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 Just to follow up on the public hearing at the Suffolk County Legislators office this morning regarding introductory resolution 2191.
IR 2191 Accepting and appropriating a grant in the amount of $25,500 from the State of New York Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, for the Suffolk County Police Department to fund a Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Program with 85.3% support.
(Co. Exec.)
This bill has been passed for the past four years and equates to “check points” being set up four times a year during the height of riding season (late April thru Early October) to check motorcycles and riders for safety compliance. In other words...
every motorcycle that approaches a check point has to stop and be checked out. This is profiling and targeting of a specific group and is wrong. When a checkpoint is set up for seatbelts, registrations and inspections all vehicles are slowed down the Officers make sure your stickers are good and up to date and your seatbelt is on and if you are in compliance less than 30 seconds later you are on your way. Please note they stop EVERY vehicle at these check points.
Motorcycles have a plate like a car so it can be checked in a computer for legality. Generally an Officer can see if a helmet is legal, hear if pipes are too loud and observe the lights on a bike all without pulling us over. Yet for four years this resolution has allowed us to be forced to pull off the road and have our bike essentially inspected for compliance.
This morning a group of concerned motorcyclists spoke our concerns and along with a legislative vote effectively tabled the resolution. If we can come up with a better way to educate, engineer and enforce motorcycle safety then we would love to have the money to do so. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer is open to speaking with the motorcycle community to find a common ground that will protect all of us.
It was great to be a part of the American legal process and see it work. I will pass on more as things develop. In the mean time wrap your head around this bit of insanity that’s going on in NYC.
NYC to Discuss Bill Designed to Harness Cycle SoundPublish date: Dec 11,
2008
New York City Council members are preparing to debate a bill requiring all motorcycles to have tags certifying approval by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The new measure would let city agents ticket parked motorcycles without the authorities having to prove the bike exceeded the 80 dB limit set by the city's noise code. The bill was approved by New York City’s Public Safety Committee Dec. 10 and goes to the full Council for debate Dec.
18.
A first conviction carries a maximum $1,000 fine and temporary confiscation of the bike until the penalty is paid. A second conviction hikes the maximum fine to $2,500 and imposes permanent forfeiture.
The New York bill was based on an ordinance passed in Denver in 2007.
There, as of July 1, 2007, motorcycle owners are required to keep their bikes at 82 dB. The ordinance also requires bikes made after 1982 carry an EPA compliance tag to be displayed on the pipes.
The EPA rates maximum permissible noise level for street motorcycles at 80 dB for motorcycles manufactured in model year 1986 or later. However, in many states, legislation has remained unchanged since the early 1970s, when maximum permissible noise level was set at 86 dB.
A decibel (dB) is the basic measurement unit for sound. Decibel measurements are made on a logarithmic scale, which means that an increase of 10 decibels approximates a perceived doubling of the noise level. A noise source measuring 70 dB is therefore 10 times louder than a source measuring 60 dB and 100 times louder than a source reading 50 dB.
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) says it opposes excessive motorcycle noise. In the past several years, the AMA has spent well over $100,000 defending lawsuits and confronting legislative prohibitions.
Based on its opposition to excessive motorcycle noise, the AMA has publicly recommended the following:
~Motorcycle retailers should discourage the installation and use of excessively loud replacement exhaust systems.
~Manufacturers producing motorcycles to appropriate federal standards should continue to educate their dealers and customers that louder exhaust systems do not necessarily improve the performance of a motorcycle.
~Motorcyclists should not modify exhaust systems in a way that will increase sound to an offensive level.
~The motorcycle industry, including aftermarket suppliers of replacement exhaust systems, should adopt responsible product design and marketing policies aimed at limiting the cumulative impact of excessive motorcycle noise.
~Law enforcement agencies should fairly and consistently enforce appropriate laws and ordinances against excessive vehicle noise.
~The motorcycle industry and the safety community should educate customers that excessive noise may be fatiguing to riders, making them less able to enjoy riding and less able to exercise good riding skills.
~All motorcyclists should be sensitive to community standards and respect the rights of fellow citizens to enjoy a peaceful environment.
~Organizers of motorcycle events should take steps through advertising, peer pressure and enforcement to make excessively loud motorcycles unwelcome.
~In October, the 2008 American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Congress passed a 94 dB standard for all amateur and Pro-Am motocross and off-road competition, effective in 2011. The new level mirrors both the
2009 standard for professional motocross and Supercross racing in the United States, as well as the level mandated by the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme), which governs international motorcycle competition. Currently, sound limits for amateur motorcycle competition are 99 dB for closed-course competition and 96 dB for cross-country racing.
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