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/141023
"Olrllnnw I!l California's helmet law is almost a reality c "o ~ c.. N ..... Cl ei l > :::;: '" ~ By Russ Sanfo rd W Z The though t of 'becoming involved ' will tu rn a bu nch o f you o fL .bu t isn't a half is saying in essence that the mo to rcyclist is too stupid to turn his head light on, W ..J hour of your ti me right now worth more tha n th e hassle from the law in the future? the relore we must insure t hat motorcycles are id iot-proof! U In just o ne ha lf h ou r, yo u can pr o te ct yo ur motor cycling fut ur e by writing three So , my fellow "idiots," do you intend to take this lyi ng down, or are yo u going to >U simp le letters. But you must -d o it NOW an d no ne of us ca n afford to "let George do get involved? it" . AB 194 has not yet been he ard, but sho uld be com ing up b efor e the Assembly CALIFORNIA MANDATORY HELMETS - AB 744 .T ra nsporta tio n Committee very sh ortl y. SB 126 has been approved by the Senat e Assemb ly man Craig Biddle (District 74 : Riverside County) is sponsori ng AB 744, Tra nsportatio n Committee and the fu ll Senate, and will soo n b e heard before th e the bill wh ich req uires mandatory helmets for motorcycle opera tors and passengers. Assembly Transporta tion Committee. Your co urse o f action is: Th is bill wa s ap proved by the Assembly T ransp ortati o n Committee on Thursday, 1. Write to your o wn Assemblyman expla ini ng why yo u obje ct to AB 194 and SB Ap ril 20th , and passed b y the ent ire Assembly with o ne vot e to spare, on May 2. 126. Now AB 744 passe s to the Senate for hearing by the Senate T ransp ortat io n 2. Write to Governor Reagan aski ng him to VETO AB 194 a nd SB 126 if they Co mmit tee. If ap proved in that committee, the bill will go to the Senate Floor for should be approved by the legislature . voting actio n by th e en tire Senate. If ap proved b y th e Senate, AB 74 4 will be sent to An d, if y ou rea lly want to hclp our cau se, wri te letters to each member of the the Governor for signatu re. Assembly Tran sportation Committee listed abo ve, and ask th em to vot e' NO on A B We ha ve three opportunities to sto p AB 744 from becomi ng law. They are : 194 a nd SB 126 . I. Write to y our own Sena to r ex plaining wh y you objec t to a mandatory helmet COMMENTS ON SENATE HEARING law. Ask him to vo te NO on A B 744. As mentioned earlier, SB 126 was heard before the nin e-member Sena te 2. Writ e to Govern or Reagan as king him to VET O AB 744 if it sho uld be approved Transp oration Committee on Mo nda y, Ap ril 17th . T hree gro ups appea red in sup port by th e Sen ate . Briefly ex plain your reasons. . of the ma ndato ry headlight bill : the California Highwa y Patro l, th e Auto Club o f If yo u truly care abo ut motorcycling, you will also write letters to each member o f South ern Californ ia, an d th e Parent Te ac he r's Assoc iation. Yep , th at 's right ! The th e Senate Tra nsportation Comm ittee . T he members are : P.T .A. Se nator Tom Carrell, Chairma n Well, I fo r o ne have ' torn up my P.T .A. card and have serv ed notice o n the P.T .A. Se na tor J ack Sc hrade th at they are no lo nger to call upon me for finan cial support or an y of the o the r Se na to r John W. Holmdahl proj ec ts wh ich I have performed an d aide d them with in the pa st . If I , lived in Se nator Joseph M. Kennick South ern Californ ia, I would also give the Auto Club a sha re of m y mind . I wou ld Se nator Milton Marks certainly drop my membersh ip in an y organi za ti on whi ch seek s to curtail my Sen ator J am es R . Mills plea sure a nd recrca tion . Senator David A . Roberti Incidenta lly , the voting upon SB 126 b y th e Senate Transportati on Committee Senator Lawrence E. Walsh (liste d ab ove) was: Se na to r Jame s E. Whe tm ore FOR mandatory he adlig hts : Sen at or s Carr ell , Holmd ahl , Kennick, Mills, Schrade, COMMENTS ON ASS EMBLY HEARING a nd Walsh. The Assem bl y Tr an sportati on Committee is comprised o f fifte en member s. It AGAINST mandat ory headlights: Senators Mark s a nd Roberti. requ ires eight votes to pas s a bill b efore this committee. Th is is how your elect ed ABS ENT : Sen ator Whctrn or e, repr esen tatives voted o n AB 744 : TRY IT - YOU' L L LI KE IT! Wad ie P. Ded deh , Chairman ; Against Well. that is enough bad news for this week . If you give a damn abou t Richar d D. Hayden FOR motorcycling, ge t bu sy a nd write t hos e le tters NOW. It will be mu ch easier if yo u do. Rob ert H. Burk e Against And don 't use th e excuse th at you d o n' t kn ow the na mes of yo ur Assembl yman and Car los Bee *FO R Senat or. Th ey were pri nt ed on Page 3 of Cycle News be for e last (May 2, 1972 ) and Joh n L. E. Collier FOR you wer e advised to save the list . Or ca ll your loc al city hall to ask who re presen ts Jo hn Fran cis Fo ran FOR your d istri ct. Ale x P. Garcia Abs ent When yo u wr ite to your elected re prese nt at ives, yo u might advi se th em tha t you Joe A . Gonsa lves *See No te ar e receiv ing re ports o n how th ey vo te in matters wh ich perta in to you . You might Jim Keyso r Ab sent also want to 'keep sco re' o n the vita l issues . Reme mber tha t Primary Electio ns are Frank Lanterma n Ab sent o nly a mo n th away, and every Asse mbl ym an and ha lf of the Sen at ors arc up fo r W. Don MacG illivray FOR re-electio n. It o nly see ms prudent to p ut your support beh ind th e man who supports Leo T . McCarthy * FO R you. a nd vice versa. Alan Sie roty Did Not Vote IMPORTANCE OF LETTERS Bob Wilson FOR You have no doub t seen co mme nts fro m o ther perso ns questi o nin g th e importance Bob Wood FOR of writin g letter s to your elect ed representativ es. I do n't wa nt to di scredit the se *N O TE: Assemblyman IHcCarthy was ab sent d uring m os t of the per so ns, b ut un til th ey co me to Sacram en to a nd 'w ork' t he Capi to l da y-after-da y, hearing and was n ot pr esent wh en th e vo te wa s tak en. lIis vo te in f avor th ey o ugh t to withh o ld their o pi n ions . T ake it from someo ne wh o kn ow s, letter s do oj mandat ory helmets was 'b y pr ox y '. A ssemblyman Gonsalves was co unt in a big way! absent during part of th e h earing and was not pr esent when the vo te Th e few letter s th at have been written wer e su fficient to hav e the mandatory was tak en. Assemblyman B ee was at hom e, sick in bed. headli ght bill a men de d . Ju st th ink what a flo od o f letters wo u ld d o to th e mandatory When th e vo te was tak en, AB 744 had on ly seve n YES vo tes. helmet legislati on! Assemblyman Biddle was allowed time to 'locate ' anoth er YES vote. Please address all co mmen ts a nd inquiries to MORE (Mo torcycle Owners, Ride rs After nearl y an h our. Assemb lyman Biddle returned w it h Assemblyman a nd Enthu siast s), P.O . Box 26062, Sacr amento, CA 95826 . Gonsa lves, w h o stated that h e wish ed to make it quit e clear that h e p ersonally opp osed A B 744 bu t that Assemblyman Bee (who was h om e in bed), had t eleph oned him and ask ed him to cast his vo te , as a co urt esy , in f avor of th e bill. This action on A ssemblyma n Gonsalves' part, gav e A ssemblyman Biddle th e vo te h e need ed f or approval of th e bill. Had Assemblyman Gon salves refus ed to cast th e 'courtesy vote ', the mandatory helm et bill would have b een scrapped. You migh t ask yo urse lf th ese q uestio ns: discrimi na to ry law requmn g yo u to By Ron Scheneiders 1. How can a person who has no t listened to th e arguments, p ro and wea r a he lmet, keep your headligh t on, can , decide on a '!"'casurc as impo rtant t o his co nst ituents as this ? keep your han dl eb ars b elow or abov e a O N SU R VIVAL certain heigh t etcetera ad nauseum. If Fan atics are fon d of an idea that goes 2. If a pe rso n really , t ruly opposed suc h a m easure would he hon estl y you're a. dirt rider, things are even something like, if you aren't willin g to cast the deciding vo te, even as a courtesy, wh en it was against his worse . So me co un ties, no tably River side die for - (political belief, religion, pu rp ort ed personal feelings? and San Bernardino, seem to h ave freedom, the right to bear arm s, etc .) MAN DATO RY L1GHTS-ON IN CALIF . declared war on us, even to the point of then you don't deserve it , wh a tever it e m p loyi ng helicopter gun sh ips. Senat o r Donald L. G runsky (Distric t 17: Mon tere y, San Benito, San Luis Obsipo, might be. In prac tice this generally Cu rren tty we can ride on some lands comes down to a situation whe re y o u, and Sa nt a Cruz Co unties) is sp o nso ring SB 126, one of two mandatory motorcycl e that are ow ne d by the Federal the convert, d ie for the fanatic's belief. headlight bill s. T he ot her , AB 194 , is sp o nsored b y Assemblyman Ernest La Cost e Government, but m ost all p ark s and But like all suc h things, the re is an (District 30: Sa n Joaq u in a nd St anislau s Cou nti es). state owned lands are closed to us. Why ele me n t of truth ' in the statemen t, We have reported on these bills o n sever al occasio n s, an d becau se some o f you should we not h ave so me motorcycle wh ich is what makes it possib le to sell in trails in Griffith Park? In O' Neil Park ? the first p lace. T he tru th in this case is care d enough to write letters in protest , bo th b ills have been amended . Originally, In Yellowstone Park? If you accep t the that if you lo ok like a p ush-over, bo th req u ired that all motorcycles would be required to hav e their headlamps ligh ted pr incip le that hor ses are holier than somebody who wants your spo t will a t all ti mes of operation . The amended version s of these bills now require only that, trailb ikes, why d on ' t you rid e a h or se? I push you over. A n on -fana tic adopts a " every mo tor cy cle manufactured and first registered on and after J an uary I , 1975 , don 't. I th in k that every place a h orse is prudent attitude : He tries to give the to be equippe d with at least one and not more than two headlamp s which allowed, a tr ailbike rider should also be impression that h e' s n ot a p ush -ove r, allowed un less it can b e clea r)y shown b ut if it appears that he's going to get _auto matically t urn o n when the engine of the motor cycle is sta rte d and wh ich remain killed fo r h is e ffo rt, he yields, at least th a t the cyclist will p roduce d amage an d lighte d as lo ng as the engine is running." the h orse will not. temporarily. T his amended ver sion may sound to you as th ough it isn' t too bad . But, believe me Our troubles are in large meas ure our We motorcyclists are cu rrently in a it still h as its drawback s. For examp le, how can a manufacturer predetermi ne own faul t. As the last of the rugge d spot that man y beligerent people wan t. individualists, we don 't wan t to write For so me reason we look like wheth er y ou are goi ng to o perate your motorcycle on the highway s or in th e dirt? In du mb letters to dumb politician s. We push -overs, and we are being threatened ma ny cases, he ca n't! So , his only recourse is to install headlamps and lighting do n 't want to know the meanin g of on every side. If you are a road ride r, systems on every mo to rcy cle he produce s. Guess who will pay th e extra cost of there are road s th at ca rs may use that : things like 'boycott' and 'p icket' and u nwante d eq uip me nt? 'si t-in'. \Ve dirt riders do n't w ant to you may n o t. Practically every sta te in the Union h as some form of Pro ba bly the most obnoxious aspect of the am ended bill s, is that Senator Grunsk y (Please t um to pg. 38) ga~ bit