AB43 is a “hair on fire” situation. The bill, generically titled “Traffic Safety,” was passed by the state Senate and Assembly earlier this month by votes of 30 to 5 and 68 to 5 respectively, with a few abstentions in both chambers. AB43 was forwarded to Governor Newsom on September 17^th and is awaiting his action. That’s why the urgency. (Please send this out to family and friends as well).

Members should email their opposition to the bill to:

Governor Gavin Newsom

c/o Ronda.Paschal@gov.ca.gov–Deputy Legislative Secretary

The main issue is that the bill would reverse nearly 100 years of California speed limits being based on fact-based engineering by allowing the lowering of limits without any particular rationale. By disregarding proven traffic engineering standards and posting unrealistic limits, many more drivers traveling at conventional, safe speeds will be stopped and ticketed for noncompliance. Police and community relations will be poorly served by a dramatic increase in traffic stops that serves no safety purpose. Speed traps will become much more prevalent.

The forced lowering of speed limits will also create a surge in traffic accidents. Most drivers obey their instincts of what is a safe rate of travel on a particular road. That’s why the prevailing methodology for setting the safest speed limit is based on the prevailing behavior of 85 percent of drivers. Studies have shown repeatedly that the 85^th percentile rule for establishing speed limits minimizes crashes. By reducing speed limits below those levels, there will be a wider variance of driving speeds on the road, some obeying the new numbers on the speed limit signs and more following natural driving patterns. The result will be more vehicular interactions between regular and slower drivers, creating the conditions for more crashes.

Write from your own perspective, which will give a much more impactful statement to the governor.  We urge you to do it today!

Thank you for your support of motorists’ rights in California.

The post Immediate Attention: Contact Governor Gavin Newsom TODAY about AB43–the Traffic Safety Bill appeared first on National Motorists Association.

Softlights.org has started a petition to ban overly bright headlights. The petition asks Congress, the Department of Transportation and NHTSA to take this matter seriously and ban all blue-light technologies on vehicles and to limit headlights, taillights, brake lights, turn signals, and flashing lights to a maximum peak luminance of human-safe 280 nits.

The petition has garnered nearly 23,000 signatures to date. To support this effort, go to Ban Blinding Headlights and Save Lives!

Thank you for your support of motorists’ rights across North America!

The post Check out the Petition to Congress: Ban Blinding Headlights and Save Lives! appeared first on National Motorists Association.

Dear New York City area, New Jersey, and Connecticut NMA Members,

Please plan to attend (to register to speak, click HERE) at least one of the upcoming 13 virtual meetings on NYC Congestion Pricing. Voted in by the NY state legislature in 2019, the city recently received permission to work on the environmental impact of congestion pricing, which is the focus of these meetings.

Congestion pricing for any motorist entering Manhattan below 60^th Street is now scheduled to begin in 2023. This will be the first time a US city will use congestion pricing as a funding tool. The impact on motorists and truckers will be immense. Also, residents on any street above 60^th Street will be impacted due to an increased need for street parking and other congestion issues. Officials say one of the reasons for this congestion fee is to reduce traffic—does anyone believe that will happen?

This motorist tax will be used solely to help upgrade the city’s aging subway system. The city will likely use surveillance as a way to extract the fee. We all know how accurate that kind of technology is. Details on how much the entry fee will have not yet been determined.

Feedback from the meetings will be part of the required environmental statement, which will take 16 months. Then the plan will likely take another year to implement.

The MTA and its allies argue that the plan will ease traffic and improve the transit system. They are urging the public to participate in the meetings.

To register to speak, the public is advised to visit the MTA’s new Central Business District Tolling web portal at new.mta.info/project/CBDTP.

The hearings will be held virtually at these dates and times:

• Thursday, Sept. 23, 10 a.m. to noon: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island
• Thursday, Sept. 23, 6-8 p.m.: Manhattan Central Business District (60th Street and below)
• Friday, Sept. 24, 10 a.m. to noon: New Jersey
• Wednesday, Sept. 29, 10 a.m. to noon: Northern New York City Suburbs
• Wednesday, Sept. 29, 6-8 p.m.: Long Island
• Thursday, Sept. 30, 6-8 p.m.: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island
• Friday, Oct. 1, 1-3 p.m.: Connecticut
• Monday, Oct. 4, 6-8 p.m.: New Jersey
• Tuesday, Oct. 5, 6-8 p.m.: Northern New York City Suburbs
• Wednesday, Oct. 6, 6-8 p.m.: Manhattan Outside the Central Business District (61st Street and above)

Three virtual meetings will focus on environmental justice communities located in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. However, anyone may register to attend any or all of these:

• Thursday, Oct. 7, 6-8 p.m.: New York
• Tuesday, Oct. 12, 6-8 p.m.: New Jersey
• Wednesday, Oct. 13, 6-8 p.m.: Connecticut

Please send this alert to your family and friends. We need every motorists’ voice on this issue.

Thank you for your support of motorists’ rights and the NMA!

The post ATTENTION: Plan to Attend in Sept/Oct One of 13 Virtual Meetings on NYC’s Congestion Pricing Plan appeared first on National Motorists Association.

Michigan state representatives have introduced two bills that would allow the issuance of speeding tickets by automated machines.

These are the first such bills in a dozen years. Attempts to legalize tickets by mail have always been rejected in Michigan. Still, it takes continued opposition by motorists to resist city governments, camera vendors, and insurance companies who will profit from the scheme.

TWO SPEED-CAMERA BILLS

HB 5272 would allow automated speeding tickets in work zones only when workers are present.  A companion bill, HB 5286, would require work-zone speed-limit signs to show flashing lights when workers are present. These bills have 12 co-sponsors, nine Republicans and three Democrats, from all parts of the state. This bipartisan, distributed support indicates an organized effort by camera vendors and construction unions. This bill may be hard to stop, but its effect is limited.

HB 5284 would allow automated speeding tickets on any road, any time. This bill has seven co-sponsors—six Democrats and one Republican—indicating weaker support than the work-zone bill. Most sponsors represent suburban cities with histories of aggressive ticketing. The bill is thought to have originated with House Democrats and city governments, helped by camera vendors.

Both bills use similar language. Cameras could be put up by the state, counties, or cities, but only on their own roads. Local governments could not install cameras on state highways.

The vehicle registrant would be presumed to be the driver. If someone other than the owner was driving, the owner would not be required to identify the driver. Tickets would be issued to “individual” owners; it is unclear how corporate-owned vehicles would be treated, including trucks. Citations would be sent by first-class mail.  If unanswered, a delivery receipt would be requested. If still unanswered, the citation would be personally served, and if the driver does not appear, an arrest warrant might be issued. It is unclear if drivers could ignore mailed citations until a process server finds them.

Unlike automated tickets in most other states, camera tickets would be treated as normal speeding violations, not as lesser offenses. Standard fines and points would apply. We presume convictions will appear on driving records, where they will be visible to insurers and employers.

The bills could be combined and could change at any time once they are taken up.

NMA will keep you informed of events. The bills could move fast once since they have been taken up in committee, so we won’t wait to take the first steps.

WHAT TO DO

Tell your state legislators what you think if you don’t want speeding tickets to appear in your mail.

Look up your state representative and senator at www.legislature.mi.gov/  Click this Link or enter 5284 on the home page to read the bill and see its current status.

Compose an original letter on paper or by e-mail.  Please keep it to 3 or 4 short paragraphs on the issues important to you.

If your representative is one of the seven sponsors of HB 5284, politely express your surprise and disappointment.  If they are one of the other 103 representatives, urge them to oppose HB 5284.  In a letter to your state senator, tell them that you hope they will oppose the bill if it reaches the Senate.

Here are some points you might make in your own words:

• Tell your legislators that ticket cameras are not a safety program but a scheme to take money from Michigan families. Cities will drive speed limits ever lower and reduce the tolerance of the radar to generate as much money as they want. If your legislators have taken an anti-tax posture, remind them that this is taxation by citation.
• Point out that there is no easy way to fight a questionable radar ticket. Drivers receiving a ticket from a distant city weeks after the event can’t collect evidence of faulty speed measurement, as from a misaimed radar or a reflection off a big truck. Remind them that robot tickets deprive citizens of a fundamental Constitutional right: the ability to confront an accuser in court.
• HB 5284 is just the opening round. Speed cameras will be followed by automated enforcement of right-turn-on-red stops, stop signs, and almost every other traffic sign. Every unneeded stop sign and too-short yellow light could be a money-maker for local governments.
• Tell them that camera use discourages traffic and trade. Local businesses will be unintended casualties as shoppers and diners avoid ticket-happy places. Tourists will come home from Michigan vacations to find tickets from towns along the way, and they won’t be back.
• Convictions for camera tickets will appear on our driving records, driving up insurance premiums. This will undo the recent auto-insurance reform. Premiums may rise by hundreds of dollars a year, contributing to uninsured driving by persons unable to afford coverage.
• Michigan is in the middle of a historic criminal-justice reform, reducing the number of drivers with unaffordable fine debt and suspended licenses. This bill will bring that problem back by enabling hundreds of thousands of more tickets at $135 apiece.

Close your letter by asking for a return letter pledging opposition. Tell legislators that their position will affect your vote in the coming 2022 primary election and that you will be asking all candidates for their positions. (Politicians are much more worried about opposition in primaries than in fall general elections, and they will be skittish about offending primary voters after 2022 redistricting.)

You can call your legislator’s office and ask the staffer who answers the representative’s position on HB 5284. Be polite, and use the phone call to educate the staff about speed law.  Young staffers may know nothing about automated ticketing and appreciate knowing that some voters deeply object to it.

Another important thing to do is send this email to all your family and friends that live in Michigan and ask them to help stop this camera nonsense.

These bills may get committee hearings this fall.  This summer, if your legislators hold in-district meetings or open houses, stop in and talk about tickets by mail.

HELP WANTED NEEDED

We will be facing the latest ticket-camera campaign without Jim Walker, the NMA researcher and lobbyist who effectively reformed Michigan speed law in 2005 and 2016.  Jim passed away two years ago. He worked closely with legislative committees, the Michigan State Police, and the media.

We need to find the next NMA Michigan spokesperson.  This could be you, if you’ve got a feel for politics, and if you can—

• Travel on short notice to Lansing to testify at legislative hearings.
• Debate calmly with hostile politicians and opposition lobbyists.
• Talk clearly and colorfully with media reporters.
• Write cogently on motorist issues for publication.

If you think you can help, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the NMA headquarters at  nma@motorists.org, and we’ll put you in touch with other activists in Michigan to plan a course of action.

Thank you for your support of motorists’ rights issues in Michigan!

The post IMMEDIATE ATTENTION: Ask your Michigan State Leaders to Vote NO on Two Automated Camera Bills (HB5272 and HB5284) + an Ask for Volunteers appeared first on National Motorists Association.

If you are are 70-1/2 or older, a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your traditional IRA, SEP or SIMPLE individual retirement account (IRA) can provide a benefit to you and for the qualified charity or charities of your choice.

A QCD is an otherwise taxable distribution from your qualified IRA — 401(k) plans are not eligible — that is transferred directly from the IRA account to a qualified nonprofit, such as the 501(c)(3) National Motorists Association. You must be at least 70-1/2 years of age to take advantage of the QCD provision. The total you donate in this manner must not exceed $100,000 in any given year.

Let’s say you are in the 25% overall tax bracket, and hypothetically you are considering donating $10,000 to one or more nonprofits from your qualified IRA account. (These examples do not apply to Roth IRAs, from which QCDs can be made under certain circumstances, because distributions from those accounts are not taxable.)

CASE 1: Withdraw $10,000 from Your IRA and Make No Donation
Your taxable income increases by $10,000, and your tax liability increases by $2,500. There is no charitable benefit.

CASE 2: Take Possession of the $10,000 from Your IRA and Donate It to a Nonprofit
Withdraw the $10,000 you wish to donate and put it into your bank account. Write a check to a nonprofit for $10,000. Your taxable income increases by $10,000, and unless you itemize your deductions, your charitable donation provides you with no tax benefit.

CASE 3: Donate the $10,000 in a Direct Transfer from Your IRA to a Nonprofit
Donate $10,000 to a nonprofit, like the NMA, by transferring the funds directly from your retirement account without taking possession. The charitable donation reduces the amount of the taxable IRA distribution to you by $10,000, whether you itemize your deductions or not.

As you can see, you benefit by transferring your charitable donation directly from your qualified retirement account to the qualified nonprofit of your choice.

PLEASE NOTE:
There are legal requirements you must meet so we recommend discussing these matters with your personal tax advisor before taking any action.

Because of the COVID crisis, the IRS has eliminated the required minimum distribution (RMD) for 2020. When the IRS lifts that exemption, the ages at which RMDs must be taken will be 72 and above. But individuals, as noted above, still can take advantage of the qualified charitable distribution starting at age 70-1/2.

If you choose to make a qualified charitable distribution to the NMA, contact the holder of your IRA account for the necessary QCD form. With mail delays commonplace now, it is best to request an electronic copy of the form which you can then return in a timely fashion. It generally takes a couple of weeks to process QCD requests, so be sure to turn your form in well before the end of the year to take credit for a 2020 distribution.

You will need the NMA’s bank account information, i.e., routing and account numbers if you choose an electronic transfer of funds directly to the account rather than have your IRA broker mail a check to the NMA. We’ll get those to you immediately upon request. Additionally, your IRA account broker will need the following information from the National Motorists Association:

NMA Federal tax ID number
39-1951971

NMA Corporate Address
1001 Arboretum Dr, Suite 120
Waunakee, WI 53597-2670

Thank you for considering the NMA when planning your charitable donations.

The post A Special Message for NMA Supporters–Qualified Charitable Distribution: A special IRS provision benefitting donors and nonprofits appeared first on National Motorists Association.

Colorado

Supported the petition efforts of “Ban it Sheridan,” a citizens group organized to ban photo radar vans and red-light cameras in Sheridan, Colorado.

Massachusetts

Opposed House Bill 1187 which would make seat belt violations a primary traffic offense and double the fine from $25 to $50. HB 1187 is currently under consideration in the Joint Judiciary Committee.

Supported House Bill 1576 which would require the refund of filing fees for parking ticket appeals if the appeal is successful. Currently the filing fee is nonrefundable, regardless of the verdict, which effectively stifles many appeals from even being attempted. HB 1576 is currently under consideration in the Joint Judiciary Committee.

Supported Senate Bill 1676 which would strengthen the commonwealth’s public records law by adding new enforcement measures for noncompliance, reduce fees for data retrieval, provide more electronic access to information and designate a point person at each state agency to handle public records requests. SB 1676 is currently under consideration in the Joint State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Committee.

Michigan

Opposed Senate Bills 627 and 628 which would expand tolling in Michigan and allow camera-based citations for unpaid tolls. Both bills are under consideration in the Senate Commerce Committee. For an excellent analysis of the impact these bills could have if passed, read this op-ed written by Jim Walker, NMA Michigan Life Member and Executive Director of the NMA Foundation.

Pennsylvania

Opposed House Bill 950 which would allow the state’s red-light cameras to operate in perpetuity. The bill has passed the Pennsylvania House and is currently under consideration in the Senate Transportation Committee.

If you’re interested in tracking legislation on your own, check out openstates.org. It provides information on state-level legislation for all 50 states, is easily searchable and sends updates directly to your inbox. You can also find out who your legislators are, what bills they’ve sponsored, how they voted on recent bills and how to get in touch with them.

Also be sure to check out the enhanced legislative alert archive on our newly redesigned NMA website. The new alert posting format includes an up-front summary section so you can get the basics of the bill, along with our position on it, at a glance. The new site also allows us to post legislative alerts more prominently on each state page as well as on the main home page.

Thanks to the many NMA members who volunteered their time to send emails, write letters, make phone calls, and work with policymakers and media outlets on these important issues. If you’re not signed up to receive legislative alerts but would like to, use the “Choose Your NMA E-Subscriptions” link in the sidebar of this email.

The post 2015 Fourth Quarter Legislative Update: NMA E-Newsletter #364 appeared first on National Motorists Association.

Last week we launched a fully redesigned Motorists.org. It is the culmination of work that began in February with a team of talented developers and our vision to raise the profile of the NMA’s flagship website. The depth and breadth of content on motorists’ issues remains the same but it’s presented in a more interesting and accessible manner, particularly for mobile device users. 

The layout of each page is designed to allow you to navigate the site with maximum efficiency. The new Motorists home page provides a great illustration of that:

One area that has gone through a major restructuring is our state pages. Where the earlier version contained static reference information drivers in each state, we now present a full palate of regional driving news, opinion pieces, and other featured articles. Each state page also has a forum where we invite lively online discussions on the issues of the day. 

Our goal is to make each state page the go-to destination for motorists who want to stay engaged. Visit your state page regularly and encourage your friends to do the same. Just click on “State-by-State” from the main menu bar and select your state.  

A screen capture of the New York page at www.motorists.org/chapters/new-york/ highlights some of the new features:

Besides joining in the state forum discussions, you can also participate by helping us find fresh, interesting articles to post in the Featured Posts & Alerts and Driving News areas of each state. If you run across a story you don’t see posted but think others will enjoy or find provocative, click on the state-page-moderator@motorists.org link at the bottom of the state’s Trending Now section and send us a link to the article.

Another reason to visit your state page frequently: This is where you will find timely legislative alerts and calls-to-action on local and state developments where your voice can make the difference between good and bad policy for our driving freedoms. Each alert will provide a clear summary of the issue at hand and instructions on how to contact policymakers, be they state lawmakers, city council members or county commissioners.

We could go on and on about the enhancements that have been incorporated across the Motorists domain. But where is the fun in that? Visit the new site at www.motorists.org and explore!

Drop us a line at NMA@motorists.org. We’d love to hear what you think.

The post Motorists.org—The Next Generation: NMA E-Newsletter #353 appeared first on National Motorists Association.

The NMA e-newsletter had a subscriber base of less than 4,000 when it was launched five years ago. #260 is being sent to nearly 7,000 people, an increase of almost 75 percent. The typical open rate for a NMA e-newsletter is a full eight percentage points higher than the industry average for electronic newsletters. As Sally Field would say, “You like us, you really like us.”

Perhaps the best way to provide a feel for the range of topics we have covered over the years is to list a few random e-newsletter titles:

Per Se or Prima Facie (#6)
Dealing with Rental Car Companies (#13)
A Different Kind of Distracted Driving (#32)
Life in the Fast Lane (#62)
NHTSA Overreaction (#73)
School Bus Stop Laws (#96)
Ethanol Mandate Under Fire (#101)
Roundabouts – Love ‘em or Hate ‘em (#114)
TSA Turns to Nation’s Highways (#149)
We Need Federal Yellow-Light Timing Standards Now (#202)
Connecting with Lawmakers – Tips from an Insider (#215)
Latest SCOTUS Decision has Profound Implications (#230)
The Myth of No-Point Violations (#242)

Multiply this list of titles by twenty and imagine just about any topic of interest to motorists and you’ll come close to covering the five-year arc of the NMA e-newsletter.

But you don’t have to use your memory or imagination in order to document the long list of NMA e-newsletters. Some time ago we established an archive site—http://alerts.motorists.org—to do just that for you. Entries are in reverse chronological order which can make for a daunting research task if you are looking for references to a specific topic.

There is a very efficient method of identifying past NMA e-newsletters and alerts by topic, one that allows you to create a single link (URL) that puts all of those related documents at your fingertips in a single link (URL). You can use this “packaging” feature to let others know what the NMA is all about and to encourage them to join our organization.

We encourage you to share individual e-newsletters with friends and colleagues, or to do the same using the special keyword URL method. And most of all, keep those comments coming, whether praiseworthy, critical, or simply of a different point-of-view. Your reaction to our e-newsletters is one of the most effective means we have to measure the pulse of NMA followers.

The post NMA E-Newsletter #260: Five Years and Counting appeared first on National Motorists Association.

Here at the National Motorists Association, we’re always trying to increase our effectiveness when it comes to communicating our issues with drivers around the country. To help with that, we’ve done a full redesign of our main website, this blog, our forums, our email alerts section, and our traffic attorney referrals site.

The new site is substantially cleaner and the information is organized in a way that will help you find what you’re looking for faster.

Our improved site search will let you search across our entire network of sites (including speedtrap.org) so that you’re more likely to get the results you want.

We’ve also overhauled our members-only section and updated our information on how to fight a speeding ticket.

As part of the ticket-fighting information update, we compiled all our advice into an easy-to-read ebook with three detailed volumes. This allowed us to make some additional ticket-fighting information available to the public while still giving our members large amounts of exclusive, valuable information.

We’ve also created a brand new section of the site with motorist news from around the country. It’s updated each weekday with short news summaries.

We think you’ll really enjoy the new design of the site and we look forward to any comments or questions you might have.

Feel free to browse the site a little bit more than you have in the past so that you can get a good feel for how it all works.

Send us an email and let us know what you think!

Help Change Your Driving Environment:
If you would like to donate to the NMA legislative fundraiser, please click here. We really appreciate your support.

The post NMA Email Newsletter: Issue #80 appeared first on National Motorists Association.

The NMA has been issuing statewide email alerts to members for several years, providing information about pending developments, usually legislative, on key issues for drivers. While that practice continues on a regular basis, we have also recently started sending targeted, community-based alerts, where NMA member involvement could make a difference at the local level.

NMA community alerts have touched on red-light camera programs, proposed reductions in speed limits, and new toll roads under consideration, among other issues. Here are some of the communities that have received our email alerts since November:

• Albuquerque, NM
• Kansas City, MO
• Naples (Collier County), FL
• Palm Beach, FL
• Rochester, NY
• Tampa, FL
• Seattle, WA

We have expanded the definition of “community” to include members within the area code (or close-by area codes) of the impacted location, with the understanding that residents and commuters both can be adversely affected by arcane policies.

If your city has, or is considering, a policy that impacts the rights of drivers, be sure to contact the NMA and let us know the details. We will alert other members in your community. If there is already organized opposition to the policy, be sure to make them aware of the resources that the National Motorists Association can bring to bear, such as sample petitions, pertinent statistical studies, reports of similar efforts by other communities around the country, and a national voice.

One of the most effective ways to affect change is through local, grassroots efforts. Just ask the voters of Heath and Chillicothe, Ohio and of College Station, Texas, who recently took action at the ballot box and voted down the use of photo enforcement in their communities.

On a unrelated, but interesting note:
Check out the new design of our Speed Trap Exchange website which lists over 55,000 speed traps across the USA and Canada. Please help out the NMA and your fellow drivers by posting the speed traps in your area. Forward the site to your friends and get their input too!

The post NMA Email Newsletter: Issue #52 appeared first on National Motorists Association.