Successful Firsts

by Steve Panten

Throughout our lifetime there have been many opportunities to try something for the first time. Even now, we still have opportunities in everyday life to do things for the first time. But who would have guessed that after 46 years of ABATE’s existing, we would need to try something new to get our message to the legislators in Madison? But we did.

Because of circumstances beyond our control, we had to hold our Biker Day at the Capitol event virtually. This was a challenge since even the thought of a virtual meeting was hard to understand since many of us never even heard about it until last year. Well, we did it. A huge thank you to all the members for their commitment to making Biker Day as successful as we possibly could. It was a challenge since many of us had to be trained on how to use this technology.

We asked our member to schedule meetings with their elected officials without understanding how they were going to pull the meeting off. We asked them to set a meeting time and let the legislators know that as the date got closer, we would send them a meeting link. Then it was up to Doris, our Marketing Director to put it all together. And she did it. Doris was able to make sure that all the members had the information they needed to successfully pull this off. And they did it.

This was definitely not the most effective way to do grassroots lobbying but it’s what we had to do. Motorcycling in the State of Wisconsin is in jeopardy and we needed to start the conversations with our elected officials in Madison now. With autonomous vehicles becoming more popular and crashes adding up, we still do not know how these vehicles will interact with motorcycles. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is pushing forward with a plan to have Wisconsin’s transportation system “connected” by 2050, and they are not even talking about how motorcycles fit into that plan.

At a recent Advisory Committee meeting on Autonomous and Connected Vehicles, they proudly paraded out their plan of CONNECT 2050. The problem for us is that during their discussions and slide show, they showed all different type of transportation methods including boats, planes, trains, cars, trucks, pedestrian, bicycles but NO MOTORCYCLES! Where does that leave us is a question that nobody has an answer for.

The motorcyclists voice needs to be louder, and that started with our Biker Day last month. We called out the legislators for not listening to us when they voted to allow E15 in multi-fuel dispensing nozzles. Now, depending on what gas the person before us at the pump uses, we may be violating Federal Law and risking engine damage. This is the same for anyone that is buying gas for their lawn mower, boat or even their drift bike (pictures of the drift bike I made are available if you ask me). It is so important that we address this issue now since in order to be “connected” by 2050, they are going to have to make small changes now. Is taking away our gas the first step in eliminating the problem of connected vehicle technology’s failure to interact with motorcycles? It sure seems like it.
One way that we can help ourselves is to ride within our means by maintaining control of our motorcycles, so we stop crashing. Motorcycle fatalities were up almost 40% above the 10-year average last year and we are about 17% higher than that already this year. If we make up 10 percent of the vehicles on the road but account for over 14 % of the fatalities, we are an easy target. The state is trying to reach “Zero in Wisconsin” and we need to do our part to help them. We always said that we need to take care of ourselves or THEY will take care of us. Are we starting to see that?

We had another first last month. ABATE hosted its first ever The Future of Motorcycling in Wisconsin Summit. This event was open to all motorcycle clubs, riding clubs and riding groups with a limit of 2 members per club because we were limited on space at the venue that we chose (could afford). The idea was to try to get as many motorcyclists engaged as we could with one summit. By targeting these groups, we could reach all the members of the clubs in attendance and hope that they bring the information back. At some point we would like to host an event where we can open it up to all motorcyclists in the state but putting that together is expensive and we cannot take it on right now. We have not ruled it out, just needed to see how this was going to go over.

I am happy to report that this was a great event. The clubs and groups that were in attendance were engaged and appreciated having us bring our issues to their attention. I would like to thank the Motorcycle Riders Foundation for giving input on what is happening in Washington DC, and to Russell Radke from the National Council of Clubs for traveling from Arizona to explain how important it is for these groups to start paying attention to what ABATE and the MRF are doing for them. We started the conversation but now we all need to work together to make our voice louder when it comes to issues affecting motorcyclists in the State of Wisconsin.

Right after I finish this article and send it off to our newsletter editor, I have to start packing. I have the Southeast Wisconsin “Clubhouse Run” on Saturday, the ABATE Board Meeting on Sunday and then Monday I leave for Washington DC to represent the motorcyclists at our nation’s capital. We are sending a smaller than normal group this year since we will not be able to get into all the office’s for in-person visits. I will be joined in DC by Hardtail, Dave Dwyer, Seven and Cathy so we have a solid group of speakers to get the message to our Federal Representatives. The Wisconsin delegation in Washington is very supportive of our concerns. Congressman Gallagher introduced the Motorcycle Advisory Council renewal, and he was joined by Congresswoman Gwen Moore to make this a bipartisan piece of legislation. This bill would extend the Council and would improve the make-up of the Council by adding more motorcyclists. Congressman Pocan has also been supportive of legislation that is introduced to help stop motorcyclists profiling and Senators Johnson and Baldwin, along with Congressman Tiffany have also been hugely supportive of our legislative agenda. This is also going to be our first chance to meet Congressman Fitzgerald in his new role since moving from the State Senate to the House of Representatives. As usual, I am very much looking forward to representing you in Washington DC.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at this year’s Summer Hummer. We are trying new things with a Taste of Hummer – wine, cheese, and other stuff event. This is going to be a great event so I will see you there.

That’s it.
Steve

Motorcycle Summit

May 1st ABATE of Wisconsin hosted it’s first Motorcycle Summit, “The Future of Motorcycling in Wisconsin”. Because this was a first ever event and space was somewhat limited, ABATE opened it up to all motorcycle clubs, riding clubs and riding groups with a limit of 2 members per club. The idea was to try to get as many motorcyclists engaged as we could in one location. By targeting these groups, we could reach all the members of the clubs in attendance by hoping that those who came would bring the information back. It was a great success. The groups/clubs attending are asking to have this type of informational exchange twice a year. Steve Panten will be looking into the possibility for hosting another meeting in the fall or next spring.