The Masterlink - October 2012

Page 1

A publication supporting the rights, safety and freedom of all motorcyclists through education and legislation

October 2012

VOLUME XXI, ISSUE VI

brains?

Nonprofit Org US Postage Paid Permit #1662 Phoenix, AZ

or just brazen?

His main motivation was to be as famous as Dr. Hurt and had even flown to California to meet with him. He laid out an incredibly complicated plan that was ridiculously over ambitious. He complained because there was only $5M and that for the plan in his head to succeed, it would take at least double that. Below is some breaking news from the MRF!

Dr. Samir Ahmed has resigned from the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) motorcycle crash causation study citing "serious reservations about the value of the study".

abateofaz.org

ABATE of AZ. 7509 N. 12th St, #200 Phoenix, AZ 85020

Good news folks, we have “intellectuals” who are really interested in helping to keep motorcyclists safe. They are really excited about finding out why there are so many avoidable crashes and how they can be avoided by building better roads. Well that is until they find out that it isn’t attached to the five million dollars they thought was available for the study. The gentleman mentioned below is one of those people. Apparently his motivation was the money and fame. Dr. Ahmed is a civil engineer with road engineering experience but little or no knowledge of traffic management or driver psychology. He’s never been on a motorcycle, nor was he anxious to give it a try.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation has learned that the chief engineer of the FHWA motorcycle crash causation study has removed himself from the project.

In an email sent on Tuesday, September 11 2012 by Ahmed he announced the following: "I am writing to let you know that I am no longer working on the motorcycle crash causation study. I have serious reservations about the value of study with the existing FHWA involvement. My expectations of the study are very low." Dr. Samir Ahmed, PhD, PE, was in charge of conduction and then evaluating the Federal motorcycle crash causation study for the FHWA. The study was mandated by Congress in the

SAFETEA-LU bill (PL 109-59). The study was supposed to collect data from 1200 crashes, however when the cost of the study more than doubled it became necessary to shrink the size of the project now the Feds are estimating that the number of crashes that will be investigated is down to less than 120. That’s just %10 percent of the original number. The mandate directed the FHWA to work with the Oklahoma State University Transportation systems engineering school, a leading research center for all things transportation. The MRF has had some serious questions about this study since its conception. The MRF did not lobby Congress to have the study mandated.

So, there you have it, as motorcyclists we must encourage training, we must encourage safety and of course we must encourage sober riding. Carole O’Reilly

ABATE of Arizona

Designated Lobbyist


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