish ed by Cvcl e New IIIC'. of U )Jl~ Bea ch , CaliIo m ia . I'\'t' been ;1 p m[ t· iona! jour na li..1 "lx'cia litin g in techni ca l and m oror rvch--rekued to pics for 13
years . Wilh m e i, m y da u g b u-r , 11;1)' ley, wh o t't1 ir.. Iht·
ATI' Nru '.~ Kid ', Pa ~t' .
I am do rt" u-\Iin ~ , T ht· ....·t·iRh l o f a ro ll r.l ~t'
will m••l t' it ha rdt'r 10 p n '\,l'lH a wll. St~ubt'hs 'lrt"ou l.
DiHef(·n lial o.. ? I haWII'1r itkh 'n a d iffl'n'n lia l-t-qui ppl"ll
An' (Iht"rt' h;IV bttn ......'(·r.ll) tha t wa !,n', I("
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e
",Iidt'. l...n\ ..usprn.'loion? Rellt'r for roU n ...istanc." . but
wor st' fo r bump",hi l .'loI rd i ~hl o n . SIt't"ri n,.; da m ptt\?
Thr y p rl'\'t'nt h.IIK11r bar k icl whrn (ht" frOnl wh t't"J
hilsa rock or bum p off ("('n lt'ra l h iKh spt"t'tl. bUI \Iow
do~'n Ihe "'l't'rinK