New York: Judge Approves Discrimination Against Motorcycles |
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File under News Opinion Safety
Author: Mike Werner
Location: Normandy, France
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It's incredible if you think about it. The one country that proclaims equality to all, no discrimination, justice for all, etc is the one that slams the rights of one part of their population into the gutter.
3 years ago, the police in New York targeted motorcycle riders (article  ). They set up road blocks for bikers, not cars. Only motorcycles were stopped, no cars or trucks. 5,342 bikers were stopped, 2.278 were inspected, 4 were arrested for criminal activities and 1.065 were ticketed.
Four of the bikers sued the police. Their reasoning, which I agree with, is that singling out a group of people is unfair and intrusive, which on its own is a blatant form of discrimination.
The authorities are stating that the motorcycle checkpoints are there because an increase in the number of motorcycle-related deaths. Did anyone look at the number of motorcycles in the same time frame? I'll bet they have increased as well, resulting in an increase in the number of deaths. But according to the authorities, the number of motorcycle fatalities during the motorcycle-only check points decreased by 17% (2009-188, 2009-155). On its own, it looks promising, but statistics are lies. If you look at the 2010, the figure is 180, so an increase.
But the judge decided that the police are doing to a good job, and upheld the motorcycle-only road blocks.
Death rates are as an excuse from authorities, but no one ever goes and performs an in-depth analyses of what causes them. New York is known to have a bad road system in dire need of proper repairs. Many motorcycle riders meet an untimely death because of bad roads. Aggressive car drivers aggravate the problem. But the state doesn't do anything about these problems, which are the real reasons behind the high death tolls. Looking at the only in-depth accident analysis done in Europe, the famous MAIDS report, New York is nothing different from Europe. Bikers are dying on the badly maintained roads, more often killed by cars than because of something the biker did.
But instead of doing something about the real problem, the politicians and authorities do window-dressing in order to get some extra votes.
So much for liberty and equality for all. We all saw how the New York police handled the Occupy Wall Street movement, so are we surprised? Shortly they'll be dealing with protests the way Syria & Egypt are doing...
One site is helping fellow bikers. NYMSTF (New York Motorcycle & Scooter Task Force) has an area on their site where, when you see a police road block, enter the information. That information is communicated to the bikers via Twitter. Follow their Twitter account and you'll know where the road blocks are, and now you can avoid them. It will also document the police efforts for future law cases.
Click here for the Road Block section of NYMSTF
Click here to follow the NYMSTF Twiiter warnings
Via: Wall Street Journal
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