New Challenges

by Steve Panten

This past month we learned about new challenges we are facing and the importance of being able to act quickly. We learned about a bill draft being circulated for support by Senators Feyen and Ringhand and Representatives Steineke and Doyle, that could affect motorcyclists and small engine users at the gas pump. LRB 2170/1 would allow gas stations to include E15 in pumps with blended nozzles provided the station has one pump dedicated to providing E10 or less only. Kwik Trip is pushing for this language, so they can replace one fuel type in pumps that currently have blended nozzles without replacing the pumps themselves. By allowing this practice to happen, motorcyclists, ATV/UTV users, boat owners and every small engine owner would be limited to using one pump to avoid potentially damaging their engines.

The Federal Environmental Protection Agency allows the use of E15 in vehicles but spelled out that it is illegal to use in motorcycles. Most motorcycle engines are not designed to operate with the higher ethanol levels and are warned in the owner’s manual that if used, the warranty could be voided. Many small engine and boat manufacturers say the same thing in their manual. If you have a small gas can or a small tank on your bike and you use a blended nozzle, you may not get any of the fuel that you paid for. Instead you get whatever fuel is left over in the nozzle which could be E15. This may cause a consumer to unknowingly break Federal Law and destroy the motor in their motorcycle.

When ABATE of Wisconsin learned about this bill draft we sent out a “Call to Action” to our members to contact their State Senators and Assembly members and ask them to not support LRB 2170/1. Two days after the call to action came out, a representative from Kwik Trip reached out to me to see what can be done for us to support this. He said that this would benefit motorcyclists because we would have a dedicated pump at every one of their locations to prevent any misfuelling. One pump…. two nozzles…. for every motorcyclist, ATV/UTV, small engine and boat user to use. Imagine how fun that will be waiting for your turn to use it. I asked what happens if it is the only station in the area and that pump is out of order? Oh yea…one thing I forgot to mention from the bill drafter’s notes…. This separate pump would not be required if the pumps at the station have a 4-gallon minimum purchase which would dilute whatever type of fuel was in the nozzle when your chosen type of fuel is purchased and pumped. Good luck fitting 4 gallons in your Sportster tank.

Thank You to everyone who made the calls when the Call to Action came out. I got the opportunity to explain to Kwik Trip our concerns and offered a logical solution. I asked them, because they are selling both a product that is illegal to use in certain vehicles and voids warranties in many other engines, and also a product that anyone can use, why wouldn’t the one that anyone that can use be in the blended nozzle pump and the specialized fuel be in the dedicated pump? Our thoughts are that this product should be treated like E85 or diesel fuel. It can be the same pump but let’s put it in a dedicated nozzle. I am happy to say that the Motorcycle Riders Foundation and the AMA support our position. Stay tuned.

Another challenge that showed up last month was when I was contacted by WISN 12 in Milwaukee to respond to a story that they were doing. There was a family in southeast Wisconsin that was making it their mission to reinstate a mandatory helmet law after their son’s death. This took us by surprise and they needed the interview to be scheduled and done in a matter of hours. John Reblin was able to make time to meet with the reporter and express our position of remaining a helmet choice state. As always, after the story was edited and the story came out, all they reported was that we would fight any mandatory helmet law. What was missed is the fact that if there was a bill introduced that would prevent motorcyclists from wearing a helmet, we would fight that too. ABATE of Wisconsin has always felt that it should be a rider’s choice, so we encourage all riders to make an educated decision and act accordingly.

The next challenge that seemed to be tied to this interview was a ride being organized by the friends of the deceased biker to raise money for traumatic brain injury (TBI) victims. There was much discussion on social media whether this was being put together by the family or friends and how did it tie into the parent’s interview. In the end it appears that the ride was to raise money to help victims and families of TBI patients and was not tied to the helmet issue. Personally, I would not support any ride that is raising money for TBI research since we would be funding the group that would testify against us if a helmet bill was introduced. We learned that this particular ride was to raise money for the victim’s families to help pay for hotels and expenses during hospital stays if needed.

This is definitely something that we will be paying attention to. There was a lot of discussion on social media, both for and against a mandatory helmet law. Any motorcycle fatality is felt by all of us in the motorcycle community. The parent’s decision to make this their mission is a bit confusing but I understand that they feel the need to do something. Their son was a veteran that served in Afghanistan and made the choice to ride without a helmet. Taking away the motorcyclists’ freedom to choose to wear a helmet or not seems to go against what their son was fighting for. ABATE of Wisconsin tracks every motorcycle fatality that happens throughout the year and studies trends. In the past we saw that many fatalities involved alcohol, so we came up with an anti-impaired riding campaign. Then we learned that many of the crashes involved unendorsed riders, so we created a “Get Endorsed” campaign and we have had success with both programs. ABATE will continue to learn as much as we can about every crash that results in a fatality and we will continue to try to find a solution to reduce crashes. If we can prevent crashes, then the helmet/no helmet issue is a moot point. The safest crash is the one that never happens and that’s what our focus will continue to be on. Hopefully the family will understand that and use the passion that they are carrying to help us with that mission.

Our autocycle bill is in the hands of the State Transportation Committee Chairs to schedule for a public hearing. I spoke with Senate Committee Chair Petrowski’s staff and they heard from Polaris also that we are ready to go. Look for the public hearing to be scheduled sometime in September. I am very hopeful that this hearing will go well, but of course we will be prepared to respond to whatever may come up.

One final thing…. I am not always as smart as I look. Last month I errored in naming the head of the State Bureau of Transportation Safety (BOTS). David Pabst holds that position and he has been a friend of ours for quite some time, so I need to apologize for my error. I would like to thank him for his support and we look forward to working with him in the future. No idea who David Craig is but I am sure that he is a good person and if he wants to help us, I would support him too.

That’s it.

 Steve