Everyone please note: Bill 117 passed 2nd reading December 4th, 2008. We need signatures. The new petition must be signed by Ontario residents only and must be in the proper format, signed by hand with addresses included. You can request a copy from the1ironmaiden@hotmail.com I will need all of your help to get this new petition filled out, signed properly and mailed back to me. Bill 117 will amend the Highway Traffic Act Section 38.1 to include ‘No person shall drive or operate a motorcycle on a highway if another person under the age of 14 years is a passenger on the motorcycle.’ After extensive research and an interview with MPP Helena Jaczek who introduced Bill 117, it is clear that there are no statistics to support such a drastic piece of legislation we describe as nothing less than ‘absolute rule’ by the government of Ontario. According to the Ministry of Transportation’s Annual Safety Reports ‘199 children were injured in motorcycle related accidents from 1995 to 2005’ quoted by MPP Jaczek yet she has excluded the fact that those injuries include minimal, minor and major injuries. Surely the motorcycling community can be proud of those statistics not alarmed by them. She will go on to quote Smartrisk, an organization partnered with State Farm Insurance. According to them 46 children were hospitalized in Ontario in the fiscal year of ’05 to ‘06 due to motorcycle related accidents. Which is correct Smartrisk or statistics from the Ministry of Transportation’s Annual Safety Reports There seems to be a rather large discrepancy. The following may explain why. In her interview on bikerradiomagazine.com, MPP Jaczek admits she is unclear if the motorcycle related hospitalizations from Smartrisk were not in fact off-road vehicles yet in order to garner support for her ‘cause’ she continues to repeat those same statistics and did so in front of the Ontario Legislature on December 4, 2008 right before Bill 117 passed second reading. Supporters of Bill 117 have stated ‘if they can just protect only one child' yet our children are not in need of protection. No child under the age of 14 has died in a motorcycle related accident in 15 years according to MTO safety reports so there is no need for their concern in that regard. They speak of Ontario as being a leader in road safety legislation in the past but you can’t compare apples to oranges. You can compare seat beat laws to safety helmet laws but you can’t compare seat belt laws to forbidding children to ride on a registered street worthy vehicle. You can compare child booster seats to foot rest reach but you can’t compare child booster seats to prohibiting anyone under the age of 14 from riding on the back of a motorcycle. They are attempting to ban a part of the population from a legal mode of transportation. Far more children are hurt every year in automobile accidents, on ATV’s and bicycles and in playgrounds. Why then are they targeting motorcycles Will they stop there To quote the Smartrisk slogan: ‘SMARTRISK helps people see the risks in their everyday lives and shows them how to take those risks in the smartest way possible so that they can enjoy life to the fullest’. It would seem MPP Jaczek’s disregard for true statistics goes hand in hand with her disregard for the fundamental belief of the very people who gave her the statistics she manipulates. A belief that could very well be described as the essence of the motorcycling community. To know that there is risk in everything we do from the moment we walk out the front door, yet walk we do. About the author: I have been an avid motorcycle rider for more than 20 years. I am also a commercial motor vehicle operator who carries an ABM'Z' drivers license. All three of my children have grown up riding on the back of my motorcycles and now my daughter rides her own. As a mother and a professional driver I may have what could be construed as a unique perspective to the situation. I cherish my children, I know safety and I know what causes accidents and it is not motorcycles. I am outraged by the implications of this Bill. It seems to take away so much yet gives us nothing in return. One final note, the children who ride motorcycles with their parents are going to grow up to be far more safety minded and far better drivers then the people trying to pass Bill 117!