Moped laws on agenda as fatalities continue to climb

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solokumba

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Nov 24, 2010
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From USA TODAY

I had to chuckle at this-
"To the surprise of state Rep. Derham Cole, R-Spartanburg, it's not against the law to ride a moped while drunk in South Carolina."
 

Nashville Kat

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2009
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Jacksonville, Florida
Hate to boost your title up Solo, but I think this is an issue that people here need to be ready to address.

We live in an age of reactionary politics- Those running for office have found that they can gain a lot of votes for placing blame, pointing fingers, and getting their constituents pissed off about something. If we don't speak up this could fall in our direction and we could lose a lot of rights.

I left comments on the USA Today article- I'd like to encourage others here to do the same when they come across something like this. Those in public office want to take a real "because I'm the mommy" stance and pretend like they are watching over and concerned with our safety. This is highly questionable. Often they just want to use power, while they have it.

There are more accidents and fatalities out there because the use of scooters and mopeds and motorbikes has risen and largely out of economic necessity and real physical logistic. Other than that, a selfish mindset may seek to run us off the road, because we are portrayed as a minor inconvenience.

I've seen other articles like this one the last several years and the legislators involved always seem to be trying to focus on riders who have previous DUI recortds. This is slanted and unfair- most riders do not ride simply because they can't legally drive a car anymore. I personally think the corporate powers are behind a lot of it- big oil and automakers- even down to the high cost of regular bicycles level.

We need to be ready to speak out- answer and comment on such articles, and be ready to write letters and e-mail our thoughts and experiences to legislators, particularly when it's in your own area. Also newspapers- you can e-mail any newspaper office in the world on the internet, and it would help if we could network, and have a campaign of comment and response, whenever are rights might be threatened by restrictive legislation.

I like to point out also that the citizens of other countries have for a long time had more free access to these alternative forms of transportation, while we, in the land of the free, are hindered by antiquated modes of thought. Our leaders are always talking about competing with foreign markets, while we continue to hurt our own citizens and workforce with elitist policies that serve the dwindling monied.

anyway, that's some of my thoughts....
 
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greggasbike

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Nov 23, 2010
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north carolina
Its sad isn't it..... It seems little by little they take everything away... land of the free "home of the rich".... Everything is run by money and power...

A gasbike saves gas , and gets a car off the street. Hence, the oil co.'s don't make as much and neither the automakers... So there are 2 strikes against us....

A fun fact I also just found out.... 11 years ago while I was in college , in sociology class , they showed us the statistics of wealth distribution. At that time 20% of the country held 80% of the wealth. Fastforward 11yrs , now its 10% of the country hold 90% of the wealth. Here is why....

The economy doesn't affect rich people ( those who own stock , businesses etc .) b/c when the times are bad they : 1) Cut employees pay 2) lay off employees 3) raise prices. Do they lose any money ? No , they get it back but cutting off their own workers and screwing their own customers... and since nothing is done face to face anymore , they can hide in their mansion free of worry ( out of sight out of mind)
This is why we are where we are now.... no more middle class .....

Motor bikes are a nuisance to rich people so , politics will prevail eventually , then there will be laws either banning or requiring crazy safety things ....

Our already classic bikes will be antiques soon .... lol
 

Nashville Kat

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2009
1,501
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Jacksonville, Florida
I think it's never about making money, with those who decide where and how to distribute the wealth-

it's always the same old routine about how much labor they can extract from everyone- now even in times that somehow need to slow down a bit, or adjust in other ways, management and legislators just keep pushing...

so we a have a more transient population and middle and lower class, always on the move, with little time or funds to worry over where they live- to keep houses and maintain or improve- and a governemt run more by big business is less concerned with housing than ever-

just when all that post-WWII housing is really reaching the end of it's viability and falling apart naturally and from economic neglect.

as a mechanic I've long been bothered that the auto industry is always more concerned with marketing and constant selling of new product-and to a chosen few-

than with making vehicles that are serviciable and more user friendly and designed to last longer. The CEO's and execs get a newer car every year, and couldn't care less about people trying to stretch the life out of a car....

More and more the growing corporate offices are concerned with flogging those who actually are producing something otherwise.... It's crushing people.