Kerf, I'm still waiting to see your template for changing MB laws.
Hopefully we can mix up the good parts, or you guys can tell me if I need to change something in my template. Then we could have one template with a list of people to call, mail, email, etc. Hopefully with enough voices, we can get at least one person's attention who can do something for us. Here it is for all to pass judgment...
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Dear Sirs,
I am one of your constituents from Gulfport, MS, and I have a concern for the way our state's vague laws treat my bicycle with a weed eater engine attached as a motorcycle. I believe we need to become proactive like other states and move toward defining these bicycles with 50cc or less engines as something separate from what motorcycles are currently defined as in our Rules of the Road, similar to how Colorado, New Hampshire, Texas, Arizona, etc. have gone about this issue. The strictest of these states only accept $5 or so to register it for approximately three years. Some get a sticker for their bike, while other states like Arizona just plain let pedal-assist riders have the freedoms we deserve, like pure pedalists currently enjoy, instead of having to deal with cops who can pull me over for something other than traveling faster than the law or speed limit sign allows, demand registration & insurance, and then harass me because the law permits them to do so.
It's too demanding to ask us to add things like brake lights & turn signals to regular bicycles. Even insurance is ridiculous when I'm only traveling 5 MPH faster than a person who is pedaling. Some people with racing bikes and who are fit enough can even pedal faster than my maximum speed, and I could not imagine wanting to go more than 30 MPH on the road with a regular bicycle frame. I ride under 25 MPH often, and it is the most enjoyable for me as this is mostly a fun hobby for me right now. It is most fun to ride slow and wave back to the smiling children I pass. I even pedal without the motor more often than I've pedaled in several years. I personally do not believe this will replace my reliable transportation anytime soon, but as it stands, any cop can hassle me if he so chooses based on the current Rules of the Road law is written now, even though he feels that the ten tickets or so he could write me is a bit excessive. A helmet & headlight should be the most required of me, and to obey traffic laws like we ask of every biker.
If only you knew how much fun it is to pedal-assist your bike up to engine speeds and let the engine take over, getting anywhere from 150 to 200 miles per gallon, even more if you pedal often which is quite possibly what of our state needs most from pedal-assist bicycles!! The grin that is impossible to wipe from your face, the health benefits, and the economical & environmental aspects are nothing to sneeze at. It is a Win-Win-Win-Win situation for every citizen. Our dated Rules of the Road in the MS Code even fails to accept that the Federal Government has already defined electric bicycles under 20 MPH as "consumer products", which I believe sounds more accurate in terms of the law than a full-blown motorcycle. I should not have to listen to a cop's threats that I cannot even ride an electric bicycle without having to go through the hassle of going to court to fight something that is mostly accepted all over this country.
Please do something like lots of other states have done to prevent us hobbyists from being harassed from cops who have been given too much authority and take our vague laws too seriously. I should not need to be pulled over and asked for my license, registration, and insurance if I cannot even get the thing registered to begin with. Please do not stifle our growing hobby, and more importantly, help our growing number of hobbyists feel young again and save a ton of money in the process. If you want to see how ecstatic people become after first building and riding a motorized bicycle, then take a look at what some people are saying at MotoredBikes.com and even check out "The Crash Course for MotoredBike Noobs" I created there at this direct link:
http://www.motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=10392
Thanks for listening,
Jason
