MRF E-MAIL NEWS
Motorcycle Riders Foundation
P.O. Box 1808
Washington, DC 20013-1808
202-546-0983 (voice)
202-546-0986 (fax)
http://www.mrf.org/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tom Wyld
wyld@mrf.org

July 25, 2003
#03NR24 - URGENT MRF CALL TO ACTION - MAKING MOTORCYCLE SAFETY HISTORY!

Yesterday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its latest motorcyclist fatality figures. Today, the motorcyclists' rights movement responded. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) and State Motorcyclists' Rights Organizations (SMROs) have been working tirelessly to advance their joint agenda for the reauthorization of TEA-21 (the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century). Motorcyclists nationwide have now been joined by two MRF Champions of Motorcyclists' Rights & Safety who have teamed together to make motorcycle safety history - by advancing the heart and soul of our agenda for safer riding and better government! But they need YOUR help to continue to make it happen!

Today in Congress, U.S. Representatives Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) and Pete DeFazio (D-Oregon) circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter that urges the adoption of the core elements of the joint MRF-SMRO agenda in the reauthorization of TEA-21. Citing the tragic increase in motorcyclist fatalities reported by NHTSA just yesterday, Congressmen LaTourette and DeFazio wrote their colleagues that, "improvements to motorcycle safety training and motorist awareness are called for by these preventable accidents." The LaTourette-DeFazio letter is an extremely important step that is the direct result of a team effort between the MRF, ABATE of Ohio and ABATE of Oregon, and it is backed by the dozens of visits to Washington, DC by State Motorcyclists' Rights Organizations nationwide.

This critical "Dear Colleague" letter from Congressmen DeFazio and LaTourette urges other Members of Congress to sign another letter to the House Transportation Committee, encouraging the Committee to safeguard the advances of the original TEA-21 such as motorcycle access to highways. In addition, it requests the following improvements to TEA-21: setting crash prevention as the priority focus for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's motorcycle safety programs; establishing a Motorcyclist Advisory Council in the Federal Highway Administration; including motorcycle safety incentive grants to encourage and assist states in delivering rider skill training; making motorcycle safety a NHTSA Section 402 grant priority; and tightening the already existing provision barring NHTSA from lobbying the states using taxpayer dollars.

You can view both the "Dear Colleague" and House Transportation Committee letters by visiting the MRF's website at http://www.mrf.org/positionpapers.php. Your Congressman can help these two MRF Champions continue to make motorcycle safety history - only by SIGNING THE LaTOURETTE-DeFAZIO SAFETY LETTER! There are a number of ways you can contact your Congressman in the days ahead. You can call his/her office at 202-224-3121. You can write to him/her at The Honorable ________, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515, or you can find his/her e-mail address at www.house.gov. YOUR MOST EFFECTIVE CONTACT would be to visit him/her back in your home state during the "District Work Period" that begins this Monday, July 28.

YOU HAVE LESS THAN A MONTH to call, write and/or visit your Congressman and encourage him/her to sign this important motorcycle safety letter, so DON'T DELAY! Together with champions like Pete DeFazio and Steve LaTourette, YOU can continue to make motorcycle safety history. Together, we can prevent accidents, thwart injuries and save lives! Get your Congressman on board today!

Ride With The LeadersTM by joining the MRF at http://www.mrf.org/join.php or call 1-800-MRF-JOIN.

(c)All Information contained in this release is copyrighted. Reproduction permitted with attribution. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation, incorporated in 1987, is a membership-based, national motorcyclists' rights organization headquartered in Washington, DC. The first motorcyclists' rights organization to establish a full-time presence in Washington, DC, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation is the only Washington voice devoted exclusively to the street rider. The MRF established MRFPAC in the early 1990s to advocate the election of candidates who would champion the cause of rider safety and rider freedom.

The MRF proudly claims state motorcyclists' rights organizations and the very founders of the American riders' rights movement among its leading members. The MRF is involved in federal and state legislation and regulations, motorcycling safety education, training, and public awareness. The MRF provides members and state motorcyclists' rights organizations with direction and information, and sponsors annual regional and national educational seminars for motorcyclists' rights activists, as well as publishing a bi-monthly newsletter, THE MRF REPORTS.