DIXIE ABATE STATE MEETING NOTES: 2/15/25, BILL-E’S BACON, FAIRHOPE, AL
SIGNED-IN ATTENDEES:
Kris Cook
Rodney Green
Shane Coker
Matthew Schroeder
Freddy Wheeler
Susan McKinley
Chuck McKinley
Fran Barber-Bruyn
Neil Bruyn
Jim “Red Beard” Currie
Kim “Bad Boy” McDowell
Michael Stieber
Chris Best
Wendell Cumbaa
Cathy McLain
Dwight Busby
Paul Hebda
Bill E Stitt
Motion by Matt, second by Freddy, to accept the notes of the last meeting as written. Motion passed. Motion by Michael, second by Chris, to accept the treasurer’s report as set forth. Motion passed. Both documents are now in the permanent record of the organization.
Our Legislative Day is coming up Wednesday, 2/19. We are serving Chik-fil-a and donuts in the 6th floor lobby. We need everyone who can come. Chief Hamilton is giving us four parking spots. The State House opens at 8. Be there at 7:30.
Freddy talked about how important it is to keep up with what the legislature is doing. Things can happen fast. An example is the reflective stickers bill that was introduced a couple of years ago without us knowing it was coming. It is easy for the legislature to slip things in when we’re not expecting them. Remember a few years ago when the state slipped an autocycle bill in one summer during a special budget session. No one alerted us and it was over before we knew it.
Neil asked if we’re in touch with the people who program the over-highway signboards. Matt said they are supposed to switch to messaging about motorcycles in May. We need to call them – motorcycle safety messages should run all summer.
Freddy reported on HB17, a bill that would outlaw trucks with the “Carolina Squat.” Kim said he wasn’t a fan of government overreach. We discussed how those trucks were hard to see out of in front and could conceivably run over a motorcycle. Chris said that drivers of vehicles like this often don’t have enough insurance. Freddy also reported on SB11, by Senator Coleman-Madison, which would add additional registration fees on cars and motorcycles to fund public transportation. This is on top of the higher fees they collect on our ad valorem taxes when we tag our bikes. This would add $7.00 to the registration fee for a motorcycle, and another $5.00 as an “annual license tax.”
Freddy reported on the motorcycle consortium brought together by the people who run the Alabama Traffic Safety Center. This consortium was made up of representatives from Dixie ABATE, The Alabama Traffic Safety Program, The ALCOC, ALDOT, the Alabama Fire College, ALEA, the University of Montevallo, and Law Tigers. All these people are stakeholders with an interest in the process of licensing motorcycle riders.
The consortium came up with the following recommendations: A new rider should be able to take the written test and get a learner’s permit, if they are between the ages of 15 and 16. The ability to get an M endorsement at age 14 would end. When a rider is ready to get his M endorsement, he takes a skills test to evaluate his ability to ride on the road. If he doesn’t want to take the riding test, he could pass a BRC given by the AMSP. (Alabama Motorcycle Safety Program)
There was much discussion on the fine points of these ideas, as the details are far from hammered out. It has to be decided WHERE the tests will be given, and there have to be many more ranges in the state to accommodate the increased demand for riding classes. We also have to be able to structure it so that it won’t cost the state anything. We would like some of the cost of the test to fund the AMSP. Right now even the people who RUN the AMSP don’t know what their budget is. The University of Montevallo administers those funds and is very opaque about it. We need to untangle funding and make things more transparent and predictable. Our fatality rate is too high and we think getting more riders trained could help this problem.
We need to use CDL ranges at Community Colleges. They won’t volunteer this resource. They will need to be made to share their asphalt.
Our next meeting is at 2 PM on Sunday, April 13, at Green Park, 302 LeMoyne Drive, Dauphin Island, AL. The Mobile Bay Vintage Motorcycle Club will have a bike show there. We’ll have our tent set up. Our meeting would ordinarily be Saturday, 4/19, but as that’s Easter weekend, we thought we’d better move it. This is a bonus meeting for our southern members, as we usually only meet in the Mobile/Baldwin County area twice a year: December and February.
