After the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed Oregon Senate Bill 574 by a healthy margin, Oregon Governor Kate Brown dashed the hopes of motorcyclists in the Beaver State by vetoing the bill.
Citing her concern over safety and enforcement for non-compliance with the law’s provisions, Brown sent the law back to the legislative branch unsigned and denied.
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is set to consider a bill that would legalize the practice of lane splitting by motorcyclists.
Accordingly, House Bill 2314 aims to allow motorcyclists and moped riders the ability to ride between vehicles in traffic, under certain sensible conditions.
HB 2314 builds upon the failures of previous attempts to pass lane splitting in the State of Oregon, and there are some important distinctions in this bill that set it apart from previous attempts.
As regular readers of Asphalt & Rubber surely know by now, legalizing lane splitting in Oregon will help reduce traffic congestion, help make motorcyclists safer on the road, and help lower the amount of pollution from transportation.
Don’t say that the 114th US Congress hasn’t done anything for you, as the American Motorcyclists Association (AMA) is happy to report that our legislature has passed a $305 billion highway bill – The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act – which has a number of favorable provisions for motorcyclists.
The big wins come in the form of funding for recreational off-road trails, and the prohibition against motorcycle-only checkpoints, two growing concerns that the AMA has been involved in fighting.
A California State Assembly committee has endorsed legislation that would to require motorcyclists in the Golden State to have an EPA-compliant exhaust system on their 2011 or newer motorcycles. Two days ago the Committee on Transportation approved Senate Bill 435 with an 8-4 vote, which would make it illegal to operate a 2011 or newer motorcycle with an exhaust system that doesn’t have an EPA label that certifies it as meeting noise limit standards. According to the bill, riders would incur a “fix it” ticket if caught without their EPA exhaust sticker if the bill came into law.
The Missouri State legislature has passed a bill that, if signed, would repeal the state’s mandatory helmet regulation, thus allowing riders over the age of 21 who are traveling on city roads, to do so without a helmet. The passage of this bill is naturally divisive, with advocates of individual liberties and safety experts squarely on opposite sides of the table. Should personal liberty advocates win this debate, the bill would make Missouri 1 of 28 states with such a helmet law on the books.