New Mexico Motorcycle Safety Foundation

Motorcycle Advisory Board Meeting

Held Oct 18, 2007

Hosted by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation

Submitted by Barbara Alvar

The New Mexico Motorcycle Advisory Board meeting is held to advise the NMDOT and Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) on the concerns that motorcyclist in New Mexico have. This is a stakeholders meeting which allows for the flow of ideas on awareness and education programs, our concerns on problems that exist and finding solutions to solving those problems, and a voice on how the money is spent from the Motorcycle Training fund. Those in attendance at this years meeting were: The New Mexico Motorcyclists Rights Organization (NMMRO), ABATE of New Mexico and the New Mexico Confederation of Club (NMCOC) board members, MSF Coordinator and rider/coaches, NMDOT Traffic Safety Bureau, Representative Rick Meira, the Institute of Public Law, the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) and a couple of motorcycle shops. It has been a few years since the NMMRO or ABATE has been invited to attend this meeting.  However; after contacting the NMDOT last year regarding the grant money the state was awarded and when the next advisory board meeting would be held, we were told they had already held the meeting but they would put us on the list for this years meeting.

As you may imagine we had some real concerns walking into this meeting. We wanted to know; how much money from the training fund actually went to MSF for rider education, why towns/cities with a demand for training had none available, how much money is available for awareness programs, how much was going to the roads fund at the end of the year, how was the SAFETEA-LU Section 2010 grant money for 2007 utilized, how were they planning on spending this year’s grant money.  When we received the agenda it appeared that all our questions would be answered.

How much money from the training fund actually went to MSF for rider education?

The state is contracted to pay $100,000 to MSF to run the rider education program. It will cost you $150.00 to take the basic riders course, under age 18 it is $65.00, for the experienced rider course it costs $65.00. The MSF coordinator has a budget through MSF of $485,000 per year; it about averages out despite not knowing how many riders under the age of 18 are taking the course. MSF trained 2771 people in 2006; from Jan to July 2007 they have trained 1814. This is up from the same time period in 2006. You can only register on-line now, but the good thing is it will give you more flexibility with class scheduling. MSF just recently reopened the Las Cruses training course, they have closed the Ruidoso course due to lack of interest. The MVD in Cuba, NM is now set up to administer the range test to get your endorsement.

What about towns/cities with a demand for training and none available?

We brought up our concerns that there are areas of the state that are not being serviced by the MSF, Carlsbad and Las Vegas are a couple.  There are problems with getting mobile sites going.  Some of the problems are as follows: 1) need to have an area big enough to set up the range, 2) need to have classroom facilities, 3) get the equipment to run the course (meaning need truck and trailer to haul the bikes), and 4) the cost. At this point there are no funds available to purchase a truck and trailer big enough to haul the bikes to the mobile sites. Another problem is that if purchased by the state, then a state employee has to drive the vehicle, thereby incurring another cost. This brings us to the cost factor per student; it costs MSF about $265 per student to put on the mobile site. The question is; should MSF raise the tuition fee to compensate for the additional cost they incur to provide the course in these rural areas of the state?

Is there training for those who ride 3 wheel and don’t have an endorsement?

Good news for those that ride on three wheels and don’t have an endorsement, the MSF has now designed a course for you. There are some restrictions though the engine has to be either under or behind the rider. You will be using your own bikes for the course and it was not designed for the stretched out front ends. They will also allow for handicaps. Look for it to be available here after the first of the year. They will need to purchase an instructor demo bike for the class.

Training sites that need improvement:

Representative Rick Miera was able to procure from the Capital Outlay budget $200,000 for improvements to be done on the training facilities in Bernalillo County. Representative Miera will try to appropriate more funds for the purchase of the truck and trailer during this legislative session. 

What money is available for awareness programs? How much was going to the roads fund at the end of the year? How was the SAFETEA-LU Section 2010 grant money for 2007 utilized? How were they planning on spending the grant money that is granted this year?

The simple answer is there are no funds for awareness programs. The good news is no money is going to the roads fund at the end of the year.

To catch you up if you do not know, each state is able to apply for a grant from the SAFETEA-LU Section 2010 assistance for their motorcycle safety fund. Each state that is awarded the money would receive a minimum of $100,000 some states receiving more depending on certain demographics. New Mexico received the $100,000 for 2007 and has been awarded the same amount for 2008. The money from 2007 was spent as follows:

Did you hear the motorcycle awareness commercial on the radio or did you see the look for motorcycles commercial on TV that played in August?  If not, don’t worry they are going to be played again. Part of the money was used to pay for the advertising time on the radio and television. More money will be put towards advertising out of the 2008 grant money.

There was and still is a need for new motorcycles for the riding course. They purchased 22 new motorcycles to replace the worse of the fleet motorcycles; more will be purchased for 2008 although not as many. New helmets were purchased along with head booties for sanitation purposes. 

MVD Status:

The MVD now has different facilities that administer the riders test if you do not go through the rider training class. Please contact MVD to find out where those locations are.

Another interesting thing was brought up.  The NMDOT started looking at the money they were receiving from the MVD and something just did not jive, after further investigation it was found that the NMDOT had not been giving the right amount out of our registration fees ($2.00 out of our annual registration fee for each motorcycles goes to the Motorcycle Training Fund, for education, awareness and safety programs).  What the NMDOT found was when the state went to two (2) year registration; the MVD was only giving the training fund $2.00 for the two years rather than $4.00 for the two years.   Needless to say the MVD is going back over their records and will be giving the training fund what it is owed out of their own budget. This will give the fund a little extra money for motorcycle awareness programs this year.

Registration Fees:

The advisory board would like to raise the registration fee on your motorcycle by $3.00 this money would go into the Motorcycle Training Fund raising it from $2.00 to $5.00 per motorcycle per year. By doing this we could implement more awareness and safety programs in the state and possibly lower the Basic Riders Education tuition. Here is the problem with this idea, we tried a few years ago to do this but the Republicans did not want to raise taxes and they saw this as raising taxes. Yes, we are asking them to take our money for the training fund, but they still see it as raising taxes even though there is a benefit in adding money to this fund. I know we all hate to pay more in taxes but at the same time this will benefit all riders in the state. So the question I pose to you is: Do we raise the registration fee for motorcycles by $3.00 to go to the motorcycle-training fund? If you answered yes to this question then please contact your State Representative and State Senator and tell them you want the registration fee to go up by $3.00.

The advisory board will now be meeting twice a year. The NMMRO and ABATE requested that this happen.  How can you get things done if you are only meeting once a year?  The next meeting will be held some time around April, if you have any questions or concerns on this please contact one of the NMMRO or ABATE officers and they will be glad to help.