MotoNYC - NYC Motorcycle Blog

PICKERINGTON, Ohio –The American Motorcyclist Association told a Congressional committee on March 13 that motorized recreation is a “legitimate and popular” use of public land that needs more federal funding.

“Motorized recreation is a legitimate and popular use of our public lands,” said Ed Moreland, AMA vice president for government relations, in written testimony to the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands. “The AMA has long supported access to public lands for responsible motorized recreation. Motorized recreation is also compatible with other public land resource values.”

The topic of the subcommittee hearing was “Impacts of Unmanaged Off-Road Vehicles on Federal Lands.” Moreland told the federal lawmakers that recreation, like any other resource, must be managed.

“Too often motorized recreation has been managed by the extremes of either being ignored or prohibited,” he said. “The land management agencies must recognize that they have many management tools that they can utilize to provide motorized recreation opportunities while protecting other resource values.”

Moreland also made a case for more funding for federal agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management so that they can better manage motorized recreation. And he noted that the motorized recreation community has taken proactive steps, often in partnership with public land managers, to reinforce its land-use ethic through rider education and public awareness.

“Motorized recreation enthusiasts even support stricter penalties for anyone who damages our public lands,” he said.

Besides benefiting riders and the off-highway vehicle industry, motorized recreation pumps funds into local economies, Moreland added.

“One of the most dramatic cases is that of the $7.7 million impact of the Hatfield-McCoy off-highway vehicle trail system in some of the most economically challenged areas of West Virginia,” Moreland said. “According to Marshall University, the expansion of motorized trails has lead to the creation of 146 new jobs and an increase of over $622,000 in state and local tax revenue.”

Moreland closed his testimony by noting that the motorized recreation community has a long history of volunteerism and is ready to help public land managers by maintaining trails, promoting the ethical use of the land and advocating for appropriate funding.

“The AMA is confident that with the continued commitment of the recreation community, coupled with a commitment to manage our recreation from our land-management agencies, and with adequate funding support from Congress, the management challenges facing our public lands can be addressed.”

Other motorized recreation advocates who provided testimony before the panel include Russ Ehnes, executive director of the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council; Larry Smith, executive director of Americans for Responsible Recreational Access; and Greg Mumm, executive director of the BlueRibbon Coalition.

Ehnes testified in person before the subcommittee that the active management of off-highway vehicles on federal land is working, and that closing public land to the millions of Americans who enjoy motorized recreation would be a step backward.

Smith testified that the issue of “unmanaged” OHV recreation on U.S. Forest Service land was settled back in 2004 when U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth announced the Forest Service would go to a designated-route system for OHV recreation, rather than continue the policy of permitting cross-country travel on Forest Service land.

He also noted the federal Bureau of Land Management has begun active management of OHVs on BLM land.

“Some witnesses today will probably wring their hands and say that OHV recreation is a problem. We believe this (management) issue is already being addressed by the federal agencies,” Smith testified. “However, a greater problem exists that deserves this subcommittee’s attention and that is the lack of adequate resources for all forms of recreation on federal lands.”

PICKERINGTON, Ohio — In one of the most outrageous acts the American Motorcyclist Association has seen in years, the New York City Transportation Department defiantly refuses to change its rules so that they comply with federal law to allow motorcycles to use high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes.

The department states that it won’t change its rules to comply with federal law because the New York City Police Department opposes the change. But transportation officials refuse to explain the police opposition despite numerous attempts by the American Motorcyclist Association to get an explanation. The Police Department opposition was supposed to have been recorded, but wasn’t, in a public forum–a city Transportation Department hearing that was held Sept. 12, 2007 to change department rules related to motorcycle use of HOV lanes to comply with federal law. The rule change was to go into effect within 60 days of that hearing.

“New York City’s public servants are intentionally ignoring a law passed by the American people’s elected representatives in the U.S. Congress,” says Imre Szauter, AMA legislative affairs specialist, who has been trying to get answers from New York City transportation officials on the HOV-motorcycle issue.

“Because the New York City Transportation Department refuses to change its rules, every American motorcyclist faces tickets and fines when riding in New York City HOV lanes,” Szauter continues. “This is outrageous and totally unacceptable. Karen Perrine of Staten Island, New York, suffered through a two-and-a-half-year nightmare because of a ticket she got on Oct. 26, 2005 while riding her Yamaha FZ1 motorcycle in a New York City HOV lane.”

The New York Department of Motor Vehicles Appeals Board, in a letter dated February 15, 2008, agreed that Perrine was within her rights to use the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway HOV lane when she was pulled over and ticketed for an HOV lane violation. The board reversed her conviction and removed it from her driving record.

Perrine, however, is afraid to use the HOV lane again.

“When I opened the envelope from the Appeals Board I felt some satisfaction in having the conviction reversed, but it’s been extremely unfair to me that I have had to sit for over a year and a half with the points from this ticket on my driver’s license, while I waited for a decision from the Appeals Board,” Perrine says. “I was not breaking the law.

“In the last year and a half, those points have made me eligible for a new $300 New York Drivers Assessment Fee and led to the cancellation of my auto insurance policy. The total cost of this ticket including the appeal, the Drivers Assessment Fee and the replacement auto insurance policy has been $1,270,” she says.

“When I attended a public hearing at the New York City Department of Transportation in September 2007, and read a statement about my ticket and traffic court hassles, I thought that I was helping to change the local traffic laws and prevent other bikers from suffering as I have,” she says. “The New York City Department of Transportation had drafted an amendment that would make local traffic rules comply with the U.S. Code, finally. The new rules were to take effect by this spring.”

In recent years, motorcyclists in Phoenix and Pittsburgh also were ticketed for riding in HOV lanes. But those tickets were dismissed when the ticketed motorcyclists and the American Motorcyclist Association pointed out that federal law allows motorcycles in HOV lanes.

In fact, Pittsburgh even put up signs allowing motorcycles in HOV lanes after officials there were informed of the federal law.

The U.S. Code governing HOV lanes–Title 23, Section 166 (23USC166)–states agencies that govern HOV lanes must allow motorcycles to use the lanes unless they prove motorcycles pose a safety hazard on the lanes, and that proof is accepted by the U.S. Transportation Secretary following a Federal Register notice and public comment period on the ban.