Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Who usually get creamed ? By Russ S an ford NO FAULT INSURAN CE: WHO USUA L LY GETS CREAM ED? Have yo u noticed t hat every ti me you pick up the newspaper, that someone is talking about No Fault Insurance, or Nfl, as it is called? Even Governor Reagan mentioned m his-.State of the St at e m essage that the administration would back an NFl p ro gram this year. Well, as lo ng as everyone else has spoken their mind on the subject, I guess it's time fo r me to add m y two bits wo rth . O r p erh ap s I should say, m y $2,000 worth . DI D YOU SAY $2,OOO? Yes , I sure did . That is about what the ann ual premium for a new Ha rley-Davidson would be if Califo rn ia adop te d th e sa me Nfl program as has been in trod uced in other states. And just so yo u wo n' t th ink we a re picking on H·D , th e in su ran ce co m panies came up w ith an annual p remiu mof $6 77 for a 650cc mo t o rc y cle wei gh in g less tha n 35 0 p o u nds in Delaware, where Nfl went into effect this year. WHAT'S IT A L L A BO UT? Un der c u rre n t Cali fo rnia la w, in surance is offered on a liabilit y b asis, mean ing that when you are invo lved in some so rt of accident, yo u become liable for claims by the o ther p arty , And the 0 ther party becomes liable for claims by you. But, because p eople don't like to admit to n egligence , especially if it will make them the victim of a lawsuit, a large n umb er of accidents end up in court to determine who is tr uly responsible . Although this isn't too bad for a mere fender-bender. Jt can r-cally b-ecome a bucket of snakes for a p erso n who becomes hospitalized or needs extensive medical care. Such cases take forever to get into court and in the meantime ho use payments and living expenses go on. Even tho ug h t he breadwin n er is still hospi ta lized , has lost h is job, and is ru nnin g u p m ed ical b ills. Us ual ly, by th e time th e ma tt er is reso lved by the courts an d settlements are reached, th e victim h as lost all of h is wordly po ssessio ns. And th e n , t o o, co u rt costs a n d attorney fees a lways accou n t fo r a la rge portion o f th e se ttle me n t. All o f t hese things occu r b ecause c u rre n t insurance is b ased upon th e liability co nc ep t. NFl EXPLAIN ED R eal izing th at there h ad to be a better answ er, conc erned individuals developed a different structure of insurance, calle d No Fault Insurance , wh ich would eliminate th e dis adv ant ages of liability-based insurance . T he b asic princip le of NFl is th at you b u y in su rance t o protect you r o w n inter ests. Likew ise, the o ther p art y 's ins urance p ro tec ts him. T herefo re, if you are th e victim of a n accident, your insurance company pays yo u r expenses. The other pa rt y 's ins urance company p a ys th eir expenses. Th er e ma y be laws u its and co urt cases lat er on, b u t you r e xpenses are paid by yo u r insura nce company as t hey are incurred. V A RI OU S FO RMS O F N. F.1. There are as many differe nt fo rms of NFl as there are people who feel they are in the best p osit io. i t o d et erm in e w hat is best fo r everyone else. NFl p o licies have been kn o w n to cover such thin gs as : Veh icle re pair. Op era t o r me d ical coverage. Operator life insurance. Operator wage contin uation. Passenger m edic al coverage. Pass en ger life ins urance, Pas sen ger wage co n ti nuat ion. Operator and passen ger service co n tin uat io n, such as having so meo ne mow you r la w n while you are d isa bled. And a h ost of o ther b en efits. What m a ke s t his even more co nfusi ng, is that each p roposed NFl program has differe n t deduc t ibles an d/or d ifferen t m a ximum limit s. In tru th, the subject is so co nfusi ng that eve n th e experts (i f t here truly are a ny) ar e st umped to say which program is best. But there is one thing that everyone agrees on. When NFl is. made law, insurance premiums for automobiles, pick-ups, trucks, a nd other enclosed vehicles are reduced by approximately one-third. This has been borne out in those states which have adopted N FI. Yo u ask why? Because m o st court costs and attorney fees a re eliminated. A person who has had h is medical expenses , house payments, and other expen ses paid as they are incurred, is usuall no t too an xiou , to go to cou rt s •• students will t ell you that E..C. woulp M • off 17.690 inc hes - if ' he ' used " 1:99 5 in ch es because 50 centimeters is equal to 19.685 inches. The bore. would b e app reciation to all those th o ugh t fu l and 1 7.69 0 in ch es less than 25 thousand t hs; considerate p eop le who contacted our t o o small, o r abou t 17.665 inches to o so n, Dave, by cards, calls , and in pe rso n small for the clearance necessary t o during this recent stay in the hospital. satisfy the not. so-standard bore job you MACK AND JO SMITH might req uest . Escondido, Calif. Now, the young racer who uses the five part aricle 'Tuning With E.C . Birt ' SI LLY FOOT AND ONE-HA L F as his Bible and can't afford E.C .'s Re: "Silly Millimeter Off", Feb. 15, services will most probably read and 1972 . Since this was an article on the study the article well enough to note science of convening the metric system that the famed tuner said he never used to inches, I believe it should be pointed or uses the metric system because h e out that Ken Beach (according to the works with tolerances to thousandths of article] has made a basic error in an inch, thus avoiding metric/inch converting the metricsystem, confusing conversion error. centimeters and millimeters. _ Another interesting thought about Mr . Beach, m y College Edition of - this. Had we at Precision Cycle made Websters New World Dictionary, tables the attem pt -last month to bore yo ur of weights an d m eas u res, indicates that cy linder to 50 centimeters , E.C . would usi ng the m e tri c system of linear have had to buy a new Sachs cy linder m easu re, 10 m illimeters is eq ual to I since it wo uld have been nearly a foot cent imeter. T his m a y seem small at first, and one-half too la rge . And besides a b ut le t's examine this example. I read 1065cc Sachs wo uld be frow ned upon fro m your statement that according to when run ning in th e 125cc class. E.C., 50. of these ce ntimeters would be BO B BRENNAN 1.9 9 5 inc hes. Mo st eigh th grade m at h Precision Cy-c1e wi th a lawsu it . T he in surance companies may go into court, but because they have their own legal staff, the costs are greatly diminished. And t his reflects to the customer as a reduction in premium. If you are now paying $300 per year for your vehicle insurance and someone told you that under NFl your premium would only be $200, you'd ju mp at the chance to "vote" for NFl , wouldn't you? N. F.1. AND M OT O RCY CL ES But, if you are a m o t orc y clist , it's best you think this out! How often do yo u read about one motorcycle running into another moto rcycle? Compare that answer wi th, '"How many times do you read about a motorcycle and an enclosed vehicle b ecoming involved in an acciden t?" And when yo u d o , who gets creame d a nd wh o gets off with hardly a sc ratch? Now th ink abou t that for a mome nt. If you were an insurer, who wo uld you charge th e h igh est p remium? Under liability-based insurance, th e m o t orcy cl ist was liable fo r th e damages to the enclosed vhi cle an d th e o wner o f th e enclosed veh icle was liable for th e m o t o rcy clist . R ecognizin g that in an accident involving th e two types of vehicle t he motorcyclist u nd o u b t ed ly would suffer the greatest injury and damage, if I was an insurer, I would set up a low premium for motorcycles and a proportionately higher premium for th e encosed vehicle under a liab ilit y-b ased p rogram. Conversely , under the NFl program, I would , as an insurer, set a much higher premium on the motorcycle and a lower premium on the enclosed vehicle. And that is exactly what is happening! That is why NFl premiums for motorcycles will run from $400 to $2 ,000 per year. NO AVENUE OF ESCAPE You are no doubt saying, "Well, I'll jus t not get insuran ce o n my mo t o rcy cle !" Yo u ma y also be surprised t o learn that each of the Nfl bills in troduced in Cali fornia last year stated that NFl was ma ndatory, o therwise a motor vehicle (and t hat incl ude s moto rcy cles) co uld no t be regis te re d and licensed fo r operatio n o n the streets a nd hi ghways. And in case yo u are thinking up lo op -h o les , the NFl bills required th at insu ra nce com panie s noti fy the DMV when insu rance lapsed, for any reason , and the DMV would p ick up your license plates a nd registrat io n . There was o ne bill in 1971 , AB 1505 b y Assemblyman Jack Fen t on, which we su cceeded in havin g am ended t o ex cl ude motorcycles. Alth ough this wa s a t empo rary stop-gap it was no t go o d b ecau se it m eant that m o t orcy cl ists would be unable t o obtain insurance. A nd because the operators of enclosed vehicles would not b e liable, it was like dec laring ' op e n season' on m o t o rcy clis ts. Assem b lyman Fenton's bill , along with all other NFl bills we re ' k ille d ' last year so t he p roblem we nt away for a very short , b u t too short, time. FIVE NEW N.F .1. BIL L S Thus far, five NFl bills have been introduced before the 19 72 legis la t ur e. None of those five exclude m o t orcycles, incl uding Mr. Fe nton's new FNI bill. At this p o in t, n o o ne knows where to turn . T h e MIC an d the CMIC are u p to t heir eyebrows in N Fl discussions , t ry in g to wo rk out a .su it ab le plan for mo to rcyclists. If you wonder why they are involved, j us t p ut yourself in the p osition of a d ealer trying to se ll a $40 0 mo torc ycle and collec ti ng a $400 insurance p rem ium in addi t ion . POSSI BL E SOLUTION Now th at yo u unders t and the N Fl d ilemn a as well as I d o, what a re your sugges t io ns? Would yo u lik e t o hear m ine? If you don 't, you had better sto p readi ng at this point. I am acutely aware t hat so me mo t o rc ycli sts can affo rd to pay any premium and will d o so for th e protection which if offers. There are also m an y m o t orcylist s who can ill-affo rd to pay any prem ium at all and who are willing to gamble that they can avoid any accident. I feel that a motorcyclist should have the prerogative of deciding how much, and wh at kind of, ins urance he needs and wants. ST RUCT U RE D PLAN While it m a y b e advisable to establish a single p rogram with set deductibles and se t maximum limits fo r the owne rs of enclosed vehicles, such is not the case fo r motorcylists. If the motorcyclists . i~ ~ ,f, '" &i ~ .c ,f ~ ~ w d ~ scr m Aiii' apounilf By Maureen Lee Cor blimey, I sneak-away fro m the scene for just o ne week and whilst getting some more repair wo rk done the Al'>1A unlooses another one of its "bombs" and I had to miss getting first crack at the co mments. I am, of course, referring to the Congress decision on no more Powder Puff events because of the sex discrimination basic civil rights bit we now have as Law of the Land . However, I've had fun checking out what the girls think about it and ~t 's nice to find that I don't have to climb into my armor against the AMA. First we cal led the District girls clubs (I didn't contact the Desert Daisy 's because the always . ~th-th~ men, with great success) so the ban doesn't affect them), owder Puff Association and the End Does who ride Powder Puff classes in scrambles and motocross. _ Powder Pu ff President Diane Connolly's quote was "The A~IA had absolutely no right to eliminate the Powd er Puff class." The Association's stand is that the rule was a rotten thing to do especially since District 37 women competition clubs have really supported the A~IA. I know for a fact that the scrambles the Association throws each year are b et t er hand led th an a lot thrown by the males; they work dam ha rd on their events. T heir posters eve n go so far as to state "AMA cards required." If yo u do n't have a valid AMA card o n your person at t h eir events, it's " no ti c kee , no washee " , Yo u'll sign u p on the spot or be able t o prove that your re newal is in transit from Wonhingto n. J eanne A lle n o f t h e E nd Does sai d her girls would definitely be " hos tile" to it although their club meet in g occurred after th e col um 's d eadl ine. n Mo st of t he End Do es r id e motocross and some ride regula rly with the m en . But when enough girls turned up t o m a ke a class, as in scramb les, the host club has usu ally sa id " O.K., we 'll give y o u yo u r own class." We d iscu ssed the fact th at in m otocross - m ore t han scramb les - a Po wder Puff was necessary for safe t y's sake alone due to the r o ughness of th e co u rses a nd t o get the No vices start ed off the right wa y into racing. Me ? Well, before starring to dig in t o th e fac ts m y first reacti on was "Oh damn, Wo rth ing t o n has done it again, " on ly becau se I kno w from perso na l experienc e ho w far women have come in th e sp o rt with out acti ng like radical Wom en 's Libbers (for the m ost part). I've co m pete d with men and with wom en an d usuall y do so lous y an y wa y that it doesn't m ake a ny d ifferen ce as t o th e gen d e r, but personall y I feel sa fer wit h the men. A good cas e in p oin t was wh en the first flu rry o f Powd er Puff eve n ts d ied in District 3 7 th ere w er e t hree lone wolves left who st ill wanted to race just for the fun of it. J uanita J en kin s an d I used t o tea r around Prad o Park wh ile Eulene Long m ade Perris h er ho m e (this being back in the days when w e'd have to scrambles b eing thro wn every Sunday). S ure, we di dn' t do so hot; I made th e semi once at Prad o a nd barely rec overed from the shock - but did we have fun . One year Peggy Sco tt las te d a bout a la p at Co rr iganvill e before her little bike let go. So not to be out do ne , the next year Eu lene and I convinced each other we'd give it a go if th e Diggers wo uld accept our entry in that cla ssic and knowing the course would be tougher than a n y t hi ng we'd ever ridden b efore. The ' Diggers accep ted but wisely p ut us two little novices in the Expert class. I had a second row sta rting spot w hic h I gave u p quickly fo r a place in the back. The cl ub knew that both of US had "track sense" and that the Experts would get aro und us no matter what we did. Neither one of us gave away a tum when in it first but she finished way ahead of m e because I did an Aldana over the handlebars in a pileup. We both finished, though, inspire of being waved at every two minutes by Doug Yerkes, Steve Scott and Keith Mashburn. For a short time we made racing history and had out little m o m en t of glory. Next year 12 girls came out and there was the first Powder Puff class at Corriganville. Then came th e d igging in t o th e official facts. So fa r no one has actually see~ed .to have seen the ru le and just how it is written. It was discussed at the big District meeting and the apparent reading of it is that Powder Puff events do not have t o be thrown even if there are enough girls for a class. Mike Vancil said that Powd er Pu ffs could still be th rown should a cl ub desire to have that class. Next man to check wi th nat urally was District 37's Amateur Referee Sam Cro o ks, who brought m e u p-t o -dat e wi th w hat was said and what th e District 37 position is. The Distric t stewards sa id th ey d idn't m ind keeping p oint s as they 've always done fo r th e girls. The Powder Pu ff class has worked successfully in this District an .d since Mr . Va nci l sai d that a Powder Pu ff class ma y b e thrown at the d iscret io n o f the promoter, Sam's direc t quote is th at "Distric t 3 7 will con t inue as us ual in regard t o the Po wder Puff cl ass. " . The m o st im p o rt a nt thing I thi nk th at came fro m th is ruli ng is t ha t t he AMA actually left a door open so a District could do so me moving around wit h in the ru ling. It wasn't so long ago, fo lks, t hat if Wo rth ing ton said " no Powd er Puffs" t hey mea nt it rig ht d o wn t o the las t wo rd , and you couldn't have shaken the greybeards . But we've got a new Al'>1A now that, even thoug~ we still get mad at it, is a new . co ncep t a nd t hey are moving so fast that they ca n t ev.en. catch up to the msel.ves at ti mes. It 's no lo nger a matter of havin g to use heavy a rtillery to make a breach m the wall. There is ac tual communication and new thinkers in the group as this Powd e r Puff situation shows. Further, with all due respect to the talents of some of the girls, especially Kerry Kleid, I d o n 't believe women belong in professional motorcycle racing. In motocross they may just squeak by, but in IT and especially in flat track, NO! Now that leave me open for a column on what the pro boys think, so from the ones I can't reach I think I'll try and con Karl Wealey into getting some direct quotes since my expense account doesn't allow for calling all over the country. Lawy er I am not b u t I think a no Powder Puff rule coul~ be enf?rced in Amate~r sports but not in professional. No women may now b e denied any Job because she IS a woman, the law now says I can be a linebacker for the Chicago Bears if so qualified (and just think about playing alongside Dick Butkis!) but qualifications are another breed of cat and if your p hysical being is bet up female, there's just no way around it. A wome n you are. Always rather enjoyed being one m yself ! (Please turn to page 41) .rj IJ on :O-ll~ .

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