Saskatchewan Sidecar Rule

I should have mentioned, the minister's email address is : timmla@sasktel.net in case someone would rather email him.
Regards,
Norm

Glad to hear you'll be with us after all and are able to get in some saddle time. We're heading for Alberta, the Rockies and back down through BC and Montana in two weeks. No Saskatchewan this time. Maybe next time up. The bride hasn't seen the beauty of the province and wants to check out the tunnels in Moose Jaw.

Lonnie

I just sent the following letter via email:

Dear Minister,

It has come to my attention at www.sidecar.com that a new law has been or will be enacted in the Provice of Saskatchewan. The new rule states that no one may operate a sidecar unless they have two years experience with a full motorcycle solo license. This law is automatically discriminatory to the handicapped. There is a group in the sidecar community that have outfits built for handicapped riders who were unable to operate a solo motorcycle. How does the government expect those people to operate a solo bike for two years prior to getting on a sidecar outfit. They actually operate the unit from the sidecar in their wheelchair. Please note that there is very little in common skills between operating a motorcycle and operating a sidecar outfit. Sidecars rigs are completely different than a motorcycle. I ride both. Steering a sidecar rig is opposite to a motorcycle, Motorcycles push steer, sidecars don't. Side car rigs also have very different handling characteristics from a motorcycle. I hope you are not making the same mistake that Dalton Mcguinty has in our province. The people of Canada are quickly tiring of the nanny state. The blue tide will soon take over in Ontario as it did across Canada earlier this year and it will be due to Mr Mcguinty's constant need to make up poorly thought out uniformed laws and ideas and inflicting them on the population. Inform yourself about the vehicles in question and their characteristics before making laws that have very little benefit to society.

The sidecar community is a small one and may seem insignificant to many but don't forget we are also part of a much larger motorcycling community. The main part of that community is made up of the middle and upper middle class. Motorcycles and the insurance costs a lot. This same community are the part of the population who own homes and vote.
Food for thought?

Norm:
Glad to see you are back from the dead. I was in a similar situation a year or so back because of severe complications that arose during/after several major operations. They will try to kill you should you be unfortunate to enter a hospital. At a minimum you will likely get pneumonia and or internanl infectous problems which you must be strong enough to overcome.

Regarding the current rule or proposed rule requiring a person to obtain a minimum of two years of solo experience before attampting to operate a bike w/ SC, this is just patently absurd. In the first place, after two years of solo experience the then newly neophyte sidecarist is most vulnerable to stuffing his new rig into the nearest ditch on the first corner he comes to. Not a very safety conscious rule.

And in the second, most folks forget, or have never been exposed to the tremendous volume of research I conducted back in the late 1970s early 1980s. My researcch was published in the Sidecarist, and also in the annals of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. The meeting was attended by most all motorcycle safety experts from both civilian and governmental resources.

Briefly, to sumarize, the two year study covered the riding habits and accidents and fatalities of all the sidecarists within the USCA, and sompared these findings with published resources of both solo motorcyclists and also car drivers in the United States.

Note the following:
1. Fatalities and accident involement of sidecarists was very much the same as that of car drivers.

2. The involement of sidecarists into accidents and fatalities was about 6 or 7 times LESS than that of solo operators.

3. Unlike solo operators of between 18 to 22 years old - who were the most likely to be involved in accidents and fatalities, sidecarists with little experience had very few accidents.

4. In the famous Harry Hurt study, perhaps one of the most extensive ever in looking at causitive factors of serious motorcycle accidents, sidecarists were not to be found significantly within his extremely extensive database.

5. That study also compared sidecar accidents and fatalities to years of riding experience, and to age. Sidecarists were typically uninvolved in accidents whether they were 18 years old, in their fourties, or even in their 70s or 80s. Unlike soloists who are most vulnerable in the youth and in their later years.

6. The transportation agencies and also insurance companies of several countries, the UK and Australia for example, gave big insurance discounts in the past to sidecarists because of their unique safety records.

7. A sidecar outfit is driven, much the same waay as a car or truck - you point it in the direction you want to go. Unlike a solo MC where one must countersteer or lean the bike somehow in the direction one wishes to go. It is far easier for a newbie to understand and control a sidecar rig than it is for a newbie soloist to safely drive away.

In summary, this new law shows a total lack of understanding of the operation and mechanics of an solo bike and a sidecar outfit. They may look alike when viewed from the bike side, but they are totally different modes of transport.

I would be delighted to visit with the Honorable Tim McMillan and explore why he feels this measure is necessary.

Hal Kendall - Founder and historian of the USCA,

the Honourable Tim McMillan,
Minister's Office,Room 340,
Legislative Building
2405 Legislative Drive,
Regina, SK S4S0B3
timmla@sasktel.net

Dear Honorable Minister:

In my position as founder and head of the largest organization for operators of motorcycle sidecar operators, I conducted extensive research in the late 1970s early 1980s of habits of sidecarists with emphasis on safety, accident involvement, and fatalities. My research was published in the Sidecarist, in the annals of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation publications, and elsewhere. The meeting where these findings were given was attended by many motorcycle safety experts from civilian and governmental resources from the US, Canada, and Europe.

Briefly, to sumarize, the two year study covered the riding habits and accidents and fatalities of all the sidecarists within the USCA, and then these findings were compared with published resources of both solo motorcyclists and also car drivers in the United States.

Note the following:
1. Fatalities and accident involement of sidecarists was very much the same as that of car drivers.

2. The involement of sidecarists into accidents and fatalities was about 6 or 7 times LESS than that of solo operators.

3. Unlike solo operators of between 18 to 22 years old - who were the most likely to be involved in accidents and fatalities, sidecarists with little experience had very few accidents.

4. In the famous Harry Hurt study, perhaps one of the most extensive ever in looking at causitive factors of serious motorcycle accidents in Southern California, sidecarists were not to be found significantly within his extremely extensive database. Out of nearly 1000 cases of severe motorcycle accidents, Harry said he recalls perhaps less than six being operated by a sidecarist.

5. My study also compared sidecar accidents and fatalities to years of riding experience, and to age. Sidecarists were typically uninvolved in accidents whether they were 18 years old, in their fourties, or even in their 70s or 80s. Unlike soloists who are most vulnerable in the youth and in their later years.

6. The transportation agencies and also insurance companies of several countries, the UK and Australia for example, gave big insurance discounts in the past to sidecarists because of their unique safety records.

7. A sidecar outfit is driven, much the same way as a car or truck - you point it in the direction you want to go. Unlike a solo MC where one must countersteer or lean the bike somehow in the direction one wishes to go. It is far easier for a newbie to understand and control a sidecar rig than it is for a newbie soloist to safely drive away.

In summary, this new law shows a total lack of understanding of the safety, operation and mechanics of an solo bike and a sidecar outfit. They may look alike when viewed from the bike side, but they are totally different modes of transport. The sidecar being the much safer mode of transportation.

I would be delighted to visit with the Honorable Tim McMillan and explore why he feels this measure is necessary.

Hal Kendall - Founder and historian of the USCA,

By way of background, I have over sixty years of motorcycle sidecar experience; have written several manuals on the safety and operation of motorcycles with sidecars.

I obtained my Doctorate in Engineering from the Texas A&M University, and was employed by two major oil companies as a senior research engineer.

I have over fifty years international experience in the Oilfields.

Good Day,
Thank you to anyone who has emailed Tim McMillan with concerns about the silly new rule. I delivered a letter to him yesterday and I delivered a copy to my own legislative representative today. Next week I'll talk to the opposition critic and then I think I'll send a letter to the newspaper here.
Regards,
Norm

Good Day,
By the way, yesterday I was talking to a local license issuer and he told me he'd had a handicapped rider come in the day before to renew his license. He had to tell him that under the new rule he couldn't license him to operate a sidecar outfit , only a solo bike. They phoned the government and explained the situation and were told that it was true he could only be licensed to ride a solo bike for the next 2 years. When they explained that the rider was not physically capable of riding a solo bike they asked him to come down to the government office. I don't know what happened there at the government office but the license issuer said that the rider went home and sold his outfit. He apparently has given up on riding.
Darn shame when the government writes a rule without thinking through the implications isn't it?
Regards,
Norm

Hi Norm, I'm planning on writing SGI this and cc'ing the minister, what do you think (see below)

Dear Sir or Madame,
 
 
I’m writing to request SGI grant me a sidecar exemption on my motorcycle learner’s license.  Due to a physical disability (L1 Spinal cord injury) I’m unable to ride a 2 wheel motorcycle without a sidecar attached; the new graduated license program for motorcycles has placed a systemic discriminatory policy over myself and drivers in similar situations that I’m sure was unintentional.
 
I have been driving a sidecar motorcycle over last year and have found it very enjoyable; it has given me a sense of freedom that I have been longing for and which I have not known before.  I have evaluated other options and tried many combinations of equipment but none have been able to meet the need of transporting me with my wheelchair in the sidecar.  Due to the tremendous expense of 3 wheel motorcycles and their inability to safely carry my mobility aid they are not an option.
 
I like to point out that many international studies have shown the excellent safety record of sidecar drivers over traditional motorcycles.  I’m a mature, responsible individual with a good driving record.
 
I sincerely request you grant me the exemption and allow me to continue to experience the freedom I have felt over the last year; I respect the policy decision that was made but it unfairly discriminates against those in circumstances such as mine.
 
 
 
Regards,
 
 
 

Good day,
That looks like a good approach to me. So far I've presented letters to Tim McMillan, the minister responsible for SGI, my MLA Warren McCall, Leader of the opposition Dwain Lingenfelter, and opposition SGI critic Kevin Yates. The only one who took the time to really talk to me was Kevin Yates. A letter from a rider like yourself who has run into this rule would certainly lend some weight to the position that this is a misguided rule. They might feel that they would have to address your concern. You could also contact your MLA. Also Andy Cooper at the Leader Post said they might be interested in interviewing someone who'd run afoul of this silly law too. You should contact him by addressing an email to him through letters@leaderpost.com. Politicians tend to react to newspaper stories.
Regards,
Norm

Good Day,
I received the following letter today from the office of minister Tim McMillan: (timmla@sasktel.net)
picture here ~>
In a nutshell it says that "An exemption will now be granted, when authorized by SGI, to allow the use of a motorcycle equipped with a sidecar by physically-challenged motorcycle operators." SGI stands for Saskatchewan Government Insurance and they are the crown corporation in charge of writing and implementing these kind of regulations.
It doesn't state what criteria must be followed to receive the exemption but it is a small victory and an admission of an error by the department.
I still would question why it is considered possible for a handicapped rider to operate a sidecar outfit without first learning to operate a solo bike ( which it certainly is) but able bodied riders are not considered capable of the same feat. However, I will begin receiving cancer treatments next week and I don't expect to be feeling very well for a while so I think I will accept this small victory rather than continue to pursue the removal of this unfortunate regulation altogether. I don't think I will be up to a battle with bureaucrats for a while. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this outcome and especially Hal. I commend the department for attempting to address the problem although I still think they've missed the mark by a bit.
The letter indicates that any further correspondence should go to Assistant vice president Dr. Kwei Quaye at SGI.It offers a phone number 306-775-6182 but no email address.
Thanks to all again.
Regards,
Norm

Congratulations - any victory with beauracrats is indeed worthy, no matter how big or how small. I began my efforts in dealing with them back in 1977 just after I had started the United Sidecar Association in Chigago. Soon afterwards I began to receive letters from sidecarists that they were ripped off on the Illinois Tollways - them charging a small three wheel vehicle at $1.50 while allowing 7000 pound limos to pass through for a lousy buck. At first, I just extended my sympathy - as it did not really concern me. Although I lived near a tool booth, my journeys to work and shopping did not require me to actually go on the turnpike.

So - one fine day I deceided to just test the waters - I went onto the tollways, off at the next exit. THEY RIPPED ME OFF!!! Now it became personal. The gloves were off. Actually took almost two years to achieve victory over them - including a raid on their headquarters, and the introduction of two bills into their legal system. I then parlayed that win into winning on each and every tollway in the US - whether by road, ferry, or bridge - they were all won separately. In the process I learned more about the tollway systems than anybody should ever learn. Got a front page recognition by the Chigago Sun. But after several years of this I quietly lessened my activities in this direction.

Hal Kendall

Halcombe A. Kendall, Ph.D
Founder & Historian, United Sidecar Association
711 Plainwood Drive, Houston, TX 77079
hal@wcitx.com

August 26, 2011

Dr. Kwei Quaya, Asst. Vice President
Traffic Safety Services, SGI
445 Hoffer Drive
Regina, SK S4N 6E2
CANADA

Reference: Motorcycle w/ Sidecar Safety, and Safety Training Programs

Dear Dr. Quaya:

We note, with pleasure, your recent decision to allow or permit a physically-challanged new rider to operate a motorcycle-sidecar unit without his having to have prior demonstration he could ride a solo bike for a year as a starter machine.

The original ruling – one year on a solo, then study to drive a sidecar, while well intended, nonetheless had little factual basis as will be demonstrated. While there are minor differences regarding control while accelerating, braking, and other maneuvers, it is no doubt that the differences in steering application was paramount in your decision.

The USCA developed the first sidecar safety program in Chigago with great input from the MSF and the AMA, back in the mid 1970s. The reason was that the solo motorcycle safety programs were not addressing the key and relevant lessons needed to ensure the safety of a sidecar operator. It was not that sidecar instruction was more difficult, only that was different. In fact, it is easier to get a novice, used to driving or riding in a car or farm implement to get safely onto a sidecar rig, than to get a soloist to ride a solo bike – unless he had prior experience with bicycle riding.

With a sidecar rig, one does not need to spend time teaching how to balance safely at slow speeds, the rig is inherently stable. Nor does one need to advance the complicated turning method – to go right push on the left handlebar until the bike flops over to the right, then hold and maintain the desired right lean until through the curve. On a sidecar – to turn right, one only has to turn the bars to the right – exactly the same as when he drove the family car or farm tractor.

Thus, one can take a novice, and in a few hours, get him onto a sidecar rig and safely away. However, this usually requires three days or more as many other aspects of safe driving are included, including what to wear, how to dress, rules of the road, your position relative to all other road users, how to achieve maximum conspicubility, and so on.

It is noted, however, that if the novice has had extensive solo rider experiences that this often presents a challenge in that all his driving techniques must first be made to disappear while he is then taught a careful program that the only way to go right is to turn right. For some this is an easy transition, for others this is not.

The USCA taught their own sidecar classes in several states using mainly voluntary instructors. However, by the late 1980s it demand was so great that we turned the program over to the Evergreen Safety Program who carried it further into more states.

In terms of road safety, I developed a paper for the MSF and the AMA and presented it at their 1980 Motorcycle Safety Conference. I compared the accident frequency and deaths amoung our members – then around 3000, and compared them to both solo motorcyclists and to car drivers using the same metrics, with data supplied by the famous Motorcycle Safety goup in Los Angeles, Harry Hurt, with data provided by the AMA, and also with data provided by the NHTSA. This study was many years in the making.

Sidecarists got into far fewer accidents and fewer fatalities, by about seven to one, when compared to solo riders, and were almost even when compared to auto accidents. Of course, the average age of soloists was in their mid-late twenties, while that of sidecarists was in their early mid forties. And the type of accidents was far less severe than a typical accident of a soloist, resulting in far less costly hospitalization.

You have come a great step forward in granting an exception to handicapped sidecarists. Perhaps it is time to extend this exception to able bodied sidecarists as well.

You can count on my full cooperation to assist should there be any points you wish to discuss further, or even to assist in the development of a sidecar safety program.

Regards

Hal Kendall, Ph.D
Founder, Historian USCA
281-493-5255

CC: Mr. Andrew R. Cartmell, President and CEO, SGI

Ms. Joyce Canfield, President USCA

Dear Dr. Quaye:
Thank you for your response.
I am afraid that the books and files are not recoverable – having gone through many computers, the death of my wife of 43 years, the re-marriage to wife Number 2 who insisted on completely recreating a new home environment – all files went dumped out at a time I was experiencing major health problems and surgeries, etc, etc.
However, for the record, I built my first sidecar rig in Melbourne, Australia in 1953 while on leave from the University of Western Australia – we all had to obtain six months engineering experience before being allowed to continue our engineering protocol – I chose to work as an engineering assistant for the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in Fishermen’s Bend, Victoria – then drove the sidecar outfit across the Nullabor Plains from Melbourne back to Perth – then a narrow two lane rutted corrugated track on which perhaps two or three vehicles attempted to cross on a daily basis – my progress corresponding to the visit of Queen Elizabeth’s inaugural visit to Aussieland, she being accompanied by Prince Phillip, the highest peer in the land. I actually saw them, from a distance, in Melbourne and Adelaide, missed them by one day in Kalgoorlie, then again in Perth.
During my career, I built my second sidecar unit in Los Angeles, CA in 1970, and my third in London in 1973. I have driven rigs with the chair on the left in Australia and the UK. Drove rigs with the chair on the right in the USA and the UK.
But it was in Chicago in the mid 1970s that my interest in sidecar safety really began. That was when I met with a motorcycle dealer who also sold motorcycle insurance, Ed Johnson, and between us, and Terry Strassenburgh, we created the United Sidecar Association. The purpose, then as now, was to promote the safe operational guidelines of how to drive a motorcycle with a sidecar. Soon after the association made its debut we began to hear many stories such as – I just bought a new/used sidecar rig/outfit and while driving it very slowly I tried to make this right hander and stuffed the rig into the bar ditch on the left side of the road. Or variations of this. To us, we never had a handling problem and thus seriously set down to make sidecaring a safe occupation.
Using my engineering and research background I wrote the very first sidecar instructions – later research showed our methodology had in fact been available in Australia, the UK, Germany, and Japan since the 1920s – although one had to know exactly where to go to extract and disseminate this knowledge. Sidecaring was safe and was fun – but one must know how to drive the two-track unstable unbalanced unit which had just one articulated wheel, one driving wheel, and one wheel that in effect was like it was riding on a railway line.
I also used the materials available from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and the materials of the American Motorcycle Association in defining our sidecar safety schools. All associations were behind me – but really could not contribute as they both dealt with single track motorcycles, and they just do not handle like a two track sidecar rig. Once it is clear that a sidecar rig MUST be driven like any two-track vehicle, and are not balanced or countersteered as a single track vehicle, driving a rig is extremely simple. The basic problem as we soon discovered, was that the more riding experience a rider had with a single track vehicle, the more unsuitable he was to get on a sidecar rig and operate it safely. All his basic riding instincts had to be destroyed or unlearned and new ones installed. However, once a rider had become competent on three wheels he could go back to riding a two wheeler without difficulty.
Because one is not concerned with the balance problem it is very easy for a neophyte without any riding experience to climb onto a rig and safely drive away with just an hour or so of competent instruction. Alas, it is those with considerable two-wheeled experience that require much longer to adapt. Typically, our sidecar instruction program does require about three days – but that also includes all the basics, including starting, correct riding position, rules of the road, the correct safety equipment, and how to use it properly.
As our sidecar family quickly grew from just a few local members to over three thousand in every state and with several overseas members so we began to access the habits of our family with those of the motorcycle riders at large, and also with all other road users. The information about our family we obtained by having our members complete and return safety and driving characteristics covering everything from age, sex, years of riding/driving experience, mileages driven, MC solo, SC, auto, other, annually, lifetime, accident involvement, insurance, and so forth and so on. We had over 40 percent returns – that compared with the typical 5 to 12 percent returns from polling data.
We then compared this data with all pertinent and relevant data from sources such as the IIHS, the NHTSA, the MSF, the AMA, and as many MC safety peer reviews from Universities – such as the Harry Hurt data of Southern LA and Orange Counties. This monumental data was mined into several papers such as the ones I presented to the MSF safety Conference of 1980. The formal address was accompanied by numerous tables and graphical presentations illustrating the safety aspects of sidecars, sidecarists, and sidecar passengers versus similar and comparative data for riders and passengers of two-wheeled bikes and of automobiles. Much of this data I had already maintained on a regular basis.
Summary of results:
Most accidents and fatalities that occur with operators of two-wheeler bikes;
a. happen when they are between their 18th and 26th year
b. happen when bikers have six to twelve months of riding experience only
c. happen when either the biker or the motorist was making a right turn across the oncoming traffic
The average age of the biker was about twenty seven years old.
The motorist, when the accident was proven, or claimed to be the fault of the motorist, often claimed that the two wheeled biker was either invisible to him, else claimed that he could or did not see the biker.
On the other hand, sidecar operators had an average age of forty two years old, although the age of SC operators stretched from seventeen to over ninety years old. Their accident involvement was almost identical to that of the motorist, and about seven times less accident involved than the solo operator. This vast difference between the accident involvement of a solo operator and a sidecar operator is readily explained due to difference in the average age, and the physical appearance of the sidecar outfit. With age the operator has gotten past the point where he is a risk taker and he has taken on a more serious attitude regarding his position in traffic. This applies to the solo operator and the sidecar operator as well as the motorist. In addition, in the relatively few accidents between a sidecarist and a motorist the motorist very rarely says the sidecar was invisible or that he did not see the sidecar outfit. Indeed, the sidecar outfit commands a physical presence similar to that of a smaller automobile, both in width as well as in height. Furthermore, in most cases the sidecar outfit will be equipped with running lights, both up front and in the rear, that define the physical width of the outfit. In many cases it will also be equipped with a headlight on the outer edge of the sidecar, thereby taking on most of the appearances of a car, especially during nighttime operation.
Another testimony to the roadside worthiness of the sidecar, in several countries, including the UK, Australia, and Germany, the cost of insurance of a sidecar unit was often far less than the cost of insurance for a solo bike – although this practice has since disappeared with the decreasing popularity of the sidecar. There were several historic cases where sidecars were extremely popular in the US, the UK, Europe in general, and in Australia – corresponding to the 1909 to 1912 era, and the post war eras following WWI and WWII. The first due to the relative expense of an automobile versus a motorcycle with sidecar for purposes of conveying an additional passenger or goods for transport; the latter periods simply because there were few cars available following both world wars. Safety and accident involvement data of sidecar operation did exist then, but this was discontinued since the mid 1960s.
I regret that I cannot supply a copy of the actual presentation made to the MSF back in 1980 – but the information given above is from a lifetime devoted to sidecar operation and to sidecar safety. I can, however, make available the manuals I created on sidecar safety, and also a compilation of all issues of the Sidecarist, the journal of the United Sidecar Association from the mid 1970s until the current issue. The sidecar safety manuals I have made public and are available from several public sites, including that of the USCA.
Please advise if I can be of more direct and specific information.
Sincerely
Halcombe Kendall, Historian, USCA

________________________________________
From: Kwei Quaye [mailto:kquaye@sgi.sk.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 5:33 PM
To: hal@wcitx.com
Cc: George Eguakun; Kwei Quaye
Subject: sidecars

Dear Dr. Kendall:

Thanks for your letter of August 26, 2011 regarding Saskatchewan's motorcycle GDL program and sidecars.

I would be interested in the research that you referenced in your letter regarding sidecar safety. This information would be helpful in any further consultations we may need to do on this issue.

I hope you would not mind sharing this information with us.

Thanks a lot.

Kwei Quaye

Kwei Quaye
Traffic Safety Services
SGI
306-775-6182
kquaye@sgi.sk.ca

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