2000 Annual Report

The program provides instructor training, promotional and technical assistance, and training motorcycles to a statewide network of eight sites operated by private contractors. The sites are located in Bedford, Beverly, Bourne, Brockton, Haverhill, Seekonk, West Boylston, and Westfield.

About 250,000 licensed motorcyclists, who had approximately 160,000 registered motorcycles, composed the program's customer base in 2000. MREP sites trained 6,350 students in 2000, a 16 percent increase from the year before. The program trained approximately 31,000 students between 1990 and 2000.

Along with the Commonwealth's universal helmet law, MREP training has helped to reduce motorcycle-related fatalities by 37 percent and injuries by 30 percent between 1990 and 1999. The improvements in safety took place even as the number of registered motorcycles in Massachusetts increased by 54 percent.

The Massachusetts Rider Education Program gets its budget from a dedicated state fund, the Motorcycle Safety Fund, which was established in 1987. The Motorcycle Safety Fund receives $2 of every $20 annual motorcycle registration fee the Registry of Motor Vehicles collects. The annual state funding for the MREP is subject to legislative appropriation. The MREP also applies for and typically receives federal highway safety grant money. The program's state and federal budgets for the 2000 training season totaled approximately $254,000. The program's eight training sites collect student tuitions to fund their operating budgets.

The most widely accepted piece of motorcycle safety research, the 1981 Hurt Study, found that most riders who were involved in crashes had no formal training. The vast majority, 92 percent, taught themselves or learned from family or friends. Additional research in the 1996 California Motorcyclist Safety Program Study proved that not only are Motorcycle Safety Foundation-approved courses effective in reducing motorcycle-related fatalities and injuries, but that motorcyclists benefit from receiving this type of training continuously. The Hurt and California studies support the heavy emphasis placed on motorcycle safety programs and rider education. One of the chief obstacles facing the Massachusetts Rider Education Program is to use its slow-growth budget to educate a rapidly expanding population of motorcyclists. Many riders enter and leave motorcycling each year, constantly expanding the need for MREP training.

The program continues to educate motorcyclists about the dangers of "fake" helmets, or those that do not meet the current U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 218, on which the Massachusetts helmet law is based.

Year 2000 Program Highlights

• MREP sites trained 5,834 Beginner Rider Course students and 516 Experienced Rider Course students.
• 60,000 copies of the 2000 MREP brochure were distributed to legislative district offices, Registry of Motor Vehicles branches, insurance agents, motorcycle dealers, motorcycle clubs, and to individuals who requested them.
• Approximately 5,500 RMV motorcycle license/endorsement road test waivers were issued to MREP course graduates.
• Eighty-four instructors, administrators, and guests attended the MREP's Start-of-Season Update. Eleven instructors participated in the Experienced Rider Course curriculum update. And seventeen new instructors were taught through the Instructor Preparation Workshops.
• Twelve new training motorcycles were acquired for MREP sites.
• MREP officials attended the annual meeting of the National Association of State Motorcycle Safety Administrators (NASMSA), and the program's manager attended an MSF-sponsored workshop focused on public information and education campaigns.
• Quality Assurance Review visits were conducted at two training sites by the MREP chief instructor.