The spring 2019 meeting of the California Motorcycle Safety Program (CMSP) Advisory Committee is May 30th, at CHP Headquarters in Sacramento. If you’re not familiar, the CMSP is the state organization—administered by the CHP—responsible for new rider training and other matters of motorcycle safety here in the Golden State.
We have plenty of background on the CMSP, if you’re looking to prep for the meeting. In particular, you may want to check out my notes from the Spring 2018 Advisory Committee meeting.
We always push for attendance with the same old song: this is important stuff, and it makes a strong point when a significant number of motorcyclists show up. But it’s become more and more obvious—painfully so—that a majority of riders are downright ignorant in matters of motorcycle safety, politics, policy… the list goes on. Misconceptions about lane splitting laws run rampant, unfortunately often spouted as fact. More recently, the amount of misinformation and stupidity from enthusiasts on AB 1824 jackhammered home that point and demonstrated what seems to be an inverse relationship between knowledge and volume. As with pipes, the loudest ones are often the dumbest.
Attending public meetings like this one isn’t just about showing up and making noise—it’s also about education. We as riders owe it to ourselves and the so-called riding community to be better informed.
To The Sac!
The meeting runs from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. Yes, four hours. CHP Headquarters is at 601 North 7th Street, Sacramento, CA 95811. As usual, the CityBike Wrecking Crew will be leading a ride to the meeting from Middle Harbor Shoreline Park in Oakland.
We’ll meet up near the roundy-round between the parking areas. There are public restrooms on site, but no gas stations nearby. We’ll be rolling out at 10:30 AM sharp, to ensure we make it to The Sac with time to spare before the meeting, so get to Middle Harbor between 10:00 and 10:15 with a full tank of gas, or you’re riding alone.
The Facebook event for the ride is here. If you’ll be joining us, it’d be just grand of you to RSVP there so we can have some idea of how many people will be riding with us. Important: If you plan to attend the meeting—whether you’re riding from Oakland with us or going straight to the meeting—send an RSVP email to cmsp_unit@chp.ca.gov or call CHP Special Projects Section at (916) 843-3370 no later than Friday, May 24, 2019 to confirm your attendance.
It’s a midday ride so traffic shouldn’t be too bad, but you should be comfortable with potentially extensive lane splitting to ride with us. You should also have a Fastrak, since we’ll be crossing a bridge and we’re not gonna line up at the toll plaza because one person wants to pay with coins dug out of their couch cushions so they can keep The Man from tracking them.
The ride is only to the meeting—you’re on your own afterward. That said, it seems like at least a few of us always end up hanging out and enjoying some food after. I’m proposing that we hit Suzie Burger in Midtown this year—they have a variety of tasty fries and even Impossible Burgers for the veggie folks, plus milkshakes and soft serve.