GOVERNOR’S ADVISORY BOARD MEETING ON

MOTORCYCLE SAFETY

QUARTERLY MEETING

Video Conference

August 9, 2010

Dept. of Public Safety Training Division

2101 Snyder

Carson City, NV 89701

Las Vegas Nevada Highway Patrol

Traffic Management Center

4615 W. Sunset Rd, Room A105

Las Vegas, NV 89118

ATTENDEES: Roger Fox, Chairman

Geri Kodey, Board Member

John Breslow, Board Member

Scott Swain, Board Member

Ken Kiphart, Administrator

Beverly Sherman, Program Assistant

Blair Harkleroad, NHP, Motorcycle Instructor

Willie Olson, Motorcycle Instructor

Karen Jurasinski, A.B.A.T.E. of Southern Nevada

David Stillwell, Member of the Public

Nelson Ruehl, U.S. Defenders

Linda Blackman, Member of the Public

Lily Gonzales, Quick Throttle Magazine

William Lehman, American Legion

ABSENT: None

The meeting was called to order by the administrator at 1:03 pm.

The first item on the agenda was to elect a new chairman. Board Member, Geri Kodey, nominated Board Member, Roger Fox. The nomination was seconded by Board Member John Breslow. The administrator called for a vote and the motion was carried. The new Board Chairman is Roger Fox, whose second term with the board expires on 6/30/2011.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Chairman Roger Fox requested approval of the August 9, 2010 agenda. Geri Kodey moved that the agenda be accepted and John Breslow seconded the motion. The motion was carried.

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES

The Chairman requested approval of the minutes from the previous meeting, held on May 24, 2010. Board Member Scott Swain moved that the minutes be accepted and John Breslow seconded the motion. The motion was carried.

REPORT BY PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR (Ken Kiphart)

The program is considering using Manpower, Inc. instead of individual contracts with motorcycle instructors. It is simpler for administration of the program, both in processing the contracts, which can take months, and for the instructors.

The administrator assisted the Department of Motor Vehicles in painting their testing ranges both in Carson City and Sparks. All program decals were removed from the old mobile classroom which will be turned in for public auction.

The motorcycle safety program painted new training areas in Elko, Hawthorne and Winnemucca. This took six days of labor, exclusive of travel time.

Western Nevada College has submitted a request to open a 4th training range in Carson City. They want to use a parking lot between the Department of Transportation and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The pavement is in bad shape. There is a concern that the lack of student demand might not be fiscally prudent with the costs of equipping a new site. The situation is being analyzed.

Lastly, and sadly, the administrator reported that the program lost an instructor this weekend. He was riding to Mt. Charleston when a SUV pulled from a side road directly into his path. Instructor Steven Golladay was killed in the crash.

OLD BUSINESS

Motorcycle Awareness

The program continues to produce motorcycle awareness campaigns in Elko, Winnemucca, Reno, Las Vegas and Laughlin.

The campaign creative is the same, but the program is currently able to provide more promotional campaigns. A second billboard was located, near Laughlin, NV, that Nevada Rider is able to use for motorcycle awareness campaigns. This year the program will also be adding an alcohol awareness billboard, aimed at impaired motorcyclists.

Current statistics show that 50% of the motorcycle fatalities are due to alcohol, drugs or other impairment.

NEW BUSINESS

2010 Funding

The Section 2010 federal funding ($100,000.00) has been extended another year. This will probably be the last year that this funding is available. The grant application to receive these funds has been submitted and approval is anticipated soon.

The program will be using these funds for fulfilling the training motorcycle replacement cycle.

PUBLIC TESTIMONY

Member of the public, William Lehman, asked if we had considered contracting rather than going through Manpower, Inc. It was explained to Mr. Lehman that the program is currently contracting with the state for instructors but are in the process of finding another method to pay them because the contract process has become so cumbersome. Mr. Lehman asked if we had contacted the American Legion regarding the Legion 149 school in regards to motorcycle instructors. The administrator stated no, as Vic Moss, who operates that school, handpicks his own candidates. The program did contact Kelly Services and they are unable to provide the services required for motorcycle instructors. Recruitment for new instructors is ongoing. Karen Jurasinski stated that the 21% markup for using Manpower, Inc. was a reasonable fee to pay for this type of service.

David Stillwell, member of the public, asked when we might be able to have a Motorcycle Advisory Board teleconferencing connection with Elko. He knows many riders there that are interested in attending. He asked for this information at previous meetings but has heard nothing in return. The administrator stated that there is currently no one at Great Basin College in Elko who knows how to hook up the machine for teleconferencing. The administrator said that he hopes we will have a link for teleconferencing at the college in Elko by the next Motorcycle Advisory Board meeting.

Mr Stillwell also brought up the subject of helmet laws. He stated that for a year he has been trying to get an answer on how he can comply, with certainty, with Nevada’s helmet law. To date, he hasn’t received an answer.

Lily Gonzales asked how riders can know if they are complying with the helmet law because they are still getting pulled over by law enforcement. The administrator stated that the Board’s responsibility is training and individuals should contact law enforcement to get an answer to that question. Lily stated that everyone passes the buck; this is a safety issue. David Stillwell stated he had contacted the program administrator, Dept. of Public Safety Deputy Director Perry, Colonel Almaraz of Nevada Highway Patrol and anybody he could think of and still didn’t get a definitive answer. He also stated that, by not having a legal helmet standard in Nevada, riders and law enforcement officers alike, are placed in a dubious position. Mr Stillwell continued to highlight various problems that are encountered with law enforcement and riders because of this dilemma.

Board member, John Breslow, asked if there was a specific statute in Nevada that states a rider has to have a helmet and defines that helmet. He also said that if there is a statute, we should ask the legislature to do a study on this. The administrator stated that, at the last meeting, there were members of the Confederation of Clubs present. They were told to try and get one of their legislators to sponsor a bill on helmet standards. The current Nevada helmet standards are the federal motor vehicle safety standards for helmets. (FMVSS 218). Comments were made that federal standards require a safety test and no one, beyond the manufacturer, is willing to test their helmets.

William Lehman stated that the Attorney General’s office has handed down an opinion on D.O.T. helmets. Their opinion was that law enforcement could interpret what constitutes a legal helmet in Nevada. As far as he knows, there is no one, other than a testing facility, who can say what constitutes a legal helmet. He also stated that, if this is a safety board, then it needs to take up this issue of educating the public.

Nelson Ruehl said that if someone accesses the Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) website, it states that they do not approve or disapprove any safety equipment; so that technically there is no such thing as a Department of Transportation approved helmet. He continued by quoting part of the Nevada statute on motorcycle helmets. He has gone to court twice regarding an illegal helmet and the courts have found that the law is ambiguous and unenforceable. Mr Ruehl also mentioned that his group has a legislator who will initiate a bill in the legislature to propose lane splitting in Nevada.

When asked by various members of the public what the Board’s position would be on lane splitting and repealing the helmet law, the administrator stated that the board would remain neutral. The only reason the administrator testified at the last legislative session on the helmet repeal proposal was because A.B.A.T.E. was tying the use of helmets with motorcycle safety training, and that additional need for training would have overloaded the state’s motorcycle safety program.

Regarding the Board being asked for their opinion on proposed legislation, Board member John Breslow stated that the board could not give an opinion on a proposal until all the facts were presented.

Karen Jurasinski discussed A.B.A.T.E.’s position on the helmet laws. Nelson Reuhl asked if there could be a “grandfather clause” for seasoned riders should riders be required by law to take a course. Additionally, he asked about the billboards displaying messages about riding and alcohol. Although he agrees in principal, he asked for a more detailed explanation of the 50% alcohol related fatalities figure among motorcycle riders mentioned earlier. The administrator explained that these figures came directly from the Office of Traffic Safety FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System) analyst statistics. Mr. Reuhl asked if he could get a copy of those statistics or know where to access them. The administrator told him where to find the statistics within the Department of Public Safety website. Statistics on other fatalities can be obtained from the F.B.I. website, as well as at http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov.

Lily Gonzales is writing an article for Quick Throttle Magazine and had various issues she wanted to discuss with the board. She shared many personal suggestions for the minutes and the agenda of the Motorcycle Advisory Board meetings, including posting changes to the meeting date, itemizing the agenda items in more detail, archiving meeting minutes, posting minutes earlier on the website and using full names rather than acronyms. Additionally, she asked about the price of training motorcycles and the bidding process, current vendor used, distribution of motorcycles, numbers of motorcycles given to the College of Southern Nevada, the need to have budgetary/financial information on the program available to the public, explanation of Profession Development workshops and various other subjects. The administrator responded to each of these issues as requested.

Mr. Lehman suggested we use an auto responder on our website so an individual could e-mail the program and have the minutes and budget/financial report automatically sent to that person.

Ms. Gonzales continued to discuss her concerns regarding the use of rider fees, a comment made by motorcycle instructor Willie Olson at the last board meeting regarding tourists, reader boards during Street Vibrations, and in particular, a comment made by board member Scott Swain regarding the wording on the reader boards. She felt his comment was inappropriate and condescending. She requested that a comment be placed in these minutes stating that she felt law enforcement and the Motorcycle Advisory Board were disrespectful to the public by their condescending attitude.

Board member Scott Swain was asked to move into the view of the camera. He complied and then addressed the comments made by Ms. Gonzales.

A final comment was made by Ms. Gonzales requesting that the agenda and handouts be e-mailed to her.

NEXT MEETING – SET DATE

The next regular meeting date was set for December 10, 2010 at 1:00 pm. The meeting will be a video conference.

ADJOURN

Geri Kodey moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by John Breslow

The meeting was adjourned at 2:15 p.m.