Making New Friends

by Steve Panten

Another Holiday passes and I hope it was safe for all of our members and their families. What I enjoy about the 4th of July is all the neighborhood celebrations and getting an opportunity to visit with our local, state and federal legislators at picnics. I hope that you took advantage of that.

My 4th of July holiday week was spent traveling around the state visiting with fellow ABATE members and finding new friends at small town businesses (a better word than bars). As Michelle and I made our way from SE Wisconsin up to Superior and even Duluth, MN, we couldn’t help noticing all the ABATE yard signs that we passed. We spent a lot of time taking back roads and discovering new areas, so we had ample opportunity to make new friends. What we also found was how many ABATE friendly establishments that we happened to walk in to. Just about every place we stopped, people wanted to talk about ABATE. Many were members and at one place the bartender had patrons Googling it to learn more about us.

So where am I going with this cute story? Being loud. I was very happy to see that ABATE is everywhere. The signs, the people talking about it, and more importantly the people asking about it. Most of the conversations were started because people noticed our ABATE clothing and we met quite a few people who said that they were members. We even walked into a few places that said that they held ABATE meetings or events. Our branding is working and that is important for our growth and for any opportunity to become a larger player in the future of transportation in Wisconsin. Being loud.

John Reblin and I had the privilege of sitting down with Wisconsin’s Secretary of Transportation Craig Thompson, Deputy Secretary Paul Hammer, the head of the State Patrol Anthony Burrell, and the head of the Bureau of Transportation Safety (BOTS) David Craig. John was able to set this meeting up for us, so we can talk about our issues and the importance of including motorcyclists when transportation issues are being discussed. They were very interested as we talked about our past accomplishments, our current issues and how we strive to be responsible with our programs. In the end we received the commitment from all attendees that they support what we do and will include us moving forward. This was an exciting opportunity for us to meet new people and we made friends with leadership in the State DOT.

One of the main topics that we discussed was Autonomous Vehicles and more narrowly, truck platooning. Once we explained what we were trying to do and why we felt it was important, they started talking about other concerns they had about truck platoons that are not regulated. One example they gave was a concern that scales that are embedded in roadways would not be able to accurately weigh trucks that are following so closely together. These scales weigh a truck and if it is close to the max weight, it may direct them into a scale for verification. Along with that was their same concern about the ability for vehicles, including motorcycles, to be able to use freeway on/off ramps.

What’s even more important about our success at this meeting was that it followed up on the heels of a meeting that I had with Representative Gundrum and staff, staff from Senator Petrowski’s office and Neal Kedzie from the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association. This meeting did not go as well. Senator Petrowski was the lead on the bill passed last session that removed the following distance for large trucks, setting up truck platooning in the state, so they are not very interested in changing the statute that passed. The Motor Carriers pushed very hard to not limit the number of trucks like we were proposing. In the end they were fine with requiring signage on the vehicles stating that it “may be a connected vehicle” and we have the support of the State Patrol. We also learned that there is an urgent need to look at the State’s definition of operator, operate, driver and drive. While they seem simple, when it comes to autonomous vehicles operating in driverless mode, we need to clear up whether there is a driver in the vehicle. When it comes to platooning trucks there is testing going on with driverless vehicles in other states. If there is a person in an office in a different state controlling the vehicle, is it really a driver?

We learned that we will not be able to proceed with limiting the number of vehicles without a compromise, but now that we met with the DOT, we may have the horsepower that we need. Both meetings also brought out that everyone needs to relook at the final report from the Governors Steering Committee on Autonomous and Connected Vehicles. You may recall that Ric Mellon was on that committee and his work is now coming to fruition. I realize that although many meetings are in our future, nothing may be happening since we have a divided Government in this state with a Republican Legislature and a Democratic Governor. One thing is for certain, we will need to find a member with knowledge of this subject to be a representative of motorcyclists when these meetings start up again. Ric did an amazing job but other duties in his life are taking up most of his time now. If you have an understanding of this topic and you would be able to help us by attending a few meetings a year, please reach out to me. We need help. While this is an important role for a volunteer, we will support you and give guidance on our position. There will most likely be travel to Madison required and ABATE will reimburse you for fuel and parking, because we are nice like that.

Did you happen to notice that I wrote 971 words so far and never once mentioned autocycle? Well, here we go. Progress. Senator Jacque’s staff sent the amendment to our bill back to the drafter for the final adjustment and we should see it move to the Transportation Committee Chair soon, so they can schedule the Public Hearings. Once we learn that the committee chairs have the final draft, we reach out to the members to contact their legislators and push for it to be scheduled. Not yet, but hopefully soon. This topic was also discussed at our DOT meeting and they support what we are proposing.

A topic that we have been watching but have not reported on is Senator Jacque and Representative Murphy’s bills SB43/AB37. These bills would legalize paddlewheel raffles in the state. Currently, this bill has passed unanimously out of the Senate Committee and was scheduled for a Public Hearing in the Assembly. New rules in the Assembly require at least 3 groups be present to testify in support of a bill for it to get a vote. Senator Jacque reached out to John Reblin to have ABATE testify in order to keep this bill moving. Having John and Mike Halverson there helped reach the 3 groups attending goal because we also spoke in support on behalf of MRF members in the state. The hearing went well, and we should see this passed before the end of the year. This is important to us because meat raffles using paddlewheels were a big hit at our events and helped us make our events more profitable. It hasn’t passed yet, so we still can’t have paddlewheel raffles but hopefully it will be coming soon. Next up is legalizing Poker Runs and Senator Jacque expressed an interest in that as well.

It’s been a busy month with the Summer Hummer, my trip around the state, and then meetings, but it’s been fun. I want to thank all the members that we visited while on our trip for their hospitality and for showing us around. Thank you to the ABATE friendly businesses that welcomed us in and wanted to learn more (look in your newsletter to find ABATE friendly establishments and if you don’t see your favorite place in there sign them up, information is right above the listings). And finally, thank you to everyone around the state who has an ABATE yard sign. It’s fun driving in a small town in Wisconsin and knowing that I have friends there.

That’s it.

Steve