VCOM HISTORY   WE WILL PREVAIL WE WILL PREVAIL: A VCOM HISTORY by J. THOMAS MCGRATH, FOUNDER      In the early 1990s, our rights as motorcyclists were under siege. Our freedom to ride was being seriously eroded at the federal and state levels, and the need for action to defend our rights was critical.      On December 18, 1991, the Federal Intermodel Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 was signed into law. A section of this law required any state that wished to prohibit motorcycle access to the high occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV) on interstate highways to certify that motorcycles created a hazard. Simple as that.      Virginia had always banned such use by motorcycles and was prepared to do it again. But in February 1992 a group of concerned motorcyclists decided to take a stand and challenge the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). With the help and support of ABATE of Virginia, I undertook to lead the opposition. After many meetings and much work by many supporters, I was successful in convincing the Commonwealth Transportation Board to open the HOV lanes to us, and in September 1992 we gained access. But our victory was a ‘limited time offer’ since the Commonwealth Transportation Board reserved the right to review our access to the HOV lanes in two years. Then the Board would again decide if we should be allowed to continue to ride the seldom-crowded HOV lanes.      During the course of this fight, I realized that as motorcyclists we needed political muscle. We had to become more politically active, and to do this we needed a political action committee (PAC) to fight for our rights. A political action committee would be unique among our many clubs and organizations. Other groups and clubs all had rules and elected officers or directors; they had a social side. A PAC had only one purpose- political action.      I knew there were a lot of riders who were independents and didn’t belong to any group but were willing to contribute to their own PAC. During the struggle for access to the HOV lanes, many of those aware of the struggle began talking to me about banding together for our common good, and I began thinking more about how to form our PAC. As a result, I called several meetings at Boston’s Motorcycle Cafe in Port Royal. In attendance were members of ABATE, BMW Riders, BMW Bikers of Metropolitan Washington, Christian Motorcycle Association (CMA), Kawasaki Concours Owners Group (COG), Honda Riders, Harley Owners Group (HOG), and the Pagans M.C. Everyone agreed it was time for a political action committee if we were to preserve our right to ride and obtain fair treatment for motorcyclists. I agreed to head the PAC and run it from my office in Richmond. We agreed that we each would contribute $15.00 annually to support the cause, and Boston Nichols was the first to reach in his pocket to put the money on the table. Thus, VCOM was born.      One of the first pieces of legislation that VCOM and I went after was the helmet law penalty. At that time any helmet violation was a criminal offense, a misdemeanor. With the help of Senator Toddy Puller, I convinced the members of the General Assembly to amend this law to make it a traffic offense. This was an important victory for motorcyclists in Virginia and for our new PAC.      VCOM’s next issue involved yet another law that had been passed without any input from the motorcycling community. I had received numerous inquiries from Gold Wing Riders regarding the law prohibiting the use of earplugs and intercom devices on motorcycles. We went to work on this one at the legislature, clarifying the issues. Once the members of the General Assembly understood that many motorcycles came equipped with these communication systems, we were able to get this law changed.      By 1994, HOV lanes were again a hot topic. The Department of Transportation decided that we had been on the HOV lanes long enough. So, despite the fact that there was no evidence that motorcycles created a hazard in these lanes, VDOT commissioned a study of our use of these lanes. When it was over, the agency had spent $140,000 of taxpayer money. For some unknown reason, VDOT just did not want motorcycles in its HOV lanes. We were tired of this game and of VDOT. It was time for VCOM to flex its political muscle.      Since our formation in `92, we had worked very hard on behalf of several members of the General Assembly and contributed to their campaigns. We approached them to pass a law opening the HOV lanes to motorcycles. With a lot of work by a number of people, a lot of attendance at committee meetings and some serious lobbying, we got our bill passed. Now we have a right by law to ride on any HOV lane in Virginia.      Yet another state government agency came soon under VCOM’s scrutiny. Our motorcycle rider training courses, run by the State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), were so overcrowded that people were waiting months and sometimes a year to get into a class. We quickly discovered that there wasn’t enough money to fund the number of courses needed. With each motorcyclist being charged extra money for the motorcycle endorsement on his or her license, what was the problem? Well, part of the problem was that not all of our endorsement money was going into the program. A portion of our endorsement charge was going into DMV’s general operating fund, and each year the Motorcycle Rider Training Program was running out of money. Naturally, we proposed legislation to ensure that 100 percent of our endorsement money was assigned to the Motorcycle Rider Training Program fund. When this proposed legislation reached the General Assembly, the legislators appointed a study committee of motorcyclists, motorcycle dealers, and DMV staff to look at the program and come up with a solution. The result- a law that requires that all our endorsement money go directly into the Motorcycle Rider Training Program.      Now, with fair and appropriate funding, Virginia has one of the best rider training programs in the country. In addition to the regular courses at fixed sites throughout the Commonwealth, we now have a self- contained mobile program for the far-reaching areas of the Commonwealth. Also, we lead the nation with our sidecar and trike training programs. Yeah, you can actually learn to drive one of these special rigs. We are training more people then ever. The latest addition to the Motorcycle Rider Training Program fund is the monies paid for the motorcycle learners’ permits.      Even as these government battles were going on, we continued to try to make VCOM a more active force in Virginia motorcycling. An important step came in 1994 when, with the help of Kerry Abrams, Guy Young, and others, we held our first annual VCOM Conference, held on November 11 in Richmond. Our goal was to inform and educate our fellow riders on the issues and ways to help solve the problems that we all encountered. Since 1994, our conference has featured motorcycle rights activists from across the country as well as members of our General Assembly. It enables us to share ideas and strategies with other biker groups and to train attendees in the political process. The more of us who know how the political game works the more we will be heard and our rights respected.      ***      Over the years I had heard from various handicapped riders who were unable to get plates for their bikes. There was no prohibition in the law, and yet DMV would not issue them. Instead, handicapped riders would receive a placard to hang on the bike- how stupid! During our discussions with DMV’s Commissioner on the Motorcycle Rider Training Program, we approached him about this topic. With persistent lobbying by VCOM and several Gold Wing Road Riders, the first handicapped plates for motorcycles were issued on December 1, 1997.      At the 1998 session of the Legislature, we supported a change by DMV in the law to make available motorcycle learner’s permits for 15 year olds. Our experience on the road dictated with a basis in reality; that is, young motorcyclists can ride during daylight hours as long as they are under the direct supervision of someone who is at least 21 and has a motorcycle license. As noted earlier, all fees for this permit go to the Motorcycle Rider Training Program.      New roads and new technology led us to our 1999 legislation. In 1998, a new bridge was built over the James River between Yorktown and Gloucester, the Coleman Bridge. This new structure featured the latest technology called Smart Tag. Well, one of our riders was going through the toll, pulling a trailer behind his Wing, and Smart Tag was charging his account the same amount as if he were a tractor-trailer! We tried to work this out with VDOT in the 1998 session of the General Assembly, and the agency signed an agreement to fix the problem by a certain date. The date passed and the problem remained. When that happened, we got very upset. We knew that engineers at Virginia Tech were working on Smart Road technology; we had seen a demonstration of it. We knew that if we didn’t get legislation passed to protect our right to ride, we would be facing the Coleman Bridge problem over and over again. As new roads and bridges were built and as more areas adopted Smart Tags or other technology to speed and regulate the flow of traffic, our problems would multiply if this issue was not resolved quickly in our favor.      With hard work by many motorcyclists who showed up for our Biker Lobby Day and hard negotiating by VCOM, language was agreed upon that could be drafted into legislation. Senator Houck from Spotsylvania County was its patron and the man who got us all together in the same room to hammer out the language. He took the bill to the General Assembly and fought for it. It became the first-in-the-nation anti-discrimination highway bill. If you'd like to read it, see Section 33.1-13.1 of the Code of Virginia.      ***      We’ve come a long way since our beginnings, and I hope we’ll continue to grow. This is a great way of life, and those who don’t ride don’t know what they’re missing. I’ll continue to keep fighting in the courts and the legislature. We still have issues to deal with. If you’d like to join us, we’d like your help. VCOM needs you and motorcycling needs you. Ride safe.