June Was a Busy Month

by Steve Panten

Another Summer Hummer is in the books! I want to thank everyone that worked so hard to put on another great party. It takes a lot of volunteers dedicating much of their time to make sure this event is successful, and it never disappoints.

June was a busy month. Coming home from Bikers Inside the Beltway, energized from the great meetings we had with our Congress members and our Senators is just what a person needs to remember why we do this. I went from being in Washington DC to spending a weekend with Rider Coaches and motorcyclists at the Wisconsin Motorcycle Training Summit in Waukesha. This was the first of its kind event bringing rider coaches and motorcyclists from around the state together in this type of learning atmosphere. There were many great presenters discussing how to improve your riding skills and why it is important. Then there was an opportunity to test what we learned through years of riding on a course with rider coaches offering input on how we can improve.

The event was hosted by the Department of Transportation’s Motorcycle Safety Advisory Committee (MoSAC), and it was very educational. Our very own Gary Klinker did a workshop on braking so we can avoid laying your bike down. Then there was a workshop on cornering, and how to navigate roundabouts as well as the new “diamond exchanges.” The wealth of knowledge and experience in attendance was overwhelming. This was open to experienced riders as well as anyone who was even thinking about taking up riding a motorcycle. We heard from trainers in the Lock and Lean motor patrol officers’ program who train the officers to do the crazy things they do on the course.

I was honored to be asked to present information to the attendees on the future of motorcycling from a legislative viewpoint. On Saturday I held a workshop, and on Sunday I was able to address all attendees as a keynote speaker. I spend much of my life in this world looking at how we can protect motorcycling as we know it, so it’s surprising to me to see so many riders have never heard of ABATE and have no idea the fights that we are in. We opened many eyes and educated attendees on the fact that riding free does not just happen, there are many people dedicating their life to fighting for our rights. Keep in mind that that this summit was being put on by the State Department of Transportation so having us present is a big pat on the back for the work that we have done for 50 years. Our relationship with them was not always cordial. We had a tough spell in there where we did not communicate, in fact they once locked us out of a meeting that they scheduled for us. It is important that our relationship is positive now because we need to work together to protect motorcycling in Wisconsin.

On the heels of that training Summit, Safe Rider invited the Board Members to attend an experienced rider class in July. Many of us are taking advantage of the chance to lead by example. Training, and taking care of our brothers and sisters is how we can lower our single vehicle crashes, and fatalities.

Legislatively things are quiet in the state with elections coming up. Next session we are going to need a new author in the Assembly for our Vehicle Data Privacy bill as Representative Bodden has decided not to run again. With him leaving Madison, we have an opportunity to find a new champion to help us take this on. The redistricting means changes are coming. We will need to wait until after the election to see who we are going to approach for this agenda item. Now is the time to have conversations with people that are running for office. There are many friends of ours on both sides of the aisle that we need to make sure we support any way that we can. I know that we only had support from one party on our consumer protection bill for the sale of new vehicles but that is one agenda item. Whoever opposed us on this could be our best friend on the next one. Look at Kwik Trip. We lost one fight with them on the multi-fuel dispensing nozzles, but they registered in support of our vehicle protection bill, so you never know where our support is going to come from. Talk to the candidates and find out how they feel about motorcycling and the issues that are important to us. Even if they voted against us, find out why and how we can improve our bill draft so they would support it. Primary elections are coming in August. Get ready, be educated, and most importantly, vote.

One more thing about the Motorcycle Training Summit. The purpose of the summit was to train motorcyclists how not to crash. The Department of Transportation funded much of this training, so it was very affordable for attendees. The cost of the training for attendees basically covered breakfast and lunch, so all the knowledge and opportunities were basically free. A good take from this summit was that the DOT is doing their part to help us lower our fatalities. We both agree that getting riders to brush up on their skills will help to reduce the number of vehicle crashes, and that we can fix. Fatalities this year are up roughly 30% above last year at this time, and even last year we were roughly 20% above the yearly average. Quick math says that if we do not do something to lower our fatalities, we will be 50% above the average. We need to take care of each other.

That’s It,