COUNTRY MUSIC LEGEND AND MOTORCYCLE FAN LORETTA LYNN HAS PASSED
Country Music Star and AMA Hall of Fame inductee Loretta Lynn died in her sleep on October 4, 2022 at her popular ranch and tourist destination in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, at age 90.

The Grammy Award winning singer rose to stardom in the music industry over six decades with hit singles like “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin,” but Ms. Lynn was also a long-time supporter of amateur motocross racing, and hosted the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at her “Loretta Lynn Ranch & Family Campground” since 1982, personally inspiring many young riders, and was appropriately inducted into the American Motorcyclists Association (AMA) Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2021 for “opening her arms and ranch to countless motocross families.”
ARIZONA LANE FILTERING LAW GOES INTO EFFECT
The new Arizona state law that allows lane-filtering for two-wheeled motorcycles under very specific circumstances officially went into effect on Saturday, September 24, 2022.

The Arizona state legislature passed bipartisan Senate Bill 1273 in March, signed into law March 24, 2022, by Governor Doug Ducey (R), and the bill does not allow “lane splitting,” but rather “lane filtering” by motorcycles traveling between lanes of street traffic at a speed of 15 miles per hour or less.  Three-wheeled vehicles, such as trikes or sidecars, are specifically not included in this change in the law.

S.B. 1273 was sponsored by Senator Tyler Pace (R-Mesa), who clarified that lane filtering and lane splitting are not the same thing.  This new law now in effect will only allow for low-speed lane filtering in very specific situations, and it was crafted to resemble a similar lane filtering initiative that became law in Utah in 2019.

Lane splitting or filtering in some form are now allowed in Arizona, California, Hawaii and Utah, while states including Connecticut, Oregon, Washington and Virginia have introduced or are considering such legislation.
 
‘NOISE’ UNDER ATTACK IN CALIFORNIA
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has signed AB-2496 into law, to now require a certificate of compliance for a violation of noise limit requirements and certain modified exhausts, and putting a “Hold” on vehicle registrations if proof is not adequately provided in a timely manner.

“AB-2496 creates a system in which, if you are cited for noise, you must provide certification to the court within 90 days of citation that your exhaust has been corrected to acceptable standards,” wrote ABATE of California in a ‘Call to Action’ opposing the measure; going on to explain that; “However, there is no system to test and certify, thus you can not get it.  Further, IF you do not get it, your vehicle will NEVER be able to be registered in the State of California again.  They want to remove us from the road.”

The new law requires the court to inform the Department of Motor Vehicles if a certificate of compliance is not provided within 3 months of the violation date, treating this failure as noncompliance, and requiring the DMV, before renewing the registration of any vehicle, to check whether the court has issued a hold on the vehicle registration for a violation of the noise requirements and to refuse to renew the registration until it has received a notification from the court that a certificate of compliance has been issued.

These requirements would become operative on January 1, 2027.
FEDERAL BILL DEMANDS ANSWERS ON ANTI-BIKER PROFILING
Congresswoman Susie Lee (D-NV), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, has included language [House Report 117-402] demanding answers from NHTSA regarding anti-biker profiling into a government funding bill, H.R. 8294, which states;

“The Committee is concerned that NHTSA may be conducting activities that encourage states to adopt legislation, regulation, or other policies that unjustly profile motorcycle riders.  The Committee directs NHTSA to report to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on the extent to which the agency works with states on motorcycle passenger policies within 120 days of enactment of this Act.”

Additionally, cosponsors are still being sought for H. Res 366 to prevent the discriminatory targeting of motorcyclists by law enforcement, similar to the anti-profiling resolution passed by the U.S. Senate in 2018.  Meanwhile, the states of Washington (2011), Maryland (2016), Louisiana (2019), Idaho (2020) and New Hampshire (2022) have proactively passed laws to curb profiling.
 
E-BIKES MAY SOON BE AS COSTLY TO CHARGE AS ICE BIKES ARE TO REFUEL
Rising electricity costs are impacting public charging stations, leading to increased costs for charging electric bikes that could be higher than gasoline.

Historically, the comparatively low price of charging an electric vehicle versus fueling one fitted with an internal combustion engine (ICE) has meant that for those who can afford such vehicles, the switch from gas to electric transport has been a financially beneficial one.

However, as the price of energy continues to rise internationally, electric motorcycles could soon be more expensive to charge than combustion bikes cost to fill up.

Assuming the price of gasoline doesn’t outpace the cost of electricity, a study summarized by VisorDown.com reports that costs per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity at ‘rapid’ charging stations in the U.K. have increased by 42% in the four months from May 2022 to September 2022; “That has led to charge costs per mile that are not far short of fill-up costs per mile.”

Whatever the case, fueling or charging your motorcycle is only going to get more expensive, it would appear.
RUSSIAN ATTACK ON UKRAINE CAUSING POTHOLES IN THE U.K.
Hostilities between Russia and Ukraine is being touted as the reason for much of the financial troubles in the world today, and the British Local Government Association (LGA) is now claiming that the Russian led invasion is preventing pothole repair work as costs increase.

So aside from other more obvious wartime after-effects, like higher gas prices and utility bills, the war between Russia and Ukraine is apparently being felt in even more wide-reaching areas.  One of the areas that are being reported to have been hit hard by the conflict is road building and repair.  The RAC in England reports that around 60% of the bitumen used to build new roads, and repair potholes, was bought from Russia.  With trade embargos on the nation now in force, the cost of carrying out these repairs is said to have risen, with the LGA claiming a 22% increase.

A recent study by the LGA concluded that prior to the Russian aggressions, the UK’s pothole problems would have taken ten years to rectify, costing around £12 billion ($13.5B US) in total.
 
FRENCH COMPANY TESTING PLANT-BASED ASPHALT
The worldwide movement towards a greener future of mobility doesn’t stop with the vehicles, but also the roads we drive and ride on.  Indeed, infrastructure plays an equally important role when it comes to sustainability, and this is something that many countries have overlooked in their efforts to go green, but not France, as it’s now ready to test a new plant-based asphalt called Biophalt.

Currently, asphalt roadway surfaces are made primarily out of petroleum crude oil, a far cry from carbon neutral, so French company Eiffage has been working on an alternative to traditional asphalt since 2018, called Biophalt, that is said to offer the same benefits as asphalt while taking the crude oil out of the equation.  The technology has so much potential, that in 2019, it was given an award by the Roads and Streets Innovation Committee of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

Biophalt sets itself apart from traditional asphalt by making use of a vegetable binder instead of crude oil.  Moreover, in terms of traffic volume, climatic resilience, traction, and durability, Biophalt has similar attributes to conventional asphalt.  It is also applied at mild temperatures and has a reduced production temperature requirement, both of which provide energy savings.  With all of this, Biophalt claims to have a carbon-neutral footprint.

Recently, the southwest French department of Haute-Garonne made the decision to test the Biophalt mix from Eiffage by resurfacing a mile-long section of road, in hopes that Biosphalt will soon set the entire road infrastructure on a new course.
 
SELF-DRIVING CAR ‘DRIVERS’ GIVEN GREEN LIGHT TO WATCH VIDEOS
As world governments move towards a full rollout of self-driving cars on the roads, one rule is being introduced in the United Kingdom to allow ‘drivers’ to watch videos while the vehicle is in motion!  After a consultation on the matter, the U.K. government is now set to allow those in control of self-driving cars to watch videos while driving down the road.

The changes came when the government updated the highway code earlier this year.  At the time, it was done to consider the new autonomous technology and incorporate it into the rules of the road, but this new rule could cause vulnerable road users to be put at risk.  It concerns watching content that is not related to the vehicle (films, TV, music videos, social media, and emails) on the vehicle's built-in display screens built into the cockpit.  These are generally used to change the settings of the car, relay information to the driver, or provide navigation assistance, though many can now be set to display videos via internal or external storage devices, with some being able to surf the Internet either through 5G or Wi-Fi.

The move will likely strike fear into the hearts of vulnerable road users, such as motorcyclists, as it’s already been widely reported that many self-driving cars do miss “seeing” us in some circumstances.  At this time, autonomous car manufacturers claim that the liability lies with the driver of the vehicle to spot the danger and take back control of the vehicle, so how badly is an operator’s concentration and reaction time impacted by watching a movie, or playing a game?

BMW just announced AirConsole to allow owners to play both single- and multiplayer videogames from the comfort of the driver’s seat to "make every waiting situation in the vehicle an entertaining experience."

For your Moto-tainment pleasure, Hollywood sources report that “The Walking Dead” star Norman Reedus has become the latest celebrity to join the cast of “The Bikeriders,” a fictional film inspired by the photography of Danny Lyon and his 1967 book of the same name, and follows the rise of a fictional Midwestern motorcycle club.  Seen through the lives of the members, the club evolves over the course of the decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more ‘sinister gang’.

The biker theme is fitting for Reedus, a longtime rider whose ‘TWD’ character Daryl Dixon is known for riding a motorcycle across the show’s 11 seasons.  The 53-year-old actor also hosts the travel series “Ride with Norman Reedus” as he hits the open road to explore biker culture.

In other ‘Dead’ News, Charlie Hunnam has reportedly hinted at resurrecting his Jax Teller character, who died in the final episode of “Sons of Anarchy,” for a redux role.
MOTORCYCLE POKÉMON TO HELP GAMERS EXLPORE POKÉ-UNIVERSE
Two new Legendaries, Koraidon and Miraidon, are here to aid in your exploration of the newest games in the Pokémon franchise.  In the 26 years since Pokémon was first released, it’s gained a lot of fans around the world, and while pedal-powered bicycles have been a part of Poké-canon since the beginning, traditional motorcycles haven’t been -- until now!

On November 18, 2022, Nintendo is set to release the two newest games in the franchise worldwide -- Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet -- on the Switch.  As has become customary, a pair of Legendary Pokémon (differentiated from normal Pokémon by both their rarity and their comparatively expansive powers) will adorn the box art for these games.  They’re new to the franchise; their names are Koraidon and Miraidon -- oh, and they transform into motorcycles.

That’s important, because these two new games mark another first in the franchise: They’re both open-world roleplaying games (RPGs), and with so much space to explore, these Pokébikes will help your character ride across the newest region in the Poké-universe, Paldea.

QUOTABLE QUOTE:

"I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

 

~ Alexander the Great (356 – 323 BC) Greek King & Conqueror