Hello and welcome! If this is your first time reading this publication, then I hope you find it informative and that it sparks an interest and a desire to take an active roll in your “Free Pursuit of Happiness on two or three wheels!”
ABATE is a Motorcycle Rights Organization!
I will admit we do not speak for all of Washington’s 200,000 plus riders, but I believe we represent
the thousands that give a damn about their desire to Ride Free!
To those that are already members, thanks for all the support you give.
This report is going to be a little short- real busy lately. It seems the WA National Guard Unit I am in, may get another 12 month vacation Iraq again. So I may get deployed again starting sometime after September 2008.
The STEAM, (Annual Member and Officer Training) is in the can and to those that made it happen, great job as always.
Because of the National Guard, I missed the 2nd Annual Awards Dinner and the BOD Sunday,
To those officers that stepped in & got it done- THANKS.
Next on our list of stuff to do is Black Thursday, yep it is already that time of the year. Start calling your reps and take a moment to meet them for coffee, let them know you are shocked at the latest attempts of WA DOL and the WSP to target us, (the victims of careless drivers.) Tell them you are also concerned at the NTSB attempt to control the states. Tell them about the nationwide attacks on Motorcycles, IE: Road Bans, making public road off limits to Motorcycles, sound ordinance that are impossible to comply with and yet tickets are being written anyway. I am seeing more tickets for illegal Helmets and illegal modified pipes. Some states say it must have an EPA stamp, but not in WA- I will attach the State Law Verbiage for you to have in your bike. If you get one of these tickets fight it.
I must also apologize, my communication lines went down and I got my wires crossed. In the Eastern WA, from Tri-Cities to Yakima, the local city councils have been passing ordinances that target Mexican Gangs, causing violence in Eastern WA. The new rules allow Police to use membership in Gangs as a pretense for stops, searches and seizure. While we all can agree, safer streets is the goal, many of us in the biker community do not abdicate our constitutional rights being trampled on in an effort to make us safer. In California, the same kind of laws are now being used on Bikers, and the RICCO Act, that was designed to catch Al Capone’s Gangsters, is now also being applied to Bikers. The WA COC (Confederation Of Clubs) planned a ride in the Yakima Valley, I misunderstood, and was under the belief it was a Club Run, so I did not encourage ABATE participation, for that I am sorry. I believe you should let your Reps and city councils know, we are apposed to any and all Un-Constitutional kind of Laws, that take away due process, allow officers to target folks that don’t fit there idea of acceptable society. Last time I looked, American is still the land of the free and not the land of Stalin, Moa or Marx, but sit on your hands, close your eyes, stick your head in the sand and wait, it will be……
So until next time- See Ya- stay Free believe in Liberty & never give up.
You can do it! But we can together do anything!! Rich B.
ABATE of WA State Coordinator
Loud Pipes may save lives, but they also piss people off-
Here is the WA Laws that cover exhaust and noise. For the street sound level testing:
http://search.leg.wa.gov/pub/textsearch/ViewRoot.asp?Action=Html&Item=1&X=1005172524&p=1
This the law that governs Bikes on the road:
RCW 46.37.537
Motorcycles -- Exhaust system.
No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motorcycle in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the engine of such vehicle above that emitted by the muffler originally installed on the vehicle, and it shall be unlawful for any person to operate a motorcycle not equipped as required by this section, or which has been amplified as prohibited by this section. (that is it?)
This is how they test off road Vehicles:
(e) Without an adequate, and operating, muffling device which effectively limits vehicle noise to no more than eighty-six decibels on the "A" scale at fifty feet as measured by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) test procedure J 331a, except that a maximum noise level of one hundred and five decibels on the "A" scale at a distance of twenty inches from the exhaust outlet shall be an acceptable substitute in lieu of the Society of Automotive Engineers test procedure J 331a when measured:
(i) At a forty-five degree angle at a distance of twenty inches from the exhaust outlet;
(ii) With the vehicle stationary and the engine running at a steady speed equal to one-half of the manufacturer's maximum allowable ("red line") engine speed or where the manufacturer's maximum allowable engine speed is not known the test speed in revolutions per minute calculated as sixty percent of the speed at which maximum horsepower is developed; and
(iii) With the microphone placed ten inches from the side of the vehicle, one-half way between the lowest part of the vehicle body and the ground plane, and in the same lateral plane as the rearmost exhaust outlet where the outlet of the exhaust pipe is under the vehicle;
Bottom line: As a citizen, the law must be understood by the layman, not a "cop with years of Experience?"