2nd letter to Rep. Charles Jenkins
To The Editor:

In response to the suggestion made in a 12/7/2006 Letter to the Editor that voters should consider certain legislative action regarding motorcycles, I have considered the author’s proposal and have just emailed state representative Jenkins my rebuttal. Following is an extract of that e- mail:

Dear Representative Jenkins:

The 12/7/2006 issue of the Union Sentinel carried a letter to the editor entitled, “A Letter to Rep. Jenkins,” in which the author proposed that you “sponsor legislation immediately that would outlaw any motorcycle on a Georgia highway or public road that is capable of speeds in excess of the legal limits.” As a mature, responsible motorcyclist, and a retired Certified Motorcycle Safety Instructor, I am writing to refute that simplistic, misguided, and ill-conceived approach to solving a complex behavioral problem. The availability of high speed motorcycles is not a threat to safety any more than the availability of high speed cars (the street-legal Bugatti Veyron will do over 250 mph), or the availability of high powered hunting rifles, or large boxes of kitchen matches, or deep residential swimming pools, or high speed motorboats, etc., It is the behavior of the people involved, not the product, that is the issue. Since all motorcycles are capable of exceeding the speed limits at some places in the mountains (as are all cars, trucks, and bicycles), and all matches are capable of starting forest fires, etc.; the focus of our anger should be directed instead at the individuals responsible for access to, and use of, the vehicles, firearms, matches, etc., Very few motorcyclists exhibit unsafe or criminal behavior, and penalizing the whole for the lawlessness or poor judgment of the few is discriminatory and unfounded. All loss of life on the highways is regrettable, but outlawing legal motorcycles or mandating speed-restricting devices on them is not the answer. As with the abuse of firearms, matches, etc., the answer lies in changing the behavior of the abusers. I don’t have the answer to how to solve that complex problem, but neither does the author of the reference letter; and I am opposed to any legislation that singles out motorcycles for speed-based equipment restrictions, which would have little or no effect on the problem, but which would invoke the ire of the overwhelming majority of motorcyclists, who are safety-conscious, law-abiding voters.

Cordially, Chuck Esposito

Suches, GA