The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has begun to finalize the details of the Motorcycle Safety Grant program set forth in the SAFETEA-LU highway legislation (PL 109-59) signed into law in August 2005.
The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) is pleased to report NHTSA has maintained the integrity of the program as drafted by the MRF in conjunction with the US House and Senate. The program description and qualifying requirements are simple and clear cut, just as the MRF and the supporting motorcycle rights organizations intended when they lobbied the Congress to include this important program.
"The grants made available through this program are a monumental step for motorcycle safety and a tremendous accomplishment for the motorcycle rights community" remarked Jeff Hennie, Vice President of Government Relations for the Motorcycle Riders Foundation.
"The MRF looks forward to working closely with motorcyclists’ rights organizations across the country to secure and implement the funds set aside by NHTSA specifically for motorcycle safety".
The comments submitted to NHTSA by the Motorcycle Riders Foundation are included below. To view or submit comments of your own visit http://dms.dot.gov and search for Docket Number 23700. You may also mail your comments directly to the agency:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
400 Seventh Street S.W.
Nassif Building, Room PL – 401
Washington, D.C. 20590
June 5, 2006
The Hon. Nicole Nason
Administrator
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
400 Seventh Street S.W.
Nassif Building, Room PL – 401
Washington, D.C. 20590
Re: Docket Number NHTSA-2006-23700 Motorcyclist Safety Grants
The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) is the nation’s only advocacy group whose focus is exclusively on-road motorcycles. As the primary advocate for the inclusion of the motorcyclist grant program in the most recent highway bill, Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Act: A Legacy for Users or SAFETEA-LU (PL-109-59), we are uniquely qualified to provide comment on the grant program.
The Motorcycle Riders Foundation is pleased to see that the description of the program and the qualifying criteria remain true to the original legislation signed into law on August 10th 2005.
This straight forward approach to motorcycle safety will ease the burden on the individual state motorcycle safety campaigns. Many of the state efforts are funded primarily through taxes and fees collected from motorcyclists through registration or licensing. As a result of inadequate safety programs many states have raised the taxes and fees collected from motorcyclists, often times at the overwhelming requests from the motorcyclists themselves. Clearly this demonstrates much needed assistance from the federal government, which is why the MRF is supporting the grant program and the clause that allows the grant money to be sub allocated to a nonprofit incorporated in the state to carry out grant activities.
The one area of concern in NHTSA’s proposed rulemaking that demands attention is the reliance on the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data for motorcycle crashes. The MRF has made it known to NHTSA and FHWA that the FARS data is seriously flawed when it comes to the motorcycle crash data. The MRF feels it would be in the best of interest of the states to employ the individual states crash data instead of the FARS data. FHWA clearly states the motorcycle crash data is not a reporting requirement and therefore many states do not report the data to the FHWA.
Overall, the positive approach of NHTSA’s proposal to implement the motorcyclist’s safety grants is applauded by the MRF. We feel that this proposal provides sufficient flexibility to the states as well as maintaining consistency with the SAFETEA-LU language.
Please do not hesitate to contact the MRF should you have any further questions or comments.
Jeff Hennie
Vice President Government Relations
Motorcycle Riders Foundation
http://www.mrf.org/
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