Sunset Provisions...
So, from what I gather from looking at the DOT letters that Loquin linked to in another thread... if your bike can be powered solely by a motor (electric or gas) for any length of time, then it's a "motor vehicle". It's only "pedal-assist" if it literally assists your pedaling, so if you stop pedaling... you stop. This isn't what I was looking for, but oh well.
There's two things we should still do:
① Inform other people about motored biking. By talking to people in parking lots, adding comments to blogs, submitting articles to blogs (who wants to write the first one?), submitting articles / opinions to local newspapers, etc... mentioning all the goodness we know, and then send 'em to MBc.
② Inform all transportation officials (including legislators & governors) in EVERY state that's not MB-friendly. Kerf had the right idea in sending a letter to his legislator(s), but the key is getting numbers.
I have a feeling that if we started tackling a different state (only the 25 that aren't MB-friendly, mind you) every week or two, by sending letters and then calling and emailing 2 days later... they're going to start tallying this stuff up. [OK, so there's 178 letters, 762 emails, & 281 phone calls from these MB fanatics... maybe we should fix this for them so I can keep my job.] And the great part is that they don't even have to know we don't live in that specific state!! No return addresses even need to be on the envelopes, but you could add one if you'd like.
As I said elsewhere, at least we're planting the seeds. Worst case is that nothing happens, but I'm pretty sure they can't ignore hundreds of letters, emails, & phone calls. It's hard to see something wrong with motored biking & the need to regulate such a simple piece of machinery, especially when 20+ states have already have separate categories for motorized bicycles, as opposed to motorcycles.
Soo... we give 20 minutes or less every week for say 30 weeks, and we might actually be able to change MB laws across the country. Then take augi's advice and go on a ride (why march when we can get 150+mpg?) to DC, just to proclaim all this land is ours, we didn't need help from the Federal Government, and we'll have a blast on the trip there, spreading the word some more.
Who's in to help the future of MBing?
