"Ban Crotch Rockets and Bullet Bikes"

[thatguy]

By all means ban fuel efficient vehicles while they're murdering at a record rate in Baltimore.Ahh the legacy of O'Malley.

[Snowbird]

He he... I just emailed this to that State Delegate:

Guess what, Willy: a Volvo Station Wagon is a "death machine in the wrong hands."  Don't believe me?  Ask those 40 people who were at that southeast DC street festival who got run over by the crackhead this past weekend.  Should we ban Volvo Station Wagons, too?

Okay... let's pretend that this "ban sportbikes" thing is something other than a lame attempt to capitalize on a tragedy in order to get your name in the papers. Where do you draw the line?  Do you, or any other civil parasite who'd be writing such a law, know enough about motorcycles to make such a distinction?  Of course not.  So what do you propose?  Ban all motorcycles above a certain horsepower?  

Why stop there?  Since it's apparent that you aren't a motorcyclist, I'll share something with you:  They're all fast, Willy.  One of my motorcycles is 19 years old.  It only produces 45 HP.  In contrast, the average modern "death machine" sportbike can produce well over 120 HP.   My little 45 horsepower bike will still get to 60mph in under 4 seconds, and max out at 110mph.  I can brake plenty of laws and endanger a lot of people with it if I want to.  They're all fast, they call can be handled irresponsibly.  Just like Volvo Station Wagons.

And what about motorcyclists traveling through our great nanny state of Maryland?  You know, the people who live in states that don't seek to curtail their freedoms in the name of enforced safety.  Will they be committing an offense simply by entering the state on a motorcycle that you have decreed to be a death machine?  Are you going to put up "No Sportbike" signs at every road that enters Maryland?  Does the MD SHA even have the jurisdiction to ban certain vehicles from INTERSTATES?  No way.  A law such as the one you propose would have done nothing to prevent the recent tragedy.

So, like I said before, your "let's ban sportbikes" statement was an unfortunately typical attempt to use the news generated by that accident to get your name in the papers. You would do well to remember that not every Marylander wants the entire state to be like Montgomery County.

Nice letter. I'd like to hear dikhed's reply.

[mcskeeto]

Well representative Brainrot happens to be my state delegate. I jut sent him a blistering email. I encourage everyone on this board to do likewise. Here's his email.

Bill4MD16@aol.com

william_bronrott@house.state.md.us


http://www.bronrott.com/

[Portable]

It figures someone in Maryland would be suggesting an assault motorcycle ban.  The similarities between this issue and that of "assault weapons" couldn't possibly be any greater.

[davop]

Doesn't sound like they know what sort of bike it was. Sounds like the politician had an agenda about bikes. Since the bike didn't cause injury, the chase did. It was a knee jerk reaction of a jerk politician about the jerk biker.

[Albie]

A damn good reason they should be outlawed.

Good thing reason's got nothing to do with the law.  

[baddogonabmw]

I have so many thoughts on this thread that I don't know that I can keep them all straight. By time I got to this point, I've forgotten half of my responses.

1) Would the state Representative response have been the same if the driver had been on a Harley?  Assuming of course that it was nimble enough to circumvent the police cruiser and cause it to crash into another vehicle.
2) Where did mustangs come into the conversation?  I had a 78 plymouth horizon that could beat a mustang (well, it did at least once).  In any event, I've seen young kids and old kids both do stupid things in vehicles and the price and speed capacity of the vehicle probably had little to do with it.  Some say the brain is the most powerful and potent sex organ.  Well, I think the same may go for the "speed" aspect.  *NOTE:  I still think tiered licensing has some promise.  You don't see everyone with a licence driving 83,000 lb tractor/trailer combos without some special training/certification.
3) All FZR 400's should be banned.  After all... What the hell was Yamaha thinking?
4) True story - daughter was 17 and got in bad car accident driving home at night and missed corner.  She was airlifted out.  Long story short - she was OK.   Nothing said... Son was 20 had accident on motorcycle (low-side on corner) and was fully geared up and walked away from. (1 year later)  Grandparents were ticked and threatened to throw bike in nearby river and disown grandson if he was ever to be so stupid as to ride a motorcycle again.  Similar sentiments from some aunts and uncles.  WTF???  Nothing said about my daughter and not letting her drive a car ever again.
5) Loud pipes do NOT save lives.  Sorry, threadjack.

Politician's know that public perception, not necessarily reality, dictate policy.  Play to the perception and you can win elections.  Bikes are bad.  Everyone that rides a bike is a thug.  Why else ride a nimble speed machine if other than to run from the cops.  The best way to combat this is to attempt to change public perception.  Show your neighbors the joy and fun of riding a motorcycle and that we're not all a bunch of idiots.

Prejudice in forms of sexual, race, age and familial status is banned, but hasn't always been so.  We need to work to ban the prejudice against motorcycles.  The best way, IMHO, is to be a good ambassador.  Fly safe!

[DataDan]

I doubt that the guy will be favorably impressed with rude letters from non-constituents. To the contrary, he just might find his unreasonable proposal gaining support, thanks to the reality of f**ktards on sportbikes.

Yesterday morning (6/10/07) two riders died when they hit a minivan on U.S. 50 near Easton, MD. The bikes were part of a group of about 12 that "police say may have been driving at speeds exceeding 100 mph". More info here: Easton Accidents Made Weekend Deadly

[RexRider]

Given the amount of damage in those photos, I'd say they were definitely ripping alond, when they f@@@ed up...  A@@hat squids like that do give the rest of us the bad name that we have with knee-jerk, reactionary politicians, and civilians alike.  

[shah269]

Given the amount of damage in those photos, I'd say they were definitely ripping alond, when they f@@@ed up...  A@@hat squids like that do give the rest of us the bad name that we have with knee-jerk, reactionary politicians, and civilians alike.  

+100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000!
If any of those nuts lived they should be sentenced to death!

[Albie]

After reading all of those stupid crashes there it sounds like they ought to ban driving anything in MD.

[Mac]

Md sounds like a pretty messed up place, maybe we should ban Md. or at least DC.

[REAPER]

Let me guess.  The senator is an N.R.A. member who believes that people kill, not guns.  But when it comes to bikes, bikes kill, not people.

Now if the police were chasing a car and the same thing happened, then I guess he would be calling for a ban in regards to cars.  The gus is just trying to get his name into the papers!

No, He's from Canada and wants to protect us from our selves (you know.......... like your government  ).