Born To Ride News

2010 FREEDOM FIGHTER ANNOUNCED

April 2010 – - The Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame is proud to announce the 2010  Freedom Fighters Hall of Fame Inductee, Gordon “Sonny” Bridges from Maine.

The Freedom Fighters Hall of Fame recognizes the commitment and sacrifices individuals across the nation, and world, have made to protect the rights of motorcyclists. In their honor the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame established the nation’s first and only Freedom Fighters Hall of Fame.

Gordon “Sonny” Bridges spearheaded a group of bikers in the early 1970s to repeal the state’s mandatory helmet laws. Eventually, this group became the United Bikers of Maine. Sonny was elected its first President and worked tirelessly gathering support and members. Thanks to the efforts of Sonny and others, the helmet law was repealed in 1976. Still, even 35 years later, the issue continues to rise and Sonny continues to battle. 

The mandatory helmet law repeal was just the beginning for Sonny. While he stepped down as President of United Bikers of Maine after the repeal, Sonny continued to work tirelessly for bikers rights in the Maine Statehouse. By spending time at the capital and making friends with legislators, Sonny has been there to fight for bikers rights any time legislation dealing with motorcycles has been introduced. Just this last year, Sonny fought a noise ordinance that would have required that all motorcycles in the state have stock pipes. 

Sonny is a lifetime member of United Bikers of Maine and continues to speak about motorcycle awareness. He was a speaker at this year’s Governor’s Tea – which each year kicks off May as Motorcycle Awareness Month. Many years, he has participated in UBM’s Toy Run – the state’s largest single day charity event.

Although Sonny claims to be slowing down, he is currently developing a program to go to schools throughout the state of Maine and speak to driver’s education courses to encourage new drivers to pay attention and watch for motorcyclists.

Bridges will be honored at the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Hall of Fame Induction Breakfast, Wednesday, August 11th, at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Breakfast tickets are available for a $35.00 donation, tables of eight for $300.00.  Tickets can be purchased through the Museum 605.347.2001 or on line www.sturgismuseum.com/.

Rogue

Sturgis Freedom Fighters

Motorcycle Hall Of Fame Member 2005

www.bikerrogue.com/

IRVINE, Calif., April. 22, 2010 – The Motorcycle Safety Foundation is encouraged by the report issued today by the Governors Highway Safety Association, which indicated motorcyclist fatalities in the United States decreased in 2009 based on preliminary data supplied by all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

“We appreciate the effort GHSA put into this survey, and the states’ roles in providing countermeasures through rider education, licensing/endorsements, driver awareness campaigns, and law enforcement,” said Tim Buche, MSF chief executive officer.  “However, there is still a lot of work to do for everyone involved in the traffic safety community because riders aren’t the only ones on the road.  The MSF’s primary focus is rider training and education and we urge policymakers to implement improved and expanded rider training programs in their respective states that will give motorcyclists more competence and improved street strategies from a specially certified MSF RiderCoach.”     

Buche said MSF recently released greatly expanded, comprehensive curricula that raise what is generally perceived as the minimum threshold of motorcycle riding competence.  The “Essential CORE^SM Curriculum,” which the MSF recommends as the minimum training for every beginning rider, includes the current MSF Basic RiderCourse^SM, the new Street RiderCourse that takes students into traffic, and the new Basic Bike-Bonding^SM RiderCourse that features skill drills to help students handle their own motorcycles.  The Essential CORE curriculum anchors three levels of training that provide more challenging hands-on exercises to help riders achieve finer skills plus increased capabilities for awareness, judgment and risk management. 

“We want highly skilled riders who make safety a priority out on the streets,” Buche said.  “We hope policymakers will make these programs available to new, returning and experienced riders.”  According to owner survey data supplied by the Motorcycle Industry Council, only half of the riders surveyed have taken a training course.  Enrolling in an MSF RiderCourse is available at www.msf-usa.org/ .   There are more than 1,500 RiderCourse sites throughout the United States.

MSF also recently partnered with Virginia Tech Transportation Institute on a groundbreaking naturalistic study of motorcyclists: The MSF Naturalistic Study of Motorcyclists.   Video cameras and data acquisition sensors will be used to track riders over an extended period to create a comprehensive picture of many factors contributing to both crashes and near-crashes.

One of these factors is motorists who have a lot going on and may not be aware or see motorcyclists.  MSF urges car and truck drivers take the time to look for motorcyclists and has initiated various driver awareness programs, such as www.forcardrivers.com/.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation promotes safety through rider training and education, operator licensing tests and public information programs. The MSF works with the federal government, state agencies, the military and others to offer training for all skill levels so riders can enjoy a lifetime of safe, responsible motorcycling. Standards established by the MSF have been recognized worldwide since 1973.

The MSF is a not-for-profit organization sponsored by BMW, BRP, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Piaggio, Suzuki, Triumph, Victory and Yamaha. For safety information or to enroll in the RiderCourse nearest you, visit www.msf-usa.org/ or call (800) 446-9227.