Motorcyclist Advisory Council (MAC-FHWA)

Welcome all and your participation is appreciated.

Last fall's meeting focused on getting together, Congress' charge, organization, etc.

[anecdote]

(Recording begins here.)

We are waiting anxiously to hear about the recommendations that come out of this group, and then what actions will be taken. Having done this before with other groups, there's a usual set of worries with these groups after the first meeting. The first meeting is usually easy to pull together. Everybody is really happy about being selected. They are excited about coming to the first meeting and about sharing their ideas. And a lot of times what happens, with groups like this, is you lose some momentum, and some energy, between the first meeting and the second meeting–and the second meeting and the third meeting. And if you sit where I sit, the way that you see that is you look at the agenda and it doesn't look like there is a lot of substance. You know, there's a lot of talking, but not a lot of substance. You look at the agenda and you go, "Hmmm. Those are all items we put on the agenda, and not items that were put on the agenda." I start hearing that some of the Council members won't be here–because of this or that conflict that came up at the last minute. And we do have at least one person who is not here today, but that did come up, literally, at the last minute. You start getting requests for, "Well, I can't make the meeting. Could I send so-and-so in my place?" And, I'm happy that none of that is happening with this group. I've looked at the agenda. It looks like you have a lot of really good substantiative topics to talk about, so that my concern... Fran can take care of this, but my concern was that you've got so much to talk about, I have no idea how you're going to do it in the time allotted. (To Ms. Bents) But, Fran's going to take care of that... (Ms. Bents, "Thank you.") And so, there's none of that kind of loss of momentum, or loss of energy, that you worry about with groups like this. And that's a credit to all of you.

So, I look forward to hearing about the deliberations over the next couple of days; the results of the meeting. I'm going to stick around for a little while, here, but I do need to get back to the office before lunch. And I just wish you a successful meeting. And, have a little fun as you think about it. So, thanks for letting me come and talk to you. Michael, I think you are next.

Certainly, as we manage the agenda, it's very important we get in to that after a couple of thoughts on my part. And there is certainly room for all those issues. We purposely, based on communication, based on the exchange and the energy of the first time, went to a day and a half here. And have an opportunity tonight to get to know each other a little better. I know a lot of people do know each other well. But, for the whole group the dinner is an opportunity, as is the extra half day. So, we hope that's valuable for folks. And as Jeff said, there are a lot of rich issues on the agenda. We hope we have the right amount of resource folks here. It is your group. It is time for this group to let us know your thoughts. So, we certainly don't seek, in the agenda, to have us talking to you, but to lay issues on the table and have that exchange. What I thought I'd do, just for a few minutes–literally before Fran asks us to - most people do know each other, but - to go around and talk about where we're from and this and that–real briefly, just to re-visit what I did the first time, a little bit about our role here as part of the group.

When the Council was set up, the legislation required a Designated Federal Official (DFO) who kind of acts as a liaison between the findings, the recommendations, the activities, and the rest of the Administration. As DFO, I inform Jeff, my boss, and others within the Federal Highway Administration of Council concerns and accomplishments. And I'm learning. I'm learning both this role, which is new to me, and a lot of the issues in motorcycling. I've had to admit to myself, I'm not a rider; but certainly have been involved in many aspects of the highway community, like sign planning, construction, safety, certainly, and so forth. So, I hope that we can bring an open mind and fulfill our responsibility. So, please call upon us for what ever you need from the Federal Highway Administration. We purposely set up this group without a Chairman. This is not like many one of the entities, organizations, state, associations, and so forth. This is an opportunity to exchange, to come to a common ground, and to pursue what we might do to correct situations, and to do the right thing through the Federal Highway Administration to promote motorcycle safety. We certainly do exchange and work closely with our sister Agencies. We've got a couple of folks joining us today (directing attention to those seated in the rows behind the Council) from NHTSA. And certainly, they have a very active role, as most everybody around the table knows, in aspects beyond infrastructure, design, operation, maintenance, and so forth, and aspects of motorcycle safety. So, that's just a quick run-down in terms of my role. What I'd like to do is highlight a few things that I've been aware of, just to let you know where we are. You mentioned the Secretary's interest, and yes we know that continues. We have contributed to some of the information and invitations the Secretary has received, but I think most of it has come from NHTSA, in terms of her interaction with the motorcycle community. We did have an opportunity, right after our meeting in October, to brief our Administrator about the recommendations, the type of interaction, the issues that have come to fore with this group. So, we had that opportunity and gave a run-down of that to Rick Capka. Rick was also with us when we went to the Secretary after our first meeting in October. We reach out to our Administrator's office and the Secretary's office. And as a matter of fact, Peter Nonis from the Association, AMA, came by and met with our Administrator in late January, and highlighted some of the priority issues. These include, this Council, and the Motorcycle Crash Causation Study, the types of things that the industry, that the Association, the motorcycle safety community were particularly interested in, and very receptive of the conversation with our Administrator, Rick Capka.

We did get our Website for the Motorcycle Advisory Council up and running and we've got full information there, and again I think that your contacts with your Association membership, your community, and so forth are helpful. Hopefully folks are paying attention to that and are aware of the types of issues that are coming to the fore. So, our Website got up and running, I believe by December, or certainly by January. We got some information out in January to the members of the Council on a presentation we pulled together. We got some feedback on that, and information that was presented and talked about at TRB. So again, we're trying to keep up some flow of information. And we're able to do that.

And, the last thing, couple of things, that I wanted to mention, that you may not be aware of, is that we also are taking some initiatives on the exposure side. The Federal Highway Administration is the recipient from state DOTs, state agencies anyway, on travel data, motorcycle registration, and vehicle miles traveled for different types of vehicles. We certainly have been aware of the concern of the overall quality of VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) data for motorcycles in general. So, we made a proposal to our Policy office, and they are the policy information office, to issue an initiative to seek, from the states, improved data. We should have some communication out to our field offices, that jointly signed the Memo with NHTSA actually, encouraging efforts to improve motorcycle VMT data, and in fact, to require separate reporting on that topic during the next cycle. So again, we're trying to get out there and get better information in terms of exposure rates and such.

And also, the NTSB chairman testified at the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Motorcycle safety was one topic reviewed there. He referred to the 2-day forum that they did last summer. So again, the issue is staying in front of people; staying in front of Congress; the Administration and so forth. And I think it's been mentioned, May is Motorcycle Safety Month. So we've gotten word out to our field offices and encouraged others to do the same. So it is a good time to come together and carry forward the types of thoughts and recommendations that you've begun. And as I say, very quickly, informally, just a run-down of these things that we've been aware of, since the time of the first meeting, some initiatives. We've got some additional activities that have taken place and that are in the meeting packet, for this meeting today and tomorrow. And, with that I think... Any questions about those factors? Or from Mo or Sue or Diane, anything additional in terms of status or issues that I may have left out that may be appropriate to put on the table now–talk about or mention? (Pause) We'll have plenty of time. (Pause) Let's see who everybody is...

OK, I'd like to spend just a minute reviewing what is in your folder. First and foremost, we have a draft Brochure that is being developed by the Federal Highway Administration in response to your suggestions on improving awareness of motorcycle safety. We'll be talking about this brochure tomorrow morning. So you'll have a chance, maybe later this evening, to take a look at it. And if you have any suggestions or comments, we'll be glad to entertain those tomorrow. On the left side, of course we have the Agenda. We have a very full agenda today, as you can see. But that is not to say that we're not interested in any of your comments or new ideas. We'll make time for all of those. Even if it means skipping breaks and meals... just joking. We'll get it all in. But, this is your Council and we're here to review and discuss your concerns. So, you make sure that you raise them, and I'll make sure that we have time to give you your due. Here is the latest–but, I understand now out of date... Steve (Laughter)–listing so that you can contact one another, outside of the meeting. We have a copy of the presentation that will be made later today, by Umesh from NHTSA, on the safety statistics. And I did email to all of you the Monash Report on Intelligent Transportation Systems. Monash University is in Australia; I understand some people had a problem opening that file. So, we have a hard copy here, just in case you weren't able to open it when we sent it to you.

OK. Let me go over a few of our basics; there are some housekeeping items. For restrooms, go out the door and to the left. As you'll note on your agenda, we will have some brief breaks, and we will be breaking for lunch, of course. And unfortunately as you've noticed, we can't offer refreshments here, but many of you have found the Starbucks downstairs. There's the Bistro and you can get what you need there. And we will also have a dinner gathering there. I've reserved a table for all of you who are interested in attending tonight, at six o'clock. It is in my name, Fran Bents, and I've been told it's pasta night at the Eads Bistro. So, I hope you enjoy. Please set your cell phones on vibrate. The meeting is being recorded, as you can tell, and we will be producing a transcript that will be placed on the Website. I also do have a microphone, as you can see, and I ask that you let me hand you the microphone when you're speaking. That's so a) we can hear each other, because I think they're testing tanks in the room above us, and b) that we're able to pick up what you'll have to say on the recorders here. And we also have someone from our staff, who is not doing a verbatim transcription, but capturing highlights, and that will be available a day or so after the meeting.

Shelley Boyd is here assisting, and Shelley will be recording recommendations, things like that, and if you have any special needs, please let her know. For the benefit of Ed and Mel, who weren't here last time, let me tell you what my job is–to keep you all productive and going in the right direction. So, although each of you represents different organizations and agencies, we're here because of common interest in, and commitment to, transportation safety. It's my job to help you to each have a voice in developing approaches to improving motorcycle safety. I'm going to do my best to make sure that each of your voices is heard, and my goal is to assist the Council in making decisions and recommendations that reflect the views of the majority of the members. So, the decisions that are reached may not always be unanimous, but they will certainly reflect the consensus of the group.

Ground Rules: I'm going to cover all of the agenda topics, today, and draw the meeting to a close by 4:30. I may allow you to digress, slightly, from the topic at hand to better explain your positions. I will try to again focus on the topic that we're discussing at that time, so that we can achieve our common goals. Reminder, I'll be using the microphone, so please don't speak until I get to you. I may sometimes ask you for additional information, because I will be preparing a summary report and I want to make sure that I fully understand what you are saying. And, I will periodically reflect on where we are, and what we have achieved. At lunch time, we'll probably review whatever big recommendations or Action Items you have created. I'll probably do so again at the end of the day, and again at the end of the meeting, to make sure that I'm capturing the essence of what the Council is achieving. So, I hope you will please let me know how I can help you to have a more productive day. Any questions? All right!

Well, with that, let's get started on our report on Action Items. And I understand that Bob, you have a video on painted road markings...

I do. That's it. If I can have a minute to intro it, it would be probably be helpful for everyone. At our last meeting, we talked about lots of different things and we listed some of the opportunities we might have to improve highway safety. And one of the topics that we discussed, I think quite thoroughly, was the topic of pavement markings. A little background on myself, I said earlier, I'm with Potters Industries. I've been in the highway safety business for over 20 years. My focus has been on signage and pavement markings. I've been a very active member of TRB and ATSSA, so I'm very familiar with the work zone safety initiatives that we're all involved with. And, pavement markings are very near and dear to my heart and, for those of you who are not that familiar with them, in my opinion, they are probably the most taken-for-granted safety device on our roadways. And, they're critical and extremely important for positive guidance, both day and night.

I think that several years ago, the Urban Institute here in Washington, DC, did a study–it was a benefit/cost ratio study of pavement markings and as I remember–they determined that pavement markings, the benefit/cost ratio, was 60/1. Which, for all practical purposes, means for every dollar we spend on pavement markings, the societal return is $60. There are very few other on-the-road traffic safety devices that have a benefit/cost ratio equal to or exceeding that number. And, they're very low-cost; they're very efficient traffic safety devices. But yet, they don't necessarily get as much attention as I think they should. So in our meeting last time, we talked for, as far as motorcycle safety, it would be good safety measure to have wider and brighter pavement markers for, again, positive delineation and guidance both day and night. There is not a lot of work done on this. Again, I cite ATSSA. Industry and ATSSA have worked together to promote brighter and wider pavement markings. As a matter of fact, wider pavement markings were a part of the past SAFETEA-LU legislation. ATSSA and several members of industry put together this informative CD, which started–Mark, you will be familiar with this, it started–with a study by the Texas Transportation Institute. This is the study that provided the background added to everything you'll see on this CD. This study is available to any of you that are interested in having a copy this, leave me your business card and I'll be glad to get it to you. But, it started with a really good background study by one of the better research highway organizations in our industry today and through ATSSA we generated this CD. So if you go ahead and hit the Play, we will... (From someone, "the study itself, was that recently done?") It was actually completed in March 2002 (Someone asks, "So, is this going out through ATSSA–available through ATSSA?") It's available through ATSSA, yes. And if you look at the left border, in addition to the video portion, there also is a hardcopy of the study.

ATSSA has looked at this particular issue. And, I think we discussed this the last time we were here, the emphasis at that point was at intersections; at stop bars, you know, those large intersection areas where there are broad delineation devices that are made of thermo-plastics. Stop bars could be 4 inches, 6 inches; they could be 3 feet wide, in addition to the arrows and those types of things. And, it's because you're coming in to a stop, in those locations; or, you're making a turn. There really wasn't an indication for long lines; that there was data that supported the long longitudinal lines–that there was data supporting the need. And then the other issue that you have to take into consideration is that one of the initiatives by the FHWA is to have brighter lines.

As you start adding these abrasive materials to the thermo-plastic, you start reducing the levels of reflectivity in those lines. So, there are some trade-offs here... that really need to be looked at. So for us to say–a very good point, but for us to say–that maybe we should have skid-resistance in all long lines... How many accidents are there–motorcycle accidents–as a result of long lines? There's probably some data on that. Versus, what is the trade-off in reducing the retro-reflectivity of those pavement markings by 100, 200 or more, milli-candela. So, it's a little bit more complicated than just adding it. That's why I think the last time we talked about that, one of the places that I think we could focus FIRST is at the intersection. Because, I think we'll all agree that, that's where we're coming in as motorcyclists to a stop. Those stop bars are slippery; those turn arrows are slippery. And, let's get some data there.

I'm surprised you hadn't asked that yet. (Laughter) I don't know. We don't have official processes or procedures that I've been aware of. Fran, I don't know if you've dealt with this, in terms of any other activity, or not. The report outlines recommendations, observations and advice from the group. That's documented in the open public meeting and a report does come to the FHWA. Now if the members would like to put more formality to it–in terms of a jointly-signed letter–I certainly think we can manage that, if you decide to do such a thing. But in terms of sending it on, or providing it AASHTO or this and that, we could take on that role; to say that this advice has come to us and we want you to be aware of it.

Now if any of the members, or the Council as a whole, wants to put more horsepower to it, for some observations to add to it, you are technically the advisory committee, the advice Council to the FHWA–the Secretary through the FHWA. So, if there's some specific observations that you as a group want to make to AASHTO, or TRB or other entities that certainly is information that we would provide. Now, if there's something specifically that you would want to ask of those other groups, based on the influence, based on this group coming together, I think that could be a separate letter. There are not rules that prohibit it, so my observation would be something that isn't prohibited could be done.