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/715179
CN III VOICES L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R "So Rep. Quirk took all the specificity out of AB51 and turned it into authorization for the CHP to create guidelines!" Lane-Splitting Bill The California legislature finally passed AB51 "legalizing" lane splitting by motorcycles. The genesis of AB51 is a hilarious illustration of human nature, bu- reaucracy, and misunderstand- ing of the law. It could have been a fable written by Kafka. I put "legalizing" in quotes above, because a basic prin- ciple of Western law is that if there's not a law against it, it's legal. It was "tolerated" by the CHP because there was no law against it. Now, in most states there is a law against lane splitting. This is because it is human nature to be envious. Drivers can't stand to have mo- torcyclists merrily ride between the jammed lanes of cars. Envy demands that they should have to sit in traffic like everybody else. But not in California. I've found California drivers to be uniformly tolerant and cour- teous and cognizant of the safety of motorcyclists. But even the Golden State isn't immune to the human impulse to control others. The CHP's job is to control traffic and so they invented "guidelines" to tell us motorcyclists how to do what we've been doing for, in my case, 63 years. Under pretense of educating motor- cyclists, they are effectively writing laws. Then it became a clash of bureaucracies. It's the legisla- ture's job to control things by passing laws, and it was obvi- ous the CHP planned to en- force its "guidelines" as if they were laws. They were usurping the legislature's prerogatives. California Representative Quirk (D-Hayward) quickly acted to check this outrage by turning the guidelines into laws. But it turns out that there's a higher authority: voters. Motorcyclists, who vote, object to the nitpick- ing micromanagement of how to split lanes written by know- nothing legislators. So Rep. Quirk took all the specificity out of AB51 and turned it into authorization for the CHP to create guidelines! Which you can bet they will, then enforce as if they were laws. Do you get that? I can hardly wait for the legis- lature to "legalize" walking and LAPD to write guidelines. Brent Meeker Norton V4 Bad ass! And from Norton no less. With this bike and a few others like the Suter 500 smok- er, Ducati's Superleggera and the MV Massimo, and a couple other boutique bike builders, it is a great era in motorbikes to be alive. Total performance like this has never been available to the public before. Unfortunately I will have to experience such potential vicariously through those with the fat wallets. Howard Halterman Honda's New RX Neither the CRF450R or X has a mapping switch near as I can tell and the Honda electric starter looks like an after- thought. The KTM 450 SX-F and XC-F both have mapping switches and traction control. Honda took a step in the right direction, though, but I don't think they are 100% as good. I wonder if they are [going to be] a lot cheaper? Kevin Burner Letters to the editor can be sent to voices@cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Letters should not exceed 150 words and are subject to editing. Anonymous letters won't be considered for publication and each letter should contain the writer's name, address and daytime phone number… Editor P6 Got An Opinion? If you've got an opinion on something you've read in Cycle News. Or an opinion on something you'd like to read in Cycle News… or an opinion on anything motorcycle related, send it in. We want to know what our readers think. Email correspondence to Voices@cyclenews.com. Make sure to include your name and a daytime phone number.