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NMA Press Release - Dualsport Law Enforcement Problem?

(From NMA's Dave Hiatt)

Law Enforcement Problem?

The Northwest Motorcycle Association (NMA) has been receiving numerous complaints from riders of WA licensed dual sport motorcycles who believe they were ticketed for equipment violations that do not exist. These complaints started coming in about three years ago, primarily from the Kittitas and Chelan County areas. Recent information from reliable sources has led the NMA to believe that ticket writing for alleged equipment violations will be increased significantly in 2004 in some of the popular dirt riding areas in eastern WA. As you know, many trails in those areas are segmented by logging or county roads that are utilized to connect enough trail segments for a full day of dirt riding. Many riders are licensing their dirt bikes (particularly KTMs) or dirt prepping their factory dual sports with dirt tires, larger plastic gas tanks, more durable mirrors, lights, etc. so they can ride both the trails and the connecting roads.

Prior complaints have stated that one particular USFS law enforcement agent seems to be on a real vendetta against WA licensed dual sport bikes with plastic gas tanks. Information is coming in that other law enforcement agents, specifically county ORV deputies (funded by your NOVA and ORV sticker funds!) intend to be very aggressive in 2004, writing citations for real or possibly perceived "equipment violations." NMA volunteers have researched the laws and have to date been unable to find any law which prohibits the use of plastic gas tanks on street licensed motorcycles. However, one (perhaps several?) USFS law enforcement agent has been writing tickets to the operators of street licensed motorcycles on USFS roads for an equipment violation simply because their motorcycle was equipped with a plastic gas tank.

Based on the information we are receiving it appears that many of the County ORV enforcement officers in eastern WA are now preparing to go all out in terms of writing tickets to street licensed dual sport riders for equipment violations based on such things as non-conforming tires, headlights, tail lights, turn signals, mirrors, etc. The NMA believes that ticketing of riders for the use of plastic gas tanks will also be on the increase this year. It appears that some USFS law enforcement personnel realize that any ticket they write is almost impossible for the average person to contest and 99.9% of the ticketed riders will simply pay the fine.

The current process of contesting a USFS citation means making one in-person trip to the US Federal Court in Yakima just to plead not guilty and set a hearing date. Then a second trip to Yakima is required to show up for the actual hearing. Of course as the old saying goes, anyone who represents themselves in court has a fool for a lawyer! Therefore, a person desiring to contest their citation must also hire a lawyer for both of those appearances! One person we know of actually attempted to contest the citation with the services of a lawyer over a year ago. The court still has not responded to that lawyer’s letter for a hearing as of the date this is being written. It appears the system just took that person’s money and refuses to respond in any manner to numerous phone calls or the letter from the lawyer! Due Process? Fuhgeddaboutit from what we hear!

NMA volunteers are currently working to create a list of the applicable WA and Federal motor vehicle laws and regulations for dual sport motorcycle equipment. This information will soon be posted on the NMA website, nmaoffroad.org.

What can you do? Tell your riding friends that the NMA is trying to collect hard data on what has been occurring and hopefully put a complete stop to any abuse of authority which may have been or is occurring against riders of WA licensed dual sport motorcycles. There are many statutes on the books for use against law enforcement officers who abuse their position. The Rico Anti-Racketeering Act is a very strong federal statute that creates personal liability and criminal penalties against officials who engage in abuse of their positions. The NMA needs factual data from everyone who has received what they believe to be an unjustified "equipment violation" while riding their street licensed dual sport motorcycle in WA during the past three years. There is also a real need for volunteers who can correlate this information, compile the statistics, request law enforcement logs under the Freedom of Information Act, and chart a course to end what we believe may be concerted effort to discourage the use of trails on public lands! Please have everyone you know that has experienced this type of problem contact the NMA by going to nmaoffroad.org and using the "contact us" function to provide as detailed of information as possible regarding their personal experience with this type of situation and volunteer to help!  They are not alone!

WARNING to Dualsporters and dirt bikers with license plates!!

The NMA just gotten the word that the Chelan County ORV deputies (and most likely some of the very ORV unfriendly USFS law enforcement personnel, a.k.a. the infamous Larry Int-Hout with his fetish for ticketing street licensed dual-sport bikes with plastic gas tanks, will be on the loose again in the Chelan County, Entiat River and Foggy Dew areas trolling for your hard earned dollars.   It sounds like there will be particularly heavy enforcement and ticketing of riders on KTMs because dealers can sell them with a WA license plate without requiring DOT approved and so marked, lights, tires, turn signals, brake lights, horns, etc.   These deputies are now apparently very educated as to the intricacies of extracting dollars from your pocket book utilizing the finer details of the motor vehicle equipment laws.  This news is especially important if you plan to ride the Dirty-Face dual sport event in that area in June!  

 
It is important to realize that USFS law enforcement tickets are almost impossible to take to court unless you are very wealthy!   Larry Int-Hout, your unfriendly USFS law enforcement agent in that area, apparently knows that and appears to have no problem writing tickets for plastic gas tanks on dual-sport motorcycles even though they are perfectly legal to the best of our knowledge.   Have you crawled under your car lately and looked at the plastic gas tank under there?   No?  Well apparently Larry hasn't either based on the number of complaints we have gotten via email about him writing tickets for that.    Yes, it is rumored that  you can contest your ticket in Federal Court (Yakima?) with one drive over there for a hearing to set a court date (no you can't do it by phone or mail, only in person)  with a return visit for the actual court date.   Of course that did not even work for one person we know.  In that case, the US Government never even answered a letter from a lawyer asking for a court date.  They just took the money via their pocket picking machine somewhere in Georgia and would never respond to the lawyer!   How's that for Constitutional Due Process of Law?!!!  Oh yeah,  we have also heard the USFS will (at least plastic gas tank Larry)  have no problem searching your four wheeled vehicle even if you adamantly tell him he has no right to do so.   This happened to a person we know who had a dirt bike in the back of his truck and was not operating either vehicle when Plastic Gas Tank Larry showed up!   He just happened to be parked on PUBLIC (USFS) land!  Anything he finds will of course subject you to the same Federal Court process described above or worse.  Rights?   What rights?   The USFS may even have the legal right (Constitutional is another matter!) to search your vehicle at any time if it is parked on PUBLIC (USFS) land from unconfirmed reports of recently released USFS regulations that we are hearing about.  Oh yes, of course you need a special USFS parking permit to park within 1/4 mile of anything they might classify as a Trail Head.
 
Yes, your Nonhighway & Off Road Vehicle Activities (NOVA) dollars are being spent to support these activities under the guise of the "Education and Enforcement"  grants the InterAgency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (IAC), supported by the  WTA (rabid hikers) loves to spend your gas tax money to support.   Nice to see how your tax dollars work for you isn't it?    I am sure that receiving a ticket on a dirt logging road for non-DOT approved equipment will make you feel much safer, right?  Especially nice since you spent $65 for that WA license plate instead of $8 for an ORV tag isn't it?
 
Oh yes, do not forget the Speed Limit which is apparently 35 mph on all unmarked USFS roads.   No speed limits yet on the trails as far as we know.  However, one of us was at a meeting recently where a deputy from that area made statements to the effect that he believed he could write tickets for "excessive speed" or "reckless operation" of a motor vehicle on a trail.   He was actually quite upset about some of the speeds he had heard about, which the riders obviously survived,  on the trails in "his area."   Yes, the four wheeled law enforcement vehicles are usually equipped with video and audio so everything you do and say can and will be used against you in a court of law. 
 
Okay, you have been warned!  The Sheriff of Nottingham is on the loose north and south of Lake Chelan and Robin Hood has not yet appeared on the scene.  Similar plans to pick your pockets may also be in the plans for your other Public Land riding areas and we just haven't heard about it yet. 
 
PS - ATV riders!   Want to be treated as if your were Osama Bin Laden's right hand man?   Just get caught with a quad on a logging road by Plastic Gas Tank Larry!