our group supported the helmet portion. i also know the bill writer personally, i have for years. there were no paws greased in the writing of it. it's the insurance companies who stand to gain, which was a byproduct. md will make very little off mopeders because of the final writing of this law. the motivation for the law was legitimate. sparked from complaints by citizens whose cars were damaged in scooter collisions with no retribution, and written to make up for it. personal complaints of people to their representatives. if scooters carried insurance, claims could be made. and for scooters to carry insurance and be legitimate in md, they needed to be registered. and to be registered, they needed titles. mopeds were lumped in because they're next to each other in the code, and to the bill writers and members of the JPC it made sense to put them together. that's it. last year they tried and were shut down by the environmental matters committee in the house, but this year their concerns were addressed. i know there was lobbying from the motorcycle group, and that a lot of discussion was coming out of hagerstown that helped change this bill for the better in the end. we fought the original writing of the bill because of the hardship to moped owners, and it was changed. i'm happy with it. going against the force is dumb? then i'm the dumbest bitch in maryland. i'm the fucking force. every god damn day.
ed, i know you did take part. i'm done with this thread, i just saw it and was frustrated, wondering where people were a few months ago. i put in my hours on this topic already. get a helmet, get a sticker for 5 dollars, and get some cheap insurance. now when we ride, the cops won't think we're on stolen dirt bikes. now when our shit gets stolen, it won't be able to be re-registered in MD without coming up stolen. now if we crash, we're covered. and if we get impounded, we can get our shit back. done. i intended to go back and fight it once the figures on moped registration were in, since they made the assumption because of the lack of data that moped and scooter numbers were equal, and common sense among mopeders knows they're not. but i won't have that data for a year after the law takes effect. so it's not possible to fight on that ground effectively till the session after next. and i doubt it will even get heard. so it's on my back burner, i'm lobbying for more important issues in the mean time.