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One Passenger Law?

Good Day,
I learned to my surprise this week that this province, Saskatchewan, has a law prohibiting having more than one passenger riding in a sidecar regardless of the sidecar model or the manufacturers specifications. I went to the provincial Justice Department who confirmed that the law exists and that the fine is $155 plus costs. The Justice personel I spoke to were co-operative in every way and suggested that, apparently, whoever wrote the law could not have been aware of the existence of multipassenger sidecars. However, the law is legislated and therefore only the minister responible, Hon. Eldon Lautermilch, could take it back into the Legislature to have it ammended. Given that it would take some effort on the part of the government to correct this law the Justice Dept. people felt that it would be unlikely for the minister to correct the law based on one person's concerns. I presented Latermilch's office with a package of information regarding multipassenger sidecars and my views yesterday anyway. I intend to continue to persue this. I have both two passenger and four passenger sidecars myself and I have installed many multipassenger sidecars for customers here. This appears to be an example of a law being written and quietly placed on the books without consultation with anybody with sidecar expertise. Perhaps they talked to the owner of a local motorcycle shop who had seen a sidecar once, I don't know.
Does this mean that a touring family in a properly constructed outfit would be required to leave any children beyond the singular limit at the border before entering or crossing Saskatchewan?
It's ridiculous.
Is there any other juristiction that has a similar law?
Regards,
Norm
http://www.sidecarsonline.com

Originally written by normpottruff on 12/1/2006 12:10 PM

Good Day,
I learned to my surprise this week that this province, Saskatchewan, has a law prohibiting having more than one passenger riding in a sidecar regardless of the sidecar model or the manufacturers specifications. I went to the provincial Justice Department who confirmed that the law exists and that the fine is $155 plus costs. The Justice personel I spoke to were co-operative in every way and suggested that, apparently, whoever wrote the law could not have been aware of the existence of multipassenger sidecars. However, the law is legislated and therefore only the minister responible, Hon. Eldon Lautermilch, could take it back into the Legislature to have it ammended. Given that it would take some effort on the part of the government to correct this law the Justice Dept. people felt that it would be unlikely for the minister to correct the law based on one person's concerns. I presented Latermilch's office with a package of information regarding multipassenger sidecars and my views yesterday anyway. I intend to continue to persue this. I have both two passenger and four passenger sidecars myself and I have installed many multipassenger sidecars for customers here. This appears to be an example of a law being written and quietly placed on the books without consultation with anybody with sidecar expertise. Perhaps they talked to the owner of a local motorcycle shop who had seen a sidecar once, I don't know.
Does this mean that a touring family in a properly constructed outfit would be required to leave any children beyond the singular limit at the border before entering or crossing Saskatchewan?
It's ridiculous.
Is there any other juristiction that has a similar law?
Regards,
Norm
http://www.sidecarsonline.com

Norm, would it be of any help to have some of us contact him and explain how much money we WON'T be spending in your Province if the kids can't come?
Do you want to publish a mailing address for us?

Good Day,
By all means feel free to contact him.
His address is: Hon. Eldon Lautermilch
Room 348
Legislative Building
Regina, Saskatchewan
CANADA S4S 0B3
Telephone: (306) 787-6447
Facsimile: (306) 798-0263
Email: minister.hi@gov.sk.ca

Comments could be cc'd to my constituency Member of the Legislature
Warren McCall
Constituency Office:
2900 5th Avenue
Regina, SK S4T 0L3
Phone: 352-2002
Fax: 352-2065
warren.mccall@sasktel.net
I had a good conversation with Mr. McCaul's secretary today when I presented her with a pack of material duplicating the one I'd given to Minister Lautermilch. I am hopeful that Warren will add his voice to those calling the Minister. His secretary was helpful sounding.
Regards,
Norm

Good Day,
I received the following letter today from the provincial government. It seems that they have acknowledged the problem with this legislation and they will change it but as the wheels of government tend to grind slowly they will address immediate concerns by suspending the regulation for now and offering a letter to anyone who would like to carry confirmation of the policy change with them. I think this is outstanding co-operation from the authorities and I would like to particularly thank Doug Bingham, Hal Kendal and Claude Stanley for their assistance. Claude and Hal were kind enough to write letters supporting the change and Doug Bingham sent me a huge file of support information along with a letter stating his support. I added all this material to the large file I had gathered and hit Warren McCall's and Eldon Lautermilch's offices with copies and then follow up visits. I offer a hearty thank you to everyone who helped.

Regards,
Norm

Mr. Norm Pottruff
3636 Dewdney Avenue
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4TOZ5

January 2,2007

Dear Mr. Pottruff:

I am writing in response to your letter of November 30, 2006 regarding Saskatchewan legislation which permits only one person to ride in a motorcycle sidecar.

Allow me to explain that this legislation has been in place for a number of years and, to my knowledge, this inadequacy has not been raised earlier. That said, SGI will recommend amendment to The Traffic Safety Act to limit the number of passengers in a sidecar to within the manufacturer’s design criteria and weight restrictions. Unfortunately, this will likely not occur until the 2009 legislative sitting.

In the interim, SGI will proceed with a temporary exemption to this section of the Act for those individuals affected. SGI will notify Saskatchewan Justice and law enforcement agencies of this issue early in the new year, in order that they are aware of this exemption well before the motorcycle season commences.

SGI is also prepared to provide a letter of exemption, upon request, to operators of such vehicles. This can be carried in their possession in the event they are stopped by law enforcement. These individuals can contact Mr. Garry Davis of SGI’s Driver Development and Safety Services, either by telephone at (306) 691-4565 or toll free at 1-800-667-8015, or via email at gdavis@sgi.sk.ca.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I trust you will find the above helpful.
Yours truly,
Jon Schubert
President

Fantastic!!!
It's good to know that someone in Government actually listens. I had also written, saying I hoped to one day vacation in your Province, though I doubt it will happen before 2009. I may request one of those letters anyway. Who knows I might win the lottery someday.
Congatulations!

Norm:
Good news. That is cool!
Congratulations on your success, and thank you for helping to make a positive difference for all of us sidecarists.
Gail,
USCA Secy.
USCA California Rep.

Belated post to this thread. Here in the US, many (most?) states define a
"motorcycle" as "a motor vehicle that has no more than 3 wheels and carries
on more than 2 people"

Dick