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- Aug 13, 1999
- 2,094
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Law Enforcement Problem?
The Northwest Motorcycle Association (NMA) has been receiving numerous complaints from riders of WA licensed dual sport motorcycles who believe they were ticketed for equipment violations that do not exist. These complaints started coming in about three years ago, primarily from the Kittitas and Chelan County areas. Recent information from reliable sources has led the NMA to believe that ticket writing for alleged equipment violations will be increased significantly in 2004 in some of the popular dirt riding areas in eastern WA. As you know, many trails in those areas are segmented by logging or county roads that are utilized to connect enough trail segments for a full day of dirt riding. Many riders are licensing their dirt bikes (particularly KTMs) or dirt prepping their factory dual sports with dirt tires, larger plastic gas tanks, more durable mirrors, lights, etc. so they can ride both the trails and the connecting roads.
Prior complaints have stated that one particular USFS law enforcement agent seems to be on a real vendetta against WA licensed dual sport bikes with plastic gas tanks. Information is coming in that other law enforcement agents, specifically county ORV deputies (funded by your NOVA and ORV sticker funds!) intend to be very aggressive in 2004, writing citations for real or possibly perceived "equipment violations." NMA volunteers have researched the laws and have to date been unable to find any law which prohibits the use of plastic gas tanks on street licensed motorcycles. However, one (perhaps several?) USFS law enforcement agent has been writing tickets to the operators of street licensed motorcycles on USFS roads for an equipment violation simply because their motorcycle was equipped with a plastic gas tank.
Based on the information we are receiving it appears that many of the County ORV enforcement officers in eastern WA are now preparing to go all out in terms of writing tickets to street licensed dual sport riders for equipment violations based on such things as non-conforming tires, headlights, tail lights, turn signals, mirrors, etc. The NMA believes that ticketing of riders for the use of plastic gas tanks will also be on the increase this year. It appears that some USFS law enforcement personnel realize that any ticket they write is almost impossible for the average person to contest and 99.9% of the ticketed riders will simply pay the fine.
The current process of contesting a USFS citation means making one in-person trip to the US Federal Court in Yakima just to plead not guilty and set a hearing date. Then a second trip to Yakima is required to show up for the actual hearing. Of course as the old saying goes, anyone who represents themselves in court has a fool for a lawyer! Therefore, a person desiring to contest their citation must also hire a lawyer for both of those appearances! One person we know of actually attempted to contest the citation with the services of a lawyer over a year ago. The court still has not responded to that lawyer’s letter for a hearing as of the date this is being written. It appears the system just took that person’s money and refuses to respond in any manner to numerous phone calls or the letter from the lawyer! Due Process? Fuhgeddaboutit from what we hear!
NMA volunteers are currently working to create a list of the applicable WA and Federal motor vehicle laws and regulations for dual sport motorcycle equipment. This information will soon be posted on the NMA website, nmaoffroad.org.
What can you do? Tell your riding friends that the NMA is trying to collect hard data on what has been occurring and hopefully put a complete stop to any abuse of authority which may have been or is occurring against riders of WA licensed dual sport motorcycles. There are many statutes on the books for use against law enforcement officers who abuse their position. The Rico Anti-Racketeering Act is a very strong federal statute that creates personal liability and criminal penalties against officials who engage in abuse of their positions. The NMA needs factual data from everyone who has received what they believe to be an unjustified "equipment violation" while riding their street licensed dual sport motorcycle in WA during the past three years. There is also a real need for volunteers who can correlate this information, compile the statistics, request law enforcement logs under the Freedom of Information Act, and chart a course to end what we believe may be concerted effort to discourage the use of trails on public lands! Please have everyone you know that has experienced this type of problem contact the NMA by going to nmaoffroad.org and using the "contact us" function to provide as detailed of information as possible regarding their personal experience with this type of situation and volunteer to help! They are not alone!
The Northwest Motorcycle Association (NMA) has been receiving numerous complaints from riders of WA licensed dual sport motorcycles who believe they were ticketed for equipment violations that do not exist. These complaints started coming in about three years ago, primarily from the Kittitas and Chelan County areas. Recent information from reliable sources has led the NMA to believe that ticket writing for alleged equipment violations will be increased significantly in 2004 in some of the popular dirt riding areas in eastern WA. As you know, many trails in those areas are segmented by logging or county roads that are utilized to connect enough trail segments for a full day of dirt riding. Many riders are licensing their dirt bikes (particularly KTMs) or dirt prepping their factory dual sports with dirt tires, larger plastic gas tanks, more durable mirrors, lights, etc. so they can ride both the trails and the connecting roads.
Prior complaints have stated that one particular USFS law enforcement agent seems to be on a real vendetta against WA licensed dual sport bikes with plastic gas tanks. Information is coming in that other law enforcement agents, specifically county ORV deputies (funded by your NOVA and ORV sticker funds!) intend to be very aggressive in 2004, writing citations for real or possibly perceived "equipment violations." NMA volunteers have researched the laws and have to date been unable to find any law which prohibits the use of plastic gas tanks on street licensed motorcycles. However, one (perhaps several?) USFS law enforcement agent has been writing tickets to the operators of street licensed motorcycles on USFS roads for an equipment violation simply because their motorcycle was equipped with a plastic gas tank.
Based on the information we are receiving it appears that many of the County ORV enforcement officers in eastern WA are now preparing to go all out in terms of writing tickets to street licensed dual sport riders for equipment violations based on such things as non-conforming tires, headlights, tail lights, turn signals, mirrors, etc. The NMA believes that ticketing of riders for the use of plastic gas tanks will also be on the increase this year. It appears that some USFS law enforcement personnel realize that any ticket they write is almost impossible for the average person to contest and 99.9% of the ticketed riders will simply pay the fine.
The current process of contesting a USFS citation means making one in-person trip to the US Federal Court in Yakima just to plead not guilty and set a hearing date. Then a second trip to Yakima is required to show up for the actual hearing. Of course as the old saying goes, anyone who represents themselves in court has a fool for a lawyer! Therefore, a person desiring to contest their citation must also hire a lawyer for both of those appearances! One person we know of actually attempted to contest the citation with the services of a lawyer over a year ago. The court still has not responded to that lawyer’s letter for a hearing as of the date this is being written. It appears the system just took that person’s money and refuses to respond in any manner to numerous phone calls or the letter from the lawyer! Due Process? Fuhgeddaboutit from what we hear!
NMA volunteers are currently working to create a list of the applicable WA and Federal motor vehicle laws and regulations for dual sport motorcycle equipment. This information will soon be posted on the NMA website, nmaoffroad.org.
What can you do? Tell your riding friends that the NMA is trying to collect hard data on what has been occurring and hopefully put a complete stop to any abuse of authority which may have been or is occurring against riders of WA licensed dual sport motorcycles. There are many statutes on the books for use against law enforcement officers who abuse their position. The Rico Anti-Racketeering Act is a very strong federal statute that creates personal liability and criminal penalties against officials who engage in abuse of their positions. The NMA needs factual data from everyone who has received what they believe to be an unjustified "equipment violation" while riding their street licensed dual sport motorcycle in WA during the past three years. There is also a real need for volunteers who can correlate this information, compile the statistics, request law enforcement logs under the Freedom of Information Act, and chart a course to end what we believe may be concerted effort to discourage the use of trails on public lands! Please have everyone you know that has experienced this type of problem contact the NMA by going to nmaoffroad.org and using the "contact us" function to provide as detailed of information as possible regarding their personal experience with this type of situation and volunteer to help! They are not alone!
