ABATE of ARIZONA
American Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education
ALL BIKES, ALL RIDERS, A.B.A.T.E. Works for You!
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If it feels like you’re often driving next to motorists whose mind is focused on anything but the road, you’re right. In fact, the CDC estimates that over a thousand are injured every day in accidents resulting from distracted driving. After a near-collision last week with someone who appeared to be texting behind the wheel, I did some research and came across the following resources:
ABATE of Arizona, Inc. is a non-profit motorcycle rights organization that is dedicated to freedom of the road for all motorcyclists. ABATE is a volunteer organization that fights discriminatory legislation aimed towards the motorcycling community. ABATE's position is that all motorcycle riders have the right to choose not only the machine that they ride, but also the riding gear that they choose to wear or not to wear (i.e., leathers, gloves, boots and helmets).
ABATE promotes rider education for all motorcycle riders, and motorcycle awareness for all automobile drivers. ABATE needs the support of all motorcycle riders.
Please help the Motorcycle Rights Organizations in Arizona to prevent our Governments from restricting our ability to ride free. With your help, we have eliminated the emission testing of motorcycles in Arizona, we continue to fight our national-level battles with the EPA and NHTSA, and effectively watchdog the Arizona legislators who, on a yearly basis, have entertained the idea of introducing a mandatory helmet law in our state.
Do you live in Arizona? Do you ride a motorcycle? If so, you need to Join ABATE of AZ. If you care about your rights as a biker, you'll do it.
Besides a State Motorcycle Rights Organization (SMRO), you need to also join a National MRO. Join our partner in Washington DC, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF)
What is the MRF and why is it important? First, the MRF has an office in Washington, D.C. with two full-time employees – one of them being a federal lobbyist looking out and arguing for your right to ride free and promoting motorcycle safety and awareness. If you sign up for the MRF mailing list online, you receive regular email reports about what your lobbyist is doing in our Capitol.
Next, the MRF conducts three seminars a year; BEAST of the East in the Eastern U.S., BEST of the West in the Western U.S. and the national conference, the Meeting of the Minds, usually located in the heartland - to educate motorcyclists on topics that are necessary for freedom fighters to conduct business in this new era.
And finally, the MRF is funded by members only. We represent you as a motorcycle rider in Washington, D.C.
The reason for this written commercial? Just like our volatile economy, the MRF is in a deficit. It's not that we're spending some outrageous amount of money on pizza or beer or anything – it's that our donations are down considerably, and a pattern is developing. Donations and pledges are what fund the MRF. It costs in the neighborhood of $2000 per day to operate the MRF Office in D.C. and conduct business throughout the year.
What should this mean to you? The MRF needs members and we need them now. These are desperate times. We need to sign-up or renew expired members to the tune of 600 by January and another 600 by March to allow us to continue to publish our newsletter the "MRF Reports" every other month.
This publication is the lifeblood of the MRF – it informs members of our efforts in Washington, D.C., six times a year. Without it, we lose a major pipeline of information to the motorcycle community – about their very freedom.
The bottom line? Without the MRF there to represent your voice on a federal level, that leaves the road wide open for the states to be forced into legislation that they wouldn't have chosen for themselves – such as a federal helmet law or further deterioration of our current freedoms.
If you have ever been an MRF member, please renew and continue to show your true colors as an Arizona Freedom Fighter. If you have never been a member of the MRF, consider the benefits – your freedom represented on the Federal level.