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The article below appeared in the Pope County Press on May 16th 2006
http://www.pctribune.com/index.asp?tsID=1

Their right to ride

Local ABATE chapter growing while promoting safety and bikers’ rights
http://www.pctribune.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=16&ArticleID=2768&TM=72706.45

Amy Chaffins
News Editor
amyc@pctribune.com

Quick. How would you describe a “biker?”

If you conjure up images of black leather, bushy beards, long braids, wind tussled hair-dos, muscled tattoos, loud, engine revving people... well some of that is generally true; but there’s oh-so-much more than that among the members of a group of local bikers who are passionate about riding; quick to move on legislation affecting their riding rights; and dedicated to promoting responsible riding.

“It’s the Hollywood stigma that we are trying to break through and bikers work very hard to try and change that image that the American people- the general public- has of us,” Val VanderWeyst explained just before an American Bikers for Awareness Training and Education (ABATE) meeting at Rooney’s Bar in Sedan earlier this month.

ABATE is a nationwide organization acting as a watch-dog group in protecting the rights of motorcyclists. Minnesota’s ABATE chapters are located throughout the state, and locally, the Glacial Ridge Chapter of ABATE meets the first Saturday of each month at 6 p.m. at Rooney’s.

With a membership of 162 people, the group is made up of a little bit of everybody. “We are white collar workers, we’re professionals, we’re lawyers, we’re doctors, we’re the people next door, we’re blue collar workers, we’re your neighbors” Val, who is a high school teacher, said.

“We work and pay taxes, we raise children, we’re just like everybody else; it just happens to be that our weekend passion is putting on our leathers and our face in the wind and enjoying.”

ABATE members ride many different types and brands of bikes. Their membership form boasts, “The fact that we share an interest in motorcycling is more important than the type of motorcycle we ride.”

Active in legislation

The Glacial Ridge chapter of ABATE took part in Biker Day at the Capitol March 8. Motorcyclists from all over Minnesota met with their local legislators.

“We work very hard, hand-in-hand with our local legislators,” Val said.

And their efforts extend beyond one day a year. The ABATE organization has worked to require that riders wear eye protection at all times. The group supports the mandate of anyone under 18 wearing a helmet. “We’re not prejudiced against anyone wearing a helmet,” Val said. “We just don’t want big brother legislation mandating what we can do.”

Currently, ABATE is working towards putting more teeth in penalties for drivers who fail to yield to motorcyclists, pedestrians, bike riders and others. “Our biggest problem with cars and motorcycles is that cars will do left hand turns in front of us,” Val said.

According to Glacial Ridge chapter President, Deano Meehan, of Rockford, about four years ago, ABATE encouraged passage of a law requiring equal access to all public places, including restaurants, hotels and campgrounds.

“One of the reasons we did this is because people would walk in wearing their leathers and [some restaurants] wouldn’t serve you or let you come in,” Meehan said. It’s against the law to discriminate against anyone wearing black leather. Even a friend of mine who is the foreman of city couldn’t get in.”

‘Watch and look and check that blind spot’

“In the spring when we come back out and haven’t been on the road for a long period of time, drivers need to train themselves to watch for us,” Val said. “Anytime there’s an accident between a car and motorcycle, the car driver is at fault over 70 percent of the time... and the car driver will say, ‘I did not see the motorcycle,’ and that’s not a lie. They truly did not see the motorcycle.”

Val said riders have to have headlights on at all times and ABATE is trying to train its members to also wear something bright, like a bandana, scarf or something that will flutter or move so that car drivers will see riders.

To drivers, Deano said, “Just watch out for us.” And as part of May designated as Motorcycle Awareness Month, ABATE chapters across the state took part in the “Great Minnesota Wash Out” last weekend. Members manned wayside rests washing drivers’ windshields free of charge and handing out literature on motorcyclists and safety.

Giving back to communities

Last month, the Glacial Ridge chapter donated $500 to five different first responder groups.

“They are the least funded portion of the medical community and for us, first responders are generally the very first people on the scene if we have an accident and we have taken up in the last few years giving to first responders,” Val said. “They not only benefit us, as motorcyclists, they’re also the first on the scene for car accidents.”

ABATE also presents a “Sharing the Road” workshop in drivers education classes at Southwest Driving School in Montevideo each month.

Along with instruction on watching for motorcycles, Val said, “We dress [the students] in riding gear, not only teach about motorcyclists, but to get rid of that biker stigma. For some of these kids, this is the only interaction they’ll have with a biker, so just because they don’t know who we are, doesn’t mean they don’t know who we are.”

Plus, the group participates in Buddy Bear Runs. ABATE chapters purchase and hand out stuffed teddy bears to highway patrol, local sheriff’s departments, EMTs, fire departments and social service agencies to be used for children in traumatic situations, be it a car accident or house fire.

The Glacial Ridge chapter will also take place in the June 17-18 Pope County Hospice Motorcycle Ride.

“We’re also good at watching out for our own,” Val said. The Dial-a-Ride program runs from the last weekend in April through the last weekend in October.

“If they’ve had too much to drink, they can call Dial-a Ride and we’ll send someone out to pick them up, and their bike, to take that person somewhere safe,” Val explained. “We don’t advocate getting drunk and riding your motorcycle,” she added. “We are about safety and concern for each other.”

The freedom

“For those who have no desire to ride a motorcycle, or who have never ridden a motorcycle, it’s hard to explain to them the feeling we have on the open road; the feel of the wind on your face, the sunshine, the different smells like fresh cut hay; and of course you get the nasty ones like rotted road kill...” Val laughed.

“The way I describe it it’s just freedom,” Vonnie Smith, Glacial Ridge ABATE historian and public relations representative said.

Deano said, “We’re open to anybody who wants to belong- you don’t have to ride a motorcycle. For those who do ride, I ask them, ‘Do you believe in the right to ride?’ We’re trying to preserve our right to ride through the future so our children and grandchildren can have a motorcycle to ride.”

And in the next year, Deano said, “I’d like to see us pass all legislation, all chapters double in size and I’d like to see that nobody gets hurt through the year, that’s my biggest fear.”

“The thing about belonging to an organization like ABATE, it’s like a brotherhood. Glacial Ridge is a family.”

For more information, visit the Glacial Ridge ABATE chapter website at www.glacialridgeabate.org or contact Vonnie at 320-254-1451.

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