WASHINGTON, DC -- With the shutdown over, Congress is literally limping back to work. The House of Representatives is working on the other side of the Hill and the U.S. Senate has decided to give themselves one more week of vacation. During the government shutdown both bodies of Congress missed a recess period. The House opted to stick to the schedule, but the Senate decided it needs the missed recess week so they are adjourned until next week.

 

Representative Tom Petri (WI) has drafted a letter to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) asking them to cease their meddling with motorcycle safety. As previously reported here, the CDC did a weak reconfiguring of some other tired studies done by other government agencies.

 

The letter is being held until November 1st when it will be sent to the CDC director. The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) is asking you to contact your Member of the House of Representatives to ask them to cosign the Petri CDC motorcycle letter.

 

The text of the letter is below and the CDC response will be printed here when it is received.

 

Dr. Thomas Frieden

Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd
Atlanta, GA 30333

Dear Dr. Frieden:

 

We are writing to express our concern about activities of the CDC regarding motorcycle safety, in particular the Motorcycle Safety report, which focuses on pressuring states to pass universal helmet laws.

 

The issue of transportation and motorcycle safety has been studied extensively by agencies within the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board. These agencies have transportation professionals who are experienced in this area. The extensively footnoted report seems to be little more than a compilation of work that other agencies have done, and with questionable conclusions.

 

For example, the report states that motorcycle-related deaths have increased by 55 percent since 2000. But nowhere in the report is it mentioned that motorcycle registrations have also increased substantially since 2000. The report also notes that 41 percent of motorcycle operators and 50 percent of motorcycle passengers who died in 2010 were not wearing a helmet - which seems to indicate there were more deaths with helmets than without. It would seem to follow that 59 percent of motorcycle operators and 50 percent of passengers who died in 2010 were wearing a helmet. Interesting, but what is the conclusion we should reasonably draw from these figures?

 

Given the demands on your budget and the unique ability of the CDC to address such pressing issues as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimers and a host of other conditions and issues which afflict millions of Americans and others around the globe, we encourage you to direct your attention and resources to areas that are not currently already being addressed elsewhere in the government.

 

Sincerely,