November, 2008. CALL TO ACTION! |
| Ontario Bill 117 - A Bill to Amend the Highway Traffic Act. |
| DO NOT DELAY! Take Action! Second Reading scheduled for early December. |
| What\'s the issue? Ontario MPP Helena Jaczek wants to ban motorcycle passengers under age 14, despite any evidence that this is a problem requiring such action. While no one can dispute rider safety, Road Safety reports and analysis suggest this is NOT as issue. |
| From the Canada Safety Council: " In terms of addressing risk and quoting from Mr. Raynald Marchand, General Manager of the Canada Safety Council, "Bill 117 is a solution looking for a problem." He continues, "I reviewed all seven Ontario Road Safety Annual Reports from 1999 to 2005. I did not find any fatalities for motorcycle passengers less than 14 years of age. I also looked at injuries for motorcycle passengers less than 16 years of age and compared them to bicycle passengers less than 16 years of age and car passengers less than 16 years of age over the same period (1999 to 2005). Ontario children were four times (4X) more likely to have been injured as passengers on bicycles and 262 times more likely to have been injured as passengers in passenger vehicles than to have been injured as passengers on motorcycles." |
| From Wheels editor Mark Richardson: "This issue might be seen as a tempest in a teapot, affecting a small proportion of the population, except it\'s indicative of the recommendations of well-meaning but misinformed citizens that get passed into law before anyone notices they\'re foolish." |
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| Read what Toronto Star WHEELS editor Mark Richardson had to say. |
| Watch The CTV/CFTO news story. |
| See what MCC member Ontario Road Riders Association (ORRA) is doing. |
See what MCC Member Ontario Federation of Trail Riders (OFTR) is doing. |
Read a letter written by the Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group (CVMG). |
| Read what CMG-Online is saying. |
| Read what riders on the GTA-motorcycles website are saying. |
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WRITE expressing your point of view, by email or snailmail or hand-delivered to: |
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Use a sample letter as a start. |
- Here\'s a sample letter drafted by the industry association Motorcycle Moped Industry Council (MMIC).
- Here\'s a sample letter from MCC Ontario Director Liz Jansen.
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CONTACT AND ENCOURAGE YOUR OWN club/organization to go on the record. ACT NOW! |