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P.O. Box 160223 Nashville, Tn 37216-0223 615 262-1119 - Office
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July, 2003 In the last few weeks I’m sure you’ve heard a great deal about bikers ‘running red lights’. We’ve been in most of the ‘news’ papers around the state in both articles and editorials. We have been on radio ‘news’ casts and on TV shows. We’ve been on ‘news’ websites all over the world. We’ve been interviewed by ‘news’ organizations in Alabama and Minnesota. We were on the ‘news’ on National Public Radio. We have been on call in shows being interviewed by ‘news’ casters. Why the quotations around ‘news’ in all of the previous statements? Because none of them reported the NEWS. They all opted for the sensational – “Motorcyclists Allowed to Run Red Lights!” headline. It is a great way of getting attention for their ‘news’ outlet and maybe gaining readership or viewership. The problem is IT’S WRONG. Yes, we passed the Red Light law. The Department of Transportation had every opportunity to address this bill before the House Transportation Committee hearings for four or five weeks as the bill kept getting rolled. They had lots of time to do research and present a case. Eventually, when they did testify, Representative Johnson pinned the spokesman down and he finally admitted that they couldn’t adequately adjust all of the sensors and eventually a biker stuck at a light would have to violate the law to proceed. However, this still isn’t “Running a Red Light” as the media keeps saying. In the last week I have come up on four different non-functional traffic signals in my truck. They were either completely out or flashing red. After I stopped and then proceeded with due care and caution, there isn’t a cop in the state that would have given me a ticket. I acted within the law. No one would suggest that I suddenly had a death wish and was going to drive out in front of moving traffic because I had to use my own judgment rather than rely on the mechanical equipment supplied by the state to tell me when it was safe to proceed. Yet, if I do the same on a bike at a light that won’t detect my preferred mode of transportation, the general public is being told by the media that I am now a menace. As John Pierce states, they must think that my I.Q. dropped 80 points with the passage of this law. (Heck, I don’t have 80 points to spare!) The way the media puts it we don’t even have to stop at the light and if we are hit it will be considered the other guy’s fault. We will be piling up in the intersections like cordwood. We’ll be pulling out in front of 18 wheelers from red light just to make a point. We don’t need to pay attention and our rights surpass everyone else’s at intersections. Although we know how to observe stop SIGNS and not get run over, these fancy, fandangled stop LIGHTS will cause us to be like a mesmerized June bug in front of the proverbial headlight. Well, sometimes sitting there in that left turn lane with highway speed traffic flying by on both sides and nothing but a single headlight or single taillight – I feel like that bug. I’m ready to be splattered by that inattentive driver who gets confused about the speed, distance or configuration of that oncoming (or stationary) vehicle when there is only one light – especially at night. The media got one thing right – this is a safety issue. It will be safer for all bikers when this law is in effect and we have the legal opportunity to get the heck out of the way! During one call-in show I had a caller say if I pull out in front of him he will make sure the cop only hears one side of the story. Another caller stated that bikes shouldn’t be allowed on the road. You can see why the media presented it the way they did. In the meantime we need to keep educating the media, the general public and other bikers that this is not a law that allows us anything other than what an automobile driver can do today. The media’s number one goal is to promote themselves and make money. In this case, with a few exceptions of some reporters like Tom Bailey from Memphis who is trying to find out the facts AFTER the initial media blitz, the truth doesn’t matter. The headline is a real attention getter – your safety and your intelligence is inconsequential. Until later, just ride (and don’t pull out in front of oncoming traffic…) Steve |
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