M
'5o
LOOK TO
MOTORCYCLING'S
FUTURE
The AMA is . It is
a national or g a n it a don
promoting all as pects
of motorcycli n g. Its
members incl ude t he
• world 's best proCe8si on a l
racers . outs tan din g
a m a teur enduro and
trials riders, and over
• h u ndr ed thousand
a veraze motorcyclists who us e
their bikes for f un
and transportat ion .
It is worki~
to r motorcycle
edu eatfon
and uCet}!', it is
com ba tting unfair
legislation, and it is
CO tantl y attempting \.
Ds
to improve the public' .
attitude t o w a r d motorcycling. It worb
through people lik e you.
Look to the future w ith A
the AMA.
f»
T he author discusses ORV use w ith t he Governo r . Ph ot o by Don Livingston .
The Governor Rides Off-Road, on a Horse
risk fac to r d if ferences, the incl usio n of
motorcycles in No-Fault Insurance
w ould probab ly resu lt in in creased
in su ra nce rates fo r motorcyclists. For
t ha t very reason, he 'sp eci fically
e xcl uded m otorcy cl es fro m his plan.
"The G ov ern or supports the bill in its
cu rren t form ", Living st on an swe red .
WHA T ABO UT DI RT BI KES?
The disc ussion m o ved o n to off-road
vehi cle us e in California . "The Governor
has sign ed le gislation to regulate
off-road vehicl e us e in the Department
of Motor Vehicles particularly. What we
ar e tr ying to d o b y that is to set aside
ce rt ain areas for th at kind o f us c ra ther
than h ave o f f- r o ad vehicle usc
everywhere . There ar e cer t ain a reas
where the off-road vehicle us e has
definitely damaged the environment an d
th e ecology . The in ten tion of th e
regu lations in Cali fo rn ia is to control
th a t u se . n ot to p ut it o u t o f business , as
so me w ant to . Som e people w anted to
say we should n 't have off-ro ad ve hi cles
in California. The Governor did n o t
agree with th a t. lie agreed to legi slation
tha t wo u ld reg ulate th e use of off-road
veh icles u nde r ce rtain ci rc u ms tances. "
Livi n gst on co n tin u ed , "The wh o le
idea is to use the fee s that ar e co llec ted
from off-road vehicles is to d evelo p
these sites . In effec t y o u go on th e user
fee co nc ep t . Wh e n th e o ff-ro ad peop le
p ay a license , the money that 's deri ved
from that license o ught to go to d evelop
ad d itional off-road p laces for them. You
sho uldn't build h ighwa y s wi th th e
o ff-road ve h icle fees. "
This b ro ug h t up th e gre at Green
S tickie question . .l ust wh a t h ad th e
money collected so far fro m that
p rogram be e n used for? Livin gston d id
n o t kn ow off h and . but offere d t o
ar range fo r m e to find o u t. The ne x t
thing I knew I had an ap p o in tm e n t with
J o h n Lind, Manager o f the Off -Highway
Vehicle Se ction o f th e Department of
Motor Veh icles. The meeting w ould be
af ter lu n ch , and it was obvious that m y
trip to Sacto w as turnin g o ut to b e very
he avy stu ff indeed !
WHERE IS OU R LA ND?
When asked ab o u t the often h eard
co mplaint o f ORV people th a t " We
pa id, now where is the land ?" ,
Liv ingston d id h ave a co m me n t.
" Fran kly, the program is so n ew, it is a
little difficult to make tha t charge . I
don't think th ey Can reasonably e xpec t
within six m on th s to all of a sudd e n see
ph ysi cal evidence o f a brand new
facility, The Governor's thinking in
signing th e bill was to have some kind o f
state re gul a tio n of the use of o ff-ro ad
vehicles an d to use those fees to pay fo r
that regulatory program and also to
p rovi d e additional places for the us e of
those vehicles." He went o n to tell m e
that the Governor used an off-road
vehicle h im self, namely a h orse.
THE MAN
The G ov e rn or' s strong fee lings abou t
mi su se of ORV in a re as tradi tionally
use d for horse ri d ing Was reflec ted in h is
co m men ts to m e wh en I m e t h im 3 few
mi n u tes la ter. His feelings that h orses
and ORV do n ot mix ech o ed the
op in ions Cranston , G ol dwa te r, Unruh ,
and Ho lifield h ad exp ressed to me in
earlier interviews: there h as to be a place
fo r e ve ry thing, b ut incompatible
simultaneous u ses of th e o pen land must
b e avoided to e nsure the h appin ess of all
p arties involved .
The majo r the me of my O R\'
dis cussions in the G o ve rn or 's office w as
that alth ough ORV use must b e
regulated , if th e ORV peop le a rc goi ng
to b e ta xe d as such , then the funds must
be used to ac q uir e n ew areas fo r O RV
us e .
The first t h ing Ronald R eaga n said to
me afte r in tr oducti ons w as " \Ve h ave to
find a wa y to get all th e o ff-road
vehicle s registe red. So far on ly ab ou t
60,000 out of the million in the state
hav e registe re d". [ explained to th e
Governor the impatience o f th e o ff-ro ad
vehicle enthusiasts, wh o paid ye t sa w n o
land, thu s resenting the whole th ing ,
"Well, the program is still brand n ew.
It 's a little ea rly ,fo r that (c ri ticism) ,"
replied California's number one man . '.
The G overnor is a very friendly man ,
and appeared quite interested and
sin ce re , We discussed th e Bureau of
Automotive Repairs, and I t old him o f
my e x pe riences with th a t agency during
th e summe r o f 1972 , A sm all machine
shop h ad b otched a j o b o n m y H onda 's
cy li n der head and just made it w orse
after a second try, I co n tacted the
Bu re au o n its toll-free com p la in t li ne
and was advised of wh at I co uld do.
Followin g the advice I received, I sued
th e sh op and won. I told th e Governor
that I th o ugh t it was "a grea t ag en cy " ,
an d h e rep lied , as had M r. Livingston ,
" We're ve ry proud o f that program. "
T he conve rsa tio n drifted ar o un d as
p ictur es wer e taken, but as I wa s
leaving, th e Governor' s co n ce rn wi th the
DRV regi stra ti o n situation o nce ag ain
became evi den r, " If yo u get any ideas
on h o w we can get the rest of th ese
p eople" to re gis ter th eir mach in es, le t us
know.
H o t dog! T he honorable G ov erno r of
California asking m e fo r suggestions !
We shoo k h an ds again and I left . I
felt go o d ; I h ad just h ad a ch an ce to
speak with R p n ald Reagan about
moto rcyclin g in th e sunshine state . an d
I had left my leather jac ke t at m y
motel. It n ever hurts to get ex posure a'
a decen t law abiding vo te r who ju st lik es
moto rcycles b ecau se th ey're fun . T he
mee t in g and th e events leading up to it
had taugh t me m ore th an m y political
scie nc e class at CSUF, and I was sure it
had no t d one any harm to the im age of
m o to rcy cl ists in California .
(Nex t w eek our hero con tin ues h is
Sacramento Adventures. He. enco unt eres
the Czar of Green Stick ies and th e .Wan .
who looks ou t fo r yo u. He learns that
m o t orcy cles have "d irt y little engines ",
and h e is finally rescued f ro m th e
froze n grapevine b y a giant guide dog
bcf or he learns th e most im po rt an t
m eetings are no t alwa ys t h ose yo u seek.
Hu h, IVPII'?)
CYCLE INSU RA NCE
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