The sad fact is that all of us get labelled as obnoxious, loud, rude.
Take a look at the latest thing happening in Kaslo, BC in the Kootenay's one of the most beautiful riding regions in Canada. 4,300 signatures on a petition!
"The petition asks Anton and the RCMP to crack down on excessive motorcycle noise.
Kaslo's Art Mason, one of the people behind the petition effort, said the bikers are a real problem.
"It's just one after the other, after the other, just all summer long," he said. "They may think they go by and they're the only one. They don't realize that two minutes after them, there's another group … it goes right into their houses, the noise." CBC News
The petition is asking the police to do their job, not implement new laws, but none the less, the selfish few are ruining it for the quieter, more respectful majority.
Noise is a huge issue folks and one of the only ways we as a community are ever going quit being targeted and discriminated against by law enforcement and citizens as noise offenders, is if we riders are all respectful of the fact that we SHARE this world.
Shift workers, really tired moms who have been up with sick babies, people trying to host meetings, have functions out of doors, these are just a few of the people that riding in an obnoxious manner can disturb and turn against us.
Riding with respect for all, that is the key.
Another way to make people think about motorcyclists in a more positive light, is to educate people in a polite and informative way that #MotorcyclistsLivesMatter.
WE matter because we are moms, dads, siblings, grand kids and grand parents.
WE matter because we are Politicians, CEO's & Celebrities too.
We matter because we are taxpayers who contribute a lot.
We matter because we are charity and community minded, we matter because we spend money, we matter because we are a visible minority.
We are vulnerable on the road to all sorts of hazards (texting etc.), we are often subjected to discrimination, we are often tarred with a brush we didn't earn as a whole.
Yes our community has some in it that do bad things, rude things, selfish things and then there is the rest of us who work hard at being decent people.
#MotorcyclistLivesMatter BECAUSE WE ARE PEOPLE!
PLEASE Share the Infographic, the information on them will help educate the non rider.
Have you voted for Canada's MOST Rider Friendly Community?
If not, there's still time to support a community you love to ride to or are a part of!
Well, that's all for me today folks...
If you are blessed to be riding, PLEASE remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and can not see you, consider dressing for the slide, not the ride and please be respectful with your throttle hand.
Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider
Awesome posts! Love reading your blog, great content.
ReplyDeleteDelilah
I certainly applaud you for your attempts to bring motorcycle noise thuggery to the forefront and identify it for what it is, selfish, bully, irresponsible behavior. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteRick Holtsclaw, Houston PD/Retired
Concerned Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles - Facebook
PDF of recent Federal Lawsuit concerning unregulated motorcycle noise: http://static.lakana.com/nxsglobal/nwahomepage/document_dev/2016/02/12/3296_001_7003391_ver1.0.pdf
How about just calling it "Humans Matter" and stop the need to create a group of special interests, needs or entitlements. The group that makes up the rest of society far outweighs your statistics on riders so let's quit dividing up groups of people.
ReplyDeleteIf you modify your exhaust in any way, shape or form from that of factory so that it is louder that OEM you are part of society's problem. If you don't you are not the problem.
Let's see you take up this new mantra #SayNOtoModifiedExhausts and we, the rest of society, we support you.
Your "Riding with respect for all, that is the key" talking points are irrelevant to the issue and its root cause. Are you really trying to educate riders on complying with the muffler laws or are you trying garner sympathy with the public and the authorities? I think those irrelevant talking points clearly illustrate the latter.
ReplyDeleteDo you really want riders to ride with respect? If so, then get the message out to the motorcycling community to respect the muffler laws and the rights of the public the muffler laws are intended to protect. That message is: Don't tamper with your mufflers or replace your factory installed mufflers with non-factory equivalent after market mufflers and straight pipes that you know are designed to render your motorcycle's exhaust noise emissions unlawfully and disrespectfully loud.
That is the root cause of the loud motorcycle problem, not how riders ride their motorcycles. Tell the truth and knock off using those talking points for garnering sympathy for those who ride illegally modified and excessively loud motorcycles.
From: ld1958@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteYour "Riding with respect for all, that is the key" talking points are irrelevant to the issue and its root cause. Are you really trying to educate riders on complying with the muffler laws or are you trying garner sympathy with the public and the authorities? I think those irrelevant talking points clearly illustrate the latter.
Do you really want riders to ride with respect? If so, then get the message out to the motorcycling community to respect the muffler laws and the rights of the public the muffler laws are intended to protect. That message is: Don't tamper with your mufflers or replace your factory installed mufflers with non-factory equivalent after market mufflers and straight pipes that you know are designed to render your motorcycle's exhaust noise emissions unlawfully and disrespectfully loud.
That is the root cause of the loud motorcycle problem, not how riders ride their motorcycles. Tell the truth and knock off using those talking points for garnering sympathy for those who ride illegally modified and excessively loud motorcycles.
Larry Deal
Rickey Holtsclaw/Gh0st/Larry Deal - whatever you call yourself...There are two kinds of riders those of us who ride with respect and those that don't. Those that don't won't listen to people like me, the rest of us get tarred with a brush we don't deserve. I ride a stock bike, no modifications at all so before you go spouting your American hatred - think before you speak.
ReplyDeleteThose of us who do ride with respect don't deserve the hatred we are constantly getting from people just like you. You want people to ride with stock exhaust - then how about motor vehicles? I know that the same asshats that destroy it for the rest of us are the same asshats who drive tuner cars with ridiculous stereos and chipped up trucks with loud exhausts.
The attention seekers...they destroy it for us. And YOU paint those of us who do ride with respect with a brush we don't deserve.
I bet you are the kind of guy who would try to run a motorcycle off the road just cause you hate us so bad.
#MotorcyclistLivesMatter - and that's how I view the situation - I am a respectful rider, living in a world of people who ASSUME a lot of stuff and hurt others in the process - you are one of those people. BDB
You say you ride a stock bike with no modifications. In that case you do indeed ride with respect and in compliance with the laws that prohibit the use of non-factory equivalent mufflers. Riders like yourself are not "hated" by people who want the problem of excessively loud motorcycles cracked down on as you seem to think. In fact, those riders are respected by those people.
ReplyDeleteIt is the other class of riders, those who do not respect the rule of law, who are the target of criticism and who the victims of excessively loud motorcycles want the authorities to crack down on. You seem to be a bit confused about that so am clarifying it for you. It is not riders in general who are being criticized.
You correctly point out that riders who don't comply with the law, illegally modify their motorcycles and ride loud do not listen to those who urge them to "ride with respect". But exactly what do you mean by the phrase "ride with respect"?
By "ride with respect" I hope you mean riding a stock bike with no modifications, especially modifications of its exhaust system, the muffler in particular. It is those illicit modifications (unlawful tampering) that is the root cause of excessively loud motorcycles, not just the manner in which a rider operates a motorcycle as many motorcycle rights advocates and those disrespectful riders often claim.
They are advocating and defending the use of non-factory equivalent mufflers intended for use on close courses only and claim that it is only necessary for riders of such illegally equipped and modified to be loud motorcycles to ride them "with respect" and that the authorities need not worry about or target those illegal modifications. It is that notion that is being criticized.
Your "ride with respect" message does not focus on the root cause of noisy motorcycles or explain exactly what that slogan means. Instead, you dwell on a motorcycle riders hatred theme and seem to be arguing that calling out for a crackdown on excessively loud motorcycles, such as that petition in Kootenay is doing, constitutes all riders being targeted and discriminated against by law enforcement and citizens. The target of that petition and the laws the citizens of Kootenay and other jurisdictions want actively and strongly enforced is not motorcycle riders in general, only those riders who are riding loud and violating the law.
By invoking the "We (all riders) are being targeted and discriminated against" claim and the "Motorcyclists Lives Matter" sympathy garnering taking points, you are misdirecting the debate in an irrelevant direction and providing a shield (inadvertently, I hope) to riders who don't ride with respect of the laws and the rights of the public those laws are intend to protect. If it is "unfair" or "unlawfully discriminatory" to target those who ride motorcycles (loud motorcycles) for the application of the rule of law, then how is the all to chronic problem of excessively loud motorcycle ever to be put in check? Do you really object to a crackdown on the problem? I hope not. I hope you will support that effort and clarify your massage to motorcycle community and explain what riding with respect really means.
You obviously have not read my blog before. I have many posts where in I attempt to educate riders, and I am very abrasive about it.
ReplyDeleteThere are clearly two messages in this particular post - one Ride with RESPECT - two for those who do not know the difference from a motorcyclist who rides with respect and the others, here's an info sheet.
Until such time as our Government here in Canada and each province decides that ALL NOISE makers are penalized, I have an issue with motorcycle only noise stops. Here in Canada, these stops pull in all on motorcycles, check all of those motorcycles, many times holding people up for hours. It's easy to know which motorcycle/s are causing the noise - so go after those people and leave the rest of the riders alone.
There are certain times where having a louder muffler is appealing on a motorcycle, two in fact...one is in urban riding settings where someone is drifting into your lane and you have no place to go, sometime the crack of a throttle will wake the driver up to the fact you are beside them, and the throttle is faster to use than trying to find the horn button. The other time is riding the highway in heavily gamed areas. The noise alerts the animal and you can see them pick their heads up. Other than that, you should never ride your bike aggressively enough that your exhaust noise is obnoxious. If you need to take it to the track.
As far as the other message about who most riders are, I a sick of loosing my friends and family to inattentive drivers, those who fail to shoulder check, those who fail to look twice and claim they did not see us.
Our lives DO MATTER. We are family and community members, we are taxpayers, and we are vulnerable to those who have no consideration when driving their automobiles.
If you can't figure out that there are two messages in this post, that's your problem.
It seems to me that you just like to argue to argue.