NOTE: references were put at the end of the comment

PDF 5 pages:

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064807aa86f&disposition=atta chment&contentType=pdf

November 14, 2008

Docket Management Facility:

U.S. Department of Transportation,

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West

Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140,

Washington, DC  20590-0001.

Re: Docket No. NHTSA-2008-0157

Gentlemen,

I and my colleagues at the Snell Memorial Foundation have prepared the enclosed comments regarding the recently announced notice of proposed rulemaking for FMVSS 218. The Snell Memorial Foundation is a not for profit organization dedicated to promoting the development, manufacture and use of effective protective helmets for use in motorcycling, auto racing, bicycling and other activities. The Foundation was first incorporated in California in 1957 and has since achieved national and international recognition in the field of helmet safety.

The enclosed comments reflect our serious concerns with the changes proposed for helmet compliance testing to FMVSS 218. We feel that these changes constitute a change in the FMVSS 218 standard itself and we expect them to threaten the status of some of the highest quality motorcycle headgear currently available in the United States. We have done our best to enumerate and explain our concerns and to support them with technical argument. We have also suggested alternative courses of action to remedy the problems identified in the NPRM. The enclosure includes several references to technical documents which have not been included but which are available on request.

We appreciate this opportunity to comment on the NPRM. We would welcome the chance to collaborate further on these issues with engineers and technicians at DOT, NHTSA and, where appropriate, with contract testing organizations.

Sincerely,

Harold A. Fenner, M.D.

President

Executive Summary The performance test proposals in the NPRM constitute a de facto change to the standard which will have unfavorable consequences. Higher quality helmets with superior energy attenuation capability may fail the duration limitation in flat anvil testing at 6.4 meters per second. Redesign and retooling so that helmets meet this new test requirement may be extremely costly for the industry. The duration limitation derives from an inappropriate transition to rigid anvil testing. This was an error in the ASA 1967 standard carried through into the ANSI 290.1 1971 standard and ultimately into FMVSS 2 J 8. The solution to compliance testing is improved test laboratories which must include better quality control, third party confirmation of proper operations and equipment and traceability to national and international standards; not degrading FMVSS 218.

Noncompliance Testing Measures to simplify verification that helmets in the market comply with FMVSS 218 may be worthwhile but it is essential that these measures do not mistake compliant helmets as being noncompliant. Noncompliance is not simply the converse of compliance. Uncertainties in mechanical testing guarantee that there will always be some helmets for which compliance and noncompliance will be indeterminate. The most reasonable resolution is to establish two sets of test procedures and criteria: one set to demonstrate compliance and the second, slightly less demanding, to demonstrate noncompliance. The differences in severity and criteria between these two would be determined by the test uncertainties so that a given helmet sample found compliant by the first procedure would reasonably never be found noncompliant by the second and vice versa. Noncompliant helmet models would be those for which the manufacturer had not established compliance or for which government testing had subsequently demonstrated noncompliance. Compliant helmets would be those for which compliance testing had been established and for which subsequent government testing had not demonstrated noncompliance.

These procedures should prescribe test and measurement accuracies for compliance testing and recommend them to manufacturers and commercial test houses. But they should dictate test and measurement accuracies to contractors performing noncompliance testing for NHTSA. Since helmet testing severities cannot be finely controlled, they must be measured and these measurements are themselves subject to measurement uncertainty. Both sets of test procedures ought to allow for variability in measured test severity either by varying the test criteria or by discarding the results altogether and repeating the procedure. This sort of provision might have. forestalled the quibble raised in the findings for the NeXL® helmets discussed in the NPRM.

FMVSS 218 was developed from a voluntary standard which described test procedures and criteria for determining compliance. Since the standard was voluntary, there were no provisions for enforcement and, therefore, no immediate need for measures to determine noncompliance. FMVSS 218 requires considerable redrafting in order to function effectively as a mandatory standard, even if no changes in helmet performance are sought. However, the changes proposed in the NPRM will not resolve the compliance/noncompliance issues and may even misidentify compliant helmets.

Objections to the Proposed Impact Speed Changes

The changes proposed for the impact attenuation test speeds may cause many helmets which meet the requirements of the current standard to obtain failing results in compliance testing.

Some helmets in compliance with the current standard may obtain impact accelerations exceeding 400 G in impact testing under the proposed rules and some may obtain time durations greater than 2 milliseconds for those portions of the response exceeding 200 G.

The 0.4 m/second tolerance proposed for impact against the hemispherical anvil allows impact energies exceeding the ideal value implied in the current standard by more than 15%. The impact performance of helmets tested against the hemisphere is largely a matter of impact energy. Helmets with reasonable flat impact performance capabilities will never fail in hemispherical impact unless the kinetic energy of the impact exceeds a limit which is determined by the helmet configuration. The cause of the failure will be that the helmet wall was compressed to its crush limit and would deform no further. If the head form had any residual velocity at this point, the acceleration levels would be determined by the material properties of the test equipment, particularly, the head form and the anvil itself. The acceleration would spike sharply upward well beyond the 400 G criterion and, likely, well beyond the upper limits of the instrumentation. Remarkably though, so long as the kinetic energy of the impact is even slightly less than this limit value, the impact acceleration trace will remain well below the peak values obtained in flat impacts and well below the test criterion. It's like walking toward a precipice; everything is fine until that last step when the results become horrendous. Allowing noncompliance testing at energies 15% beyond those demanded in the standard places an unreasonable burden on manufacturers.

The 0.4 m/second tolerance also poses unreasonable burdens for flat impact testing. The flat impact response is such that the crush limits of the helmet rarely come into play. Instead, helmet performance in flat impact depends largely on liner stiffness. The peak G limit is not likely to present much of a problem either. When helmets have trouble with flat impact, it is most likely with the 200 G time duration limit. Unless the acceleration response of the helmet never exceeds 200 G, an increase in test impact velocity is likely to produce a disproportionate increase in the duration of the response at and above 200G. An analysis of time duration versus impact velocity is provided in a separate document(l). The analysis describes a mathematical model for helmet flat impact behavior and demonstrates the substantial increases in time duration anticipated for increased impact velocities. Allowing noncompliance testing at velocities 6.7% greater than those specified in the standard places an unreasonable burden on helmet manufacturers

Resolutions to the Velocity Tolerance Problem There are a couple of solutions possible.

I. Brute force: Test more helmets and discard results for which the impact velocities were outside the current specification. This might be modified by allowing passing results for excessive velocities and failing results for insufficient velocities to stand and discarding those results for which an assessment of compliance was ambiguous.

2. Improved velocity measurement systems: Better calibrations are possible for single card -single beam systems. Also, some velocity gates use two cards and measure from leading edge to leading edge eliminating light diffraction and photo cell hysteresis effects.

3. Improved impact devices: Impact testing imposes inordinate amounts of stress on monorail system bearings(2). As the bearings wear, frictions increase and so does impact velocity variability. Even if the tester allows for the increased friction, he may not be able to control the test severity sufficiently. The twin wire devices currently used by the Snell Memorial Foundation and other organizations do not have this bearing problem. The devices are much less subject to wear and, for that reason, yield much more reliable test impact velocities and much more repeatable test results.

4. More stringent vetting of contractors: Prescribe reliable test equipment and protocols and check for them. Establish reliable proficiency evaluation procedures and apply them. If a test house does not have the requisite equipment or test procedures, or if it cannot maintain current measurement tolerances, find another who can.

5.More sophisticated analyses and criteria: It is possible to test helmets at slightly higher velocities and perturb the results to infer a reasonable estimate for their performance at ideal impact velocities. Effectively, high velocity test impact would yield a mathematical force versus crush response model of the helmet which would then be exercised with a hypothetical impact at the appropriate velocity. The helmet would then be evaluated according to its calculated response. As in solution #I, Brute Force, this would call for reworking the impact criteria in FMVSS 218 to enable a more nuanced helmet evaluation that would include a consideration of the test impact velocity.

Further Comments on Time Duration

The flat impact velocity dynamic might also be improved by reconsidering the time duration criteria. These criteria first appeared in the 1967 American Standards Association's requirements for vehicular helmets. This standard allowed impact testing on either of two substantially different devices: swing away devices in which an impactor struck a stationary helmet and head form which then moved away under the imparted momentum; and guided fall devices essentially identical to the monorail and twin wire devices in current use. Most of the test devices in use at the time were swing away devices.

Although the ASA 1968 standard took pains to structure the impact velocities for guided fall and swing away devices so that the helmet loadings and their peak acceleration responses were reasonably the same, they failed to allow for the substantial differences in the time durations associated with these devices. Instead, a single set of time duration criteria applied to testing done on either device. Since guided fall devices were relatively rare though, the time duration criteria in use had been developed from observations of swing away test results. In general, the swing away device calls for substantially greater impact velocities in order to match the helmet loadings and stresses of guided fall systems. For this reason the impact events for swing away are of much shorter duration. A two millisecond time duration for some portion of the acceleration pulse as measured for a swing away device would be substantially longer for an equivalent test performed on a guided fall device. An analysis of guided fall versus swing away impact test performance is provided in a separate document.(3)

In 1971, the renamed American National Standards Institute revised the ASA 1967 standard and eliminated the swing away device. The guided fall device was the only one allowed for impact testing. However, the time duration criteria worked out for the swing away device were carried along into the revised standard unchanged. When it was noticed that many helmets which passed easily on swing away devices were failing to meet the time duration criteria in guided fall tests, ANSI published a 1973 correction increasing the time duration criteria by 50%. However, by this time, NHTSA had already adopted the requirements of ANSI Z90.1 -1971 for use in a motorcycle helmet standard to be made mandatory throughout the United States. NHTSA refused to incorporate the corrections imposed in ANSI's 1973 revision, possibly because the impact criteria were considered temporary. NHTSA had planned to replace the peak acceleration and time duration criteria with a more sophisticated impact performance evaluation based on FMVSS 208 and the Head Injury Criterion (HIC). In fact, though, the ANSI Z90.1-1971 criteria have remained part of the FMYSS 218 requirements down to this day.

More recently, some research discussed at sessions of the International Workshop on Human Subjects for Biomechanical Research has suggested that the time duration measures do not correlate with other predictors of head injury risk and may be of no real value in helmet evaluation. Although these efforts have not yet been presented formally, it may not be unreasonable to exclude time duration considerations from any NHTSA finding of helmet noncompliance with FMYSS 2J 8, at least until the value of time duration has been established. However, if time duration criteria are not dropped altogether from NHTSA contract testing, they should certainly be increased consistent with the differences associated in swing away and guided fall type testing. At least until new research establishes their value and identifies threshold values for increased injury hazard.

RespectfuIy

Edward B. Becker

Executive Director/Chief Engineer

 (1) Impact Velocity and Time Duration in FMVSS 218, EBB 10129/2008, Snell Memorial Foundation in-house reference

(2) Guided Fall Impact Test Devices, Monorail and Twin-Wire System Comparison, draft, EBB 5/1/1997 Snell Memorial Foundation in-house reference

(3) Swing-Away Testing, Guided Pall Testing and Time Duration Criteria, EI3B 10/12/08 Snell Memorial Foundation in-house reference

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http://rip.trb.org/browse/dproject.asp?n=20056
Research in Progress
Trends in Motorcycle Crashes in Virginia – Phase III
Record Type: DOT
 
In the past several years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and several states have noted increases in motorcycle-related deaths. According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 3,661 motorcyclists were killed in traffic crashes in 2003, an increase of 12 percent over 2002, and another 67,000 were injured, an increase of 4 percent. In the last five years, the number of motorcyclists’ fatalities has risen sharply in the United States as well as in other countries. The increase in older riders and passengers in the motorcyclist population is part of the cause in this upsurge. This study will provide a more thorough knowledge of the characteristics of serious motorcycle crashes and associated costs, which, in turn, could help the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles design better motorcycle safety programs and a safer riding environment for motorcyclists.

Start date: 2008/10/1
End date: 2009/9/30
Status: Active
Contract/Grant Number: 00092101
Total Dollars: 40500
Source Organization: Virginia Transportation Research Council
Date Added: 11/23/2008

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www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/story/681844.html

Myrtle Beach may put off helmet law
City wants to hone details before rolling out changes

By Lorena Anderson
landerson@thesunnews.com

Motorcyclists worried about being ticketed for riding without a helmet in Myrtle Beach might have a little longer to ride bare-headed.

The City Council on Tuesday will consider a request from city staff members to postpone implementing the rest of the 15 anti-bike-rally ordinances and amendments until late February to give City Manager Tom Leath more time to set up the administrative hearing system that will deal with those citations.

Myrtle Beach’s leaders this summer passed the new regulations after years of hearing from residents every May about the traffic, noise, garbage, reckless driving and lewd acts they say typify the two weeks of Harley-Davidson and sport bike rallies every May.

Some, like the noise-ordinance amendment, took effect immediately after the council passed them. Others - such as the local helmet law, a juvenile curfew, additional security requirements for local businesses and rules about alcohol sales after 2 a.m. - were scheduled to go into effect Dec. 21.

The city says it can regulate helmets locally because the state Supreme Court has upheld some cities’ smoking bans, which make smoking in public places a civil infraction - similar to the local helmet law - not a criminal act.

Helmet law violators would receive citations and be asked to pay a fine or appear before an administrative law judge.

The city has not advertised for the judgeship position yet, Leath said, but he wanted to have that person in place before the ordinance goes into effect, so he or she could help the city develop the details of the administrative hearing process.

The city has a full agenda Tuesday, with a public hearing scheduled for people who own commercial property in the downtown redevelopment area to discuss a municipal improvement district to help pay for projects like a milelong boardwalk between First and 14^th avenues North.

The city is implementing a multipronged funding method, taking out loans, levying assessments on all commercial properties within the municipal improvement district and setting aside a certain percentage of property tax revenue in a tax-increment-financing district to repay debt it will issue when the bond market loosens up.

The improvement district is designed to raise money to promote the redeveloped downtown, but it’s also going to be used as a backstop until the tax-increment-financing district is bringing in enough money to cover construction bond debt. That means the municipal improvement district’s rate can be adjusted to make up the difference between what the tax-increment-financing district brings in and the actual debt obligation.

City staff said the likely assessment would be $2.67 on each $100 of assessed value of commercial property, but depending on the debt needs, could go as high as $5.64 per $100 of assessed value, or as low as $1.50 per $100 of assessed value.The city plans to raise nearly $20 million to pay for the boardwalk and ocean-outfall pipes to deal with stormwater.

Early Tuesday, council members will also get a demonstration of various vehicles’ decibel levels so they can decide whether to raise the recently approved noise standard from 87 decibels for motorcycles to 89 for all vehicles - a slight difference that could mean far fewer bikers are ticketed come spring.

Council members will listen to a couple of motorcycles, a large truck from public works, a car and maybe a truck from the city fire department, Leath said.

The demonstration begins at 8:30 a.m. at City Hall, before the council’s workshop begins at 9.

ONLINE

To see the proposed assessment roll for the downtown redevelopment municipal improvement district, go to MyrtleBeachOnline.com.

What | Myrtle Beach City Council workshop
When | 9 a.m. Tuesday
Where | First-floor conference room at City Hall, 937 Broadway

What | Myrtle Beach City Council meeting
When | 2 p.m. Tuesday
Where | Council Chambers in the Ted C. Collins Law Enforcement Center, Oak Street and Mr. Joe White Avenue

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www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2008-11-23-passport-chips_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

New machines scan IDs at border crossings

By Mimi Hall

Agents along the Canada and Mexico borders are using a controversial new machine that can "read" the personal information contained in some government-issued ID cards — such as passports and driver's licenses — as travelers approach a checkpoint.

The Homeland Security Department says the new practice will tighten security and speed the flow of traffic. Privacy advocates say the technology could make Americans less secure because terrorists or other criminals may be able to steal the personal information off the ID cards remotely.

"There's this strange rush to a fancy or shiny new technology," says Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The cards "are quite vulnerable" to being cloned or having their codes broken.

Machines are in place at five crossings — Blaine, Wash.; Buffalo; Detroit; Nogales, Ariz.; and San Ysidro, Calif. — as part of the government's requirement that anyone who crosses the border must show a passport or other government documents proving citizenship and identity. The machines are being activated in Buffalo today; machines in Blaine and Nogales are in use; the rest will be on line over the next couple of months.

The new technology is being used in conjunction with new government passports, passcards and driver's licenses embedded with computer chips that contain the holder's name, date of birth, nationality, passport or ID number and a digitized photo. The personal data can be "read" by a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) machine as the person approaches a border-crossing checkpoint.

By the time a car stops at the Customs booth, the agent will have the photos and information of everyone in the car. If a name is on a watch list or database, the person will be taken in for questioning. The system will be "more efficient," says Thomas Winkowski of Customs and Border Protection.

Privacy-rights advocates warn that terrorists or other criminals can use their own machines in a process called "skimming" to read the information from as far as 50 feet. Consumer privacy expert Katherine Albrecht says the chips create the "potential for a whole surveillance network to be set up." She says police could use them to find criminals, abusive husbands to find their wives, and stores to track customers.

Homeland Security says the chips are made not to reveal personal information to machine readers — just a code, that then shows the information on the border agents' screen. The cards also come with protective sleeves for when they're not in use.

The border crossing ID requirement takes effect in June. So far, 600,000 State Department passcards and 40,000 embedded licenses from Washington state and New York have been issued.

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www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1294250,chicago
-police-gang-enforcement-unit-112208.article#

Chicago Police Department will change how it combats gangs

400 OFFICERS | Police teams will be free to hit troubled areas to fight scourge blamed for up to 70% of murders

BY ANNIE SWEENEY Crime Reporter

Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis today announced a major restructuring of how cops will fight Chicago’s street gang problem.

Four-hundred officers will form a new Gang Enforcement Unit and will be available to combat gangs citywide and not just in the district where they are currently assigned.

This new plan was designed —with much input from rank-and-file officers — in an effort to free gang officers to be able to move where crime is spiking to disrupt gang activity and stay ahead of violence, police said.

“We don’t want our officers to be restricted when our criminals aren’t,’’ Weis said today after announcing the new program. “Now we move wherever they move.’’

Gangs are the most serious threat to the safety of city residents, Weis added.

Leo Schmitz, commander of gang investigations, will head the new unit.

Weis’ restructuring comes as Chicago is experiencing a striking spike in violence, including a 16 percent increase in homicides this year. There have been 474 homicides this year — more than all of last year but still well below the 600 people killed in the city five years ago.

On a day-to-day basis, the 400 gang officers will work out of the city’s five detective headquarters, providing gang enforcement for each of the city’s 25 districts. But any intelligence they gather will be passed to the Gang Investigations Section, which does indepth investigations into gang crime.

The new arrangement should result in a more efficient sharing of information among gang officers in the city, helping police anticipate and prevent gang crime, officials said.

There are some 80 gangs with 75,000 members operating in the city. The street organizations, which peddle drugs and protect turf with guns are responsible for nearly half of all murders in the city. Several innocent victims have been struck down in recent years, including a 13-year-old girl who was shot and killed buying watermelon at her local park on the Northwest Side and a 26-year-old muffler shop manager sitting on a front stoop on the Southwest Side last April.

And they attract the young: 16-year-old Jose Guiza was shot to death in the Avondale neighborhood Friday night in an apparent gang-related shooting.

He was killed when a car pulled up to where he was standing on the 3000 block of North  Troy. A man got out, started yelling gang slogans and shot Guiza, police said.

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South Australia's Police Minister, Michael Wright, expects some bikie gangs to be declared illegal by Christmas.

New laws came into force in September giving the Police Commissioner added powers, but so far they have not been used.

However Minister Wright says the new crime gangs taskforce is making a serious dent in the bikie gangs, arresting 96 members in the past year.

"We know that they've seized over half a million dollars in cash, they've also made busts in amphetamine, over 13,000, cannabis, over 31,000 and ecstasy, over 5,000," he said.

"The fact that there's been so many drug busts and so many arrests, the seizure of cash, they're obviously making an impact where it really hurts these bikie gangs."

The taskforce took over from Operation Avatar and has 44 investigators, double the previous number.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/24/2427673.htm?site=eyre

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Research in Progress:

http://rip.trb.org/browse/dproject.asp?n=20047 

Cost Effectiveness of MVD Fee Collections

Record Type: DOT

Currently, the Arizona Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle

Division collects over 300 different types of fees. Many of these fees

have remained unchanged for decades and may not reflect the actual cost

of processing the transactions or may not generate enough revenue to

cover the cost of collecting the fee. Based on this, the Arizona Auditor

General recommended that the motor vehicle department (MVD) undertake a

study of the cost effectiveness of these fees to determine which ones

should, at a minimum, be increased to meet transaction cost and those

that are no longer cost effective to collect or are no longer needed.

This study will identify the total cost of each fee selected and compare

the cost to the revenue generated from the fee. If the benefits and

costs for each selected fee can be quantified, the Arizona Department of

Transportation can establish an optimal level of effort and recommend to

the state legislature appropriate fee changes or discontinuance of fees

that are not cost effective or no longer needed.

Start date: 2008/5/22

End date: 2008/12/31

Status: Active

Contract/Grant Number: 662

Total Dollars: 25000

Source Organization: Arizona Department of Transportation

Date Added: 11/21/2008

------------------------------------

http://rip.trb.org/browse/dproject.asp?n=20050 

Data Analysis Methodology to Identify Effective Countermeasures for
Reducing Fatalities and Injuries on Arizona Roadways

Record Type: DOT


In Arizona, traffic crash data is available for jurisdictions statewide;

however, it is not correlated with exposure data, such as traffic volume

data, for segments and intersections. Therefore, some of the scientific

methods of identifying candidate locations for safety enhancements

cannot be used. The objective of this research is to develop a data

analysis methodology that will track progress and target efforts in

Arizona’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) emphasis areas where they

will be most effective. The results will be used to develop projects and

programs that will have an impact in reducing fatalities and serious

injuries on all public roads.

Start date: 2008/10/1

Status: Programmed

Contract/Grant Number: 671

Total Dollars: 200000

Source Organization: Arizona Department of Transportation

Date Added: 11/21/2008

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The article below appeared on page 2 of Bikernet  (www.bikernet.com)

MILLION  MILE MOTORCYCLISTS STOPS AT BIKERNET HEADQUARTERS-- Dave Zien  reaches 992,769 miles on November 17, 2008: just over 7,000 miles to go.  

Former   Wisconsin  State Senator Dave Zien is  still pounding out the miles in continued Iron Butt rides. After a short setback  due to some mechanical problems, he was back on the road again after thanking  Territorial Harley-Davidson of  Yuma , Arizona  for all of their help. Since then, he rode two more 50 CC circuits,  San Diego , California to   Jacksonville ,  Florida , and back again. Then yesterday,  November 17th, he was up in North Hollywood . He  back tracked to Long  Beach to meet with Bikernet guru and former Easyriders  Editor, Keith "Bandit" Ball.

He still had enough  energy to plan on riding up to  Copperopolis ,  California to visit Charlie Brechtel and his   Biker Inner  Circle studios. My cousin, Dennis Sanfilippo, was  going to put him up at his lake house after wining and dining him. I haven't  heard from Dave, Charlie or Dennis yet to confirm he made it up there or that  he's even awake yet. But, when he got to North  Hollywood , he had 992,769 miles on his 1991 FXRT.  

He plans on riding  back to  Milwaukee by Thursday (another 2,200 miles). At  that point he will announce his plans to put the bike up for the winter,  relatively speaking because we know he'll continue to ride (just not those  insane distances, averaging 1,000 per day) and bring it out again for the  beginning of the 2009 riding season, possibly early or mid-April. That's when  he'll finally turn the odometer over to the 1 million miles mark.  

We're looking at doing  that at the Harley-Davidson   Museum in  Milwaukee , with lots of  fan fare and a nice landing party. Three Sturgis Motorcycle Hall of Fame members  will ride in that landing day parade; Zien, John "Rogue" Herlihy, photo  journalist and Old School Freedom Fighter, and Tony "Pan" Sanfelipo, Founder of  ABATE of  Wisconsin and BOLT.  

Senator Zien is  dedicating the achievement of reaching his goal to Attorney Mike Hupy for all of  his assistance and guidance and for everything he does for the motorcycle  community. He is also dedicating this record to Accident Scene Management, Inc,  and Vicki Sanfelipo, for her untiring efforts to educate the bikers of    America and save lives.  

Visit www.hupy.com and  look for Dave Zien's mileage tracker for updates on his mileage. Click on the  photo and jump to the story about his ride records and his Ride Journal. That's  where you'll find the details of the landing party location and date. Keep  visiting, even through the winter, because Dave will continue to ride and send  in his stories. You can also visit www.accidentscene.net to read about his  recent adventures in  Virginia when he came upon a serious motor  vehicle crash involving trucks and a semi. His training from Accident Scene  Management kicked in immediately and that is why he wants to dedicate a portion  of his ride to ASMI.

Dave Zien Mileage Tracker

Former State Senator Dave Zien is approaching the 1 million mile mark on his motorcycle. His many contributions to motorcycle rights as a biker and a legislator are legendary. His accumulative mileage on one motorcycle is also legendary. As he approaches 1 million miles on his current bike, we want to track his progress as he reports in from his nation wide travels. He hopes to accomplish this feat by November 11, 2008 if his motorcycle and health holds up.

Hupy and Abraham, S.C. is sponsoring Dave in his efforts to reach 1 million miles on his 1991 FXRP. Our firm will also be planning a celebration party for him when he reaches his goal.

Ride Journal

Oct 10th….....…mileage today, 980,142: Running good, my total for today is 1,077 miles. Heading for San Diego in the morning.

Oct 11th………..mileage today, 981,208

Oct 12th………..mileage ended at 982,556: two break downs and ran out of gas once. I'm in Yuma, Arizona

Oct 13th………..Doing great…I'm in El Paso, Texas with 983,167 miles and looking to California.

Oct 14th............I'm in Pensacola, Florida, continuing on my 50 CC Iron Butt ride. I'm going to ride from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, back again to the Atlantic and back again to the Pacific. I started in Jacksonville, went to San Diego, and I'm back in Florida heading for the coast. Then, it's back to San Diego again. No time to check into a motel, I slept in the ditch last night.

Oct 15th….....…600 miles so far today, I'm in Ft. Stockton, Texas. I'm trying for another 600 before resting tonight, on my way back to San Diego. Waved at a lot of cops, one pulled me over with a warning for speeding. This bike will top end at 105 mph, just thought I'd share that with you, not that I'm going that fast…..ran out of gas and a Viet Nam Vet helped me out. Raining all day today….one road rage incident. He yelled, I just blessed him and kept riding. Day before last I completed a 24 hour Bun Burner….1,542 miles in 24 hours. I'm hoping to let Jay Leno ride the bike when I get up to LA, possibly on the 22nd or 23rd of October. I need a new tire. Seems like I just put that one on about 20 or 30,000 miles ago. Time flies.

Oct 15th …......6 PM leaving Tucson now…heading for San Diego

Oct 16th.....….Completed 3 coast to coast runs in under 150 hours. Trying for a fourth, never been done, when I burned a hole in a piston in Yuma, Arizona. 80 degrees in the desert and running hot and hard proved too much for the old girl. Bike at the dealership in town, waiting to hear from the factory on warranty on motor. Hoping I can get by with new heads and oversized pistons. This will slow things down a bit, with less than 13,000 miles to go.

Oct 21st...........I’m still in Yuma, Arizona, having some work done on the bike at the dealer in town. Meanwhile, having some work done on me also at Yuma Regional Medical Center. I hope to be on the road again by the weekend. I completed three 50 CC trips, Jacksonville, Florida to San Diego, California, back to Jacksonville, back to San Diego, and was on my way back to Jacksonville when I burned a hole in a piston while in the dessert crossing the California border into Arizona. I did the three crossings in 149 hours, 22 minutes and was on a record breaking fourth crossing when I had the engine trouble. I completed 8,443 miles in 7 days, 8 hours. I was on a great pace until now. I'll check in when I'm back on the road. My plans are to ride up to Sacramento, stopping in Los Angeles on the way to say hello to Keith Ball. Then I might ride to Montana for a couple of days of mule deer hunting. Up to Canada and then dropping down to Mexico. From there, who knows?

Oct 27th...........Been down since Thursday, October 16th. Got my bike to Bobby's Territorial Harley-Davidson in Yuma, Arizona. Owner, Bobby Erxleben is very cool and a wrench. He'll work on my bike himself. Old school all the way. I started out in Tucson on Thursday morning at 4:18 AM, ran through Yuma and got to Ocean Beach, California at 9:55 AM. Short rest and I was back in the saddle heading east, was just outside Yuma at mile marker 48 and I had a breakdown at 1:45 PM. Still waiting for parts from Milwaukee factory. I need to get back up in the saddle soon.

Here's some of my log notes:
10/14...Ponce DeLeon, Florida 2:30 PM, LaFayette, Louisiana, 8:11 PM (stayed at Days Inn)
10/15…5:35 AM…left motel, reached Lordsburg, New Mexico by 9:21 PM.
10/16…4:18 AM leaving Tucson, Arizona and reaching Ocean Beach by 9:55 AM, turning around and back to Yuma by 12:19 PM. Roughly 1/2 hour later and black smoke and oil. Down time is a drag. Hope to be back on the road by the end of this week and I'm eyeing November 15th as a possible landing date back in Milwaukee. Keep your fingers crossed. Dave.

Oct 29th…….I'm in Utah, heading back to Yuma, Arizona. I had to rent a car to take care of some business and also go to Montana for a couple of days of hunting to unwind a little. I called twice, and my parts are still not in from the factory. I hope they arrive by the time I get back to Yuma. I would like to be back on the road by this weekend at the latest. My target is November 15th, arriving back in Milwaukee as the odometer turns over to all zeros. It's going to be tight if those parts don't come in soon.

Nov 4th........Wow! I’m still waiting for parts. I spoke to Carol Smith at Harley and she told me they should have been here already. I'm not sure we can make our target date before deer hunting starts in Wisconsin. I'm ready to roll, feel good and the shop has the bike up on the lift and ready to work on as soon as our "care package" from the factory arrives. Election Day. I voted absentee ballot because I knew I would be on the road. I hope everyone exercised their right to vote. Talk to you in a day or two, hopefully from the road.

Nov 7th........Finally located my parts. They left the factory over a week ago, somehow made it to the east coast and then out to San Bernardino. Word has it they're on their way at last to Yuma and Territorial Harley-Davidson. I hoped to complete my million mile adventure by November 15th, but with weather closing in I've decided to ride a little longer down south and also visit Long Beach and Bikernet headquarters. Then I'll ride up to San Francisco and maybe catch Vicki's Accident Scene Management class before dropping in on Charlie Brechtel and Biker Inner Circle.

I'm planning on coming home and waiting out the winter before completing the million miles in the spring. We'll have our giant landing party to kick off the 2009 riding season.

(editor's note: continue to visit this site for updates on Dave's magical mystery tour and for details of the landing party in the spring)

Nov 12th.......Bike is repaired and I'm back on the road again. I was getting a little stir crazy but things are getting mellow once again. The wind in my face and the beauty of the southern states is awesome. I left San Diego and I'm heading for Jacksonville, Florida again. I'm going to complete that fourth cross country trip that I was attempting when things went sour in my motor. I will probably head back to San Diego again and from there I'll decide if it's time to ride back home again or keep on going in California for a week. I want to get back to Wisconsin for opening day of deer hunting. Then, Attorney Mike Hupy and Tony Pan will meet me for a tour of the Harley Museum in Milwaukee and a press conference to announce when we will plan on the landing party next spring. Tony and I might tour around Florida in March and then head up for the big day I turn over the million mile mark. Let's see how this shakes out.

Nov 13th…...Banging out the miles and the motor is running smooth and strong. I have to be on the Atlantic coast by 10:30 AM tomorrow to complete this leg of my 50 CC trip (San Diego to Jacksonville). I am planning on returning to Wisconsin and meeting the folks at Hupy and Abraham, S.C., on Thursday, November 20th. We'll announce the big plans then.

Nov 14th.......I'm 70 miles west of Jacksonville (12:30 PM CST) and I'll stop in at the dealer there for a quick check on the motor. I may have an ignition module or coil problem. I'm thinking of heading back to Wisconsin soon, arriving on Thursday, November 20th, for a tour of the museum and a press conference. From there, I have to ride up to St. Paul, Minnesota, to check in at the dealership and register my mileage for their contest there. Then deer hunting starts on the 22nd. I'll be able to relax in the woods and do some reflecting on this past riding season while thinking about what 2009 will bring.

Nov 15th…....I completed my Jacksonville to San Diego run in just over 47 hours. I stopped in San Antonio, Texas at the 991,329 mileage mark and everything is going well.

Nov 17th…....I've covered 5,034 miles in 5 days. Looking forward to coming back to Wisconsin but not eager to hit the cold weather. It's been mild to hot down here. I hear you guys might be getting snow soon.

Nov 18th.......I had to check into the VA in Long Beach for my occasional tune-up on me, not my bike. My medical problems make this journey harder, but that much more worth it too. I visited with Keith Ball and Nyla at their Intergalactic Bikernet Headquarters, and was the recipient of pure royal treatment. They are true bikers and embrace the brotherhood daily.

It's now 3:15 PM, and I'm up in Copperopolis, waiting for Charlie Brechtel to come and get me. We doing some filming for his show, Biker Inner Circle on the internet, and I think Thunder Press is sending a reporter to cover my journey also. Hey, here comes Charlie now, and he's got a whole slew of bikers with him. What a guy. I have to go, I'll call in tomorrow and let you know how this went.

Nov 19th…...Wow! What a fantastic couple of days. First the warm hospitality from Keith Ball and Nyla down in Long Beach, and yesterday, I partied down with Charlie Brechtel and Tony's cousin, Dennis Sanfilippo. They filmed a segment for Biker Inner Circle while I was being interviewed by Felicia, Thunder Press reporter. I had Charlie and Dennis ride my bike along with Low Down Dan, bureau chief for Thunder Press Magazine, so they could say they rode a potential million mile Harley. Then Felicia asked if she could ride it. She's the first and only woman to kick start my FXRT, and then she rode it around the beautiful homestead that Charlie lives on. Charlie played a bunch of his original biker songs for me, and he is an outstanding musical talent. They took me to the Nugget, a bar Dennis owns, and showed me around his land, thousands of acres of beautiful California real estate. Some of his land was the site of the filming of the Big Valley TV show.

I thanked everyone for the warm reception and took off this morning. I'm in the high Sierra's right now, about 80 miles west of Reno. I'm hoping for a 1,200 mile day today, and hopefully another similar day tomorrow in order to get to Tony Sanfelipo's house by Thursday night. It's cold, about 26 degrees, and even with my electric vest and gloves, I'm feeling it. Roads are a little slick too, so I'm not sure how good of time I'm going to make, but I'm planning on a long day in the saddle today.

Nov 20th…....I left Green River, Wyoming this morning with about 250 miles to Cheyenne. I'd like to make it to Des Moines by tonight if I'm going to have a chance of getting to Hupy's office on Friday morning. I changed the oil in Reno, Nevada and had a near miss with a car when it suddenly pulled out from a driveway right in front of me. The mechanics from the dealership watched the whole thing and couldn't believe I missed the car. The spiritual light is still shining on me but I could use a heat lamp too. It was 17 degrees out when I started this morning, and has only warmed to about 24 degrees.

Nov 20th…...1:15 PM….I'm on the Nebraska border, and it's still only in the lower 20's out here. What's worse is the wind, some gusts have been as high as 60 mph according to the clerk at the last gas stop. I believe it. I had a hard time catching some tumbleweeds blowing along the shoulder. At times, the wind was so strong I had to keep the bike in 4th gear to better control it. It's slippery out here too. There's an old trick that Iron Butt riders do to enable themselves to stay in the saddle longer. I'm not talking about the auxiliary 6 gallon gas tank. What I'm talking about has to do with the call of nature and a plastic bottle. Well, with these temperatures, that's out. The plastic bottle breaks and then we have another problem. I'll leave the rest up to your imagination. I don't think I'm going to make it to Milwaukee by Friday morning. I can't make good time with this cold and these high winds. I'm going to ease back off of the throttle and cruise back to Wisconsin. Let's plan on getting together for that museum tour after deer hunting is over, perhaps the first week of December. Then we have all winter to plan out the landing party in spring. I'll call tonight to report on where I ended up for the night, but I don't think it will be in central Iowa.

Nov 21st......It's 8:30 AM, Friday morning, and it's only about 14 degrees. I'm in Lincoln, Nebraska and I have roughly 550 miles to get home to Eau Claire. My daily mileage has dropped off dramatically with these cold temperatures. I have to pull over every 100 miles or so to warm up. I've been using the trucker's lounges in the big truck stops to warm myself and catch some sleep. I should have just over 995 thousand miles on the bike when I get home, so it will be easy to run off that last 5 thousand in the spring. I'm looking forward to a big celebration and I hope lots of people show up.

Besides having the most miles ever on a single motorcycle, here are some of his other remarkable achievements.

As a legislator from 1986 to December 1, 2006:
    Total miles:           &nb sp;              1,327,500
    24 hour record:                          1,616
    1 month (July, 2004):               31,111
    1 year (Feb.-Dec. 2003)          113,800
    1,000 mile + days    
            &nb sp;       1991:    8
                    2000:    13
                    2001:    31
                    2003:    42
                    2004:    7
11,225 miles in 11 days (summer, 2000)

Currently, as of 11/21/08, Dave Zien has 994,733 miles on his 1991 FXRP and over 2 million total miles in the saddle.

Check back here periodically for progress on Dave's attempt to reach 1 million miles and also for details about the celebration party.

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www.thenewspaper.com/news/26/2603.asp

11/21/2008

Sticky Situation for Arizona Speed Cameras

Speed cameras in Arizona are covered with Post-It Notes and silly string as political opposition grows.

Arizona’s ambitious statewide speed camera program faces increasing resistance both from the public and from state and local officials. At least half a dozen speed cameras have been temporarily taken out of service by ordinary citizens using nothing more Post-It Notes and silly string.

A video released yesterday documented a speed camera having its lens covered with silly string. Vigilantes then labeled with signs variously reading, “scamera,” “scamera: ka-ching!” and scamera: smile.” Over the past month other cameras have had their lenses covered with multiple yellow notes with the phrase “honest mistake” written on them. This is a subtle dig at camera operator Redflex which had argued that the importation, marketing and use of certain radar equipment in violation of federal law was an honest oversight (view letter). The Post-It Notes refer to a July incident where Redflex angered the office of Secretary of State Jan Brewer ® which had been investigating a citizen’s complaint against the company. According to Brewer’s office, a Redflex employee “wrote a short response to the complaint on a post it note,” making light of an official inquiry into the company’s falsification of legal documents (view Brewer response).

Angering Brewer may turn out to be a serious mistake for the Australian ticketing company. Current Governor Janet Napolitano (D) was responsible for pushing the freeway speed camera program through the legislature to help deal with a mounting budget deficit. Early next year, Napolitano is expected to resign and head the US Department of Homeland Security for the Obama administration. Brewer would then assume the role of governor for the remaining two years of Napolitano’s term.

Napolitano’s lobbying effort was the only thing stopping state Senate lawmakers from putting the question of photo radar before voters as a ballot initiative (view proposed legislation). Lawmakers have also noticed that voters sent a strong message against the speed camera program by electing Paul Babeu as Pinal County Sheriff. Babeau’s campaign signs bore the message “End Photo Radar.” Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen on Wednesday called for the removal of cameras. As more motorists are hit by the photo tickets, the number of angry phone calls to local politicians has increased.

Much of the grassroots political opposition has been organized by the group camerafraud.com which holds regular protests to encourage fellow citizens to get involved and call not just lawmakers to express their opinion, but to call Redflex spokesman Shoba Vaitheeswaran, 33, as well. Post-It Note image courtesy of camerafraud.com.

View silly string video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s2ri1igp9E  

Proposed legislation:

State of Arizona

Senate

Forty-eighth Legislature, Second Regular Session, 2008

SB 1470

Introduced by Senator Gould; Representative Groe

AN ACT amending title 28, chapter 3, article 6, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 28-711; relating to photo enforcement.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

 Section 1. Title 28, chapter 3, article 6, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 28-711, to read:

 28-711. Photo enforcement system; prohibition; highways

 A photo enforcement system shall not be used on state highways to detect violators of this article.

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