March 21st, 2023 was a Great Day for the Motorcyclists in Wisconsin!

by Steve Panten

Roughly 500 bikers walked into the Capitol to meet with the members of the State Legislature that were elected to represent them. It’s very impressive to walk the halls in the Capitol and see like-minded bikers around every corner, walking into offices to present ABATE’s Legislative Agenda. Our message was well received, and I would like to thank everyone that showed up. ABATE of Wisconsin’s Lobby Day is a great way to start conversations on how to protect motorcycling in the state for future generations.

One topic that was discussed was making operating a vehicle in autonomous or driverless mode on Wisconsin roads illegal until more testing is completed and made public. Manufacturers and software developers need to show this technology is safe to operate around all road users. We are looking for published reports about how these vehicles will interact with motorcycles and once that information is collected, regulations can be drafted to ensure the safety of all road users.

So, now some background on drafting legislation to make it illegal – it’s actually already against the law when you look at the statutes. State Statute 340.01(41) states that “an operator must be in physical control of a vehicle” and 346.89(1) says “No person while driving a motor vehicle may be engaged or occupied with an activity, other than driving the vehicle, that interferes or reasonably appears to interfere with the person’s ability to drive the vehicle safely.”

One would think that would be enough to prevent someone from operating in driverless mode but there are technicalities in each of these statutes, such as, is computer software considered an operator? Or what does doing an activity that interferes with a person’s ability to operate a vehicle mean? So, while we have these 2 statutes, we need to clear this up. We are looking forward to working with all groups, on both sides of the argument, to make sure motorcyclists are considered when decisions are being made about testing this technology on Wisconsin roads.

Protecting combustion engines is important to motorcyclists as well as other consumers in the state. We asked our legislators to draft language that will ensure that the state legislature, or any state government agency, can mandate what type of engine is in a vehicle, or other equipment sold in Wisconsin. The goal is to protect the sale and operation of combustion engine vehicles. While electric engines on vehicles or equipment may work fine for some in the state, mandating that we cannot have combustion engines, or fuel we need to operate those engines, is unreasonable. One suggestion would be to educate the consumers to purchase a power plant that is appropriate for their use. Maybe it makes sense for someone to use an electric car, or electric lawn equipment but that does not make it appropriate for others to do the same. Let the consumer decide by making them both available without penalties so they can use what is best for their needs.

I mentioned earlier that this is an important topic for motorcyclists and other consumers in the state. We are working with a broad group of people with an interest in this topic, including having the support of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC from here on out). John Reblin and I had an opportunity to meet with them before Lobby Day and they are interested in partnering with us on this important piece of legislation. Their goal is to protect manufacturers or retailers right to sell a piece of equipment regardless of what type of power plant it has. We also have the support of companies that work in the sale and distribution of fuel throughout Wisconsin.

Protecting our combustion engines and fuel source is a top priority for the motorcyclists in the state. We are not opposed to electric engines and the technology being used to develop them, but we are opposed to anyone telling us that our next motorcycle HAS to be electric. Just like we are not opposed to driverless technology being used on Wisconsin roads but right now, there are no published reports about how safe they are around motorcycles. Why not? Maybe this technology will make our roads safer someday but, according to statistics provided by the State Department of Transportation, there have been 709 crashes involving Tesla’s on Wisconsin roads, and 3 of those involved a motorcycle. We would like to better understand how many of these crashes were a result of the vehicle being operated in advanced driver assistance (as Tesla likes to call it) mode, but the DOT is unable to collect and provide that information. Shouldn’t we better understand the impact of this technology on our roads before we allow them to operate unregulated?

Thank you to everyone that responded to our “Call to Action” to contact the governor and invite him to sit down with us to discuss how we can work together to create a safe and enjoyable environment for motorcycling in the state. If you remember, we sent this out because Governor Evers has declined meeting with us for the past 4 years and his office never offered an alternate day/time to meet. Well, we were successful, kind of. They responded to our request by offering a meeting with the Deputy Secretary of Transportation from the DOT. A couple interesting things about that, they never confirmed a day or time for the meeting, and I guess they don’t realize that every May we meet with the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, Secretary Thompson, the head on the State Patrol and the Head of the Wisconsin Bureau of Transportation Safety. I guess this is a start and I appreciate that they offered a meeting with someone. If this does ever happen, maybe it will help us move one step closer to a meeting with the Governor or a member of his Legislative Staff.

We have a lot of exciting things going on right now. This month we are sending members to the STEAM Conference in Bismarck North Dakota to meet with other State Motorcycle Rights Organizations to discuss what is working in their states. Then in May, we are sending a motivated group to Washington DC to meet with our Federal Legislators to discuss how they can help the motorcyclists back in their state.

Hang on and keep your feet on the pegs, this ride is going to be exciting. We are working on some large issues that need to be addressed and it’s time someone does. The bikers in Wisconsin are ready to take these issues up because we understand the impact of doing nothing. We can see it coming, motorcycling is in jeopardy, we will need help from all our members and all motorcyclists throughout the state. Here we go!

That’s it.

Steve