0
Hey folks, I don't know how many of you all are AMA members, but I just got my December issue of their mag and read this:
Bill would ban young riders in Massachusetts
(excerpt)A Massachusetts state lawmaker believes kids don't have any business riding motorcycles or ATVs, and he wants to ban them from doing so.
Rep. Matthew Patrick (D-Barnstable) has introduced House Bill 3592 to ban kids 13 or younger from riding motorcycles or ATVs anywhere in the state - even in their own back yards. The bill would also limit kids ages 14 and 15 to machines with 90cc or smaller motors.
I have difficulty expressing what utter rubbish this is. My son has been riding a KLX110 since he was 9, with no trouble or undue danger whatsoever. He wears a full-face helmet and motorcross armor, and rides on the little track we have in our own yard. It's a great physical activity for him, and teaches him valuable lessons about self-control, discipline, and the care and maintenance of a complex machine.
This is big-government nanny-statism at its worst, and if this goes through, things will only go downhill from there. In the very same issue of the AMA magazine, there is another story about how the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety is trying to ban or severely restrict every sort of motorcycle that resembles a sport bike, even including my wife's FJR1300 sport-touring bike.
Everyone reading this who lives in MA needs to write to their own congressmen and senator about this bill, and urge them to vote against it. You can get the name and contact info of your state reps here. Folks also need to pay better attention about what kind of people we are electing to office in the first place.