2002 Annual Report

About our program:

To minimize the risk and maximize the fun of motorcycling, the Registry of Motor Vehicles sponsors the Massachusetts Riders Education Program (MREP). MREP provides training motorcycles, and / or promotional and technical assistance to a statewide network of training sites. This support enables these sites to keep their tuitions for rider education courses affordable. The RiderCoaches who teach these courses are MSF certified with additional MREP approval. At the beginning of the 2002 season, MREP migrated from the MRC:RSS to the BRC.

Mission:

The mission of this program is to reduce the number of motorcycle related fatalities and injuries in the Commonwealth by increasing the statewide availability of Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) approved rider education courses.

Sites, State Contractors and Locations:

As of the 2002 season, six contractors operated 10 sites:

Pioneer Valley Rider Training – Westfield, MA
Central MA. Safety Council – West Boylston, MA
Ironstone Ventures – Acton / Ayer, Haverhill, Seekonk and Hanscom AFB (military only)
Motorcycle Riding School – Beverly, MA
Training Wheels of New England – Brockton and Bourne, MA.
Riders Edge – Auburn, MA

Training:

2002 season:

We had an 95 percent pass rate in the BRC and a 99 percent pass rate for the ERC. The program has trained approximately 46,552 motorcyclist since 1990.

MREP Staffing:

• 1 MREP Program Manager
• 1 MREP Program Coordinator
• 6 Site Coordinators
• 2 RiderCoach Trainers
• 108 RiderCoaches (12 of them newly trained in 2003)

MA. numbers at a glance:

Total number of registered motorcycle Dec 02 = 128,505
Total number of motorcycle licenses issued for 2002 = 10,314
Total number of motorcycle permits issued for 2002 = 30,481

From June 2000 to June 2001 the number of active motorcycle registrations had risen by 11,110 (almost 10 percent). From June 2001 to June 2002 the number of active motorcycle registrations had risen by 10,058 (almost 8 percent)

MREP Budget

The MREP is primarily funded from a dedicated state fund, the Motorcycle Safety Fund, which was established in 1987. The Motorcycle Safety Fund receives $2.00 from every annual motorcycle registration fee collected by the Registry of Motor Vehicles. The MREP also applies for and typically receives an annual federal highway safety grant through the Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau. The program's state and federal budget for the 2002 training season totaled approximately $349,000.

Licensing:
The first step in the pursuit of a motorcycle license is the securing of a motorcycle permit. This is accomplished by passing a knowledge test administered by the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Riding evaluations and licensure can be obtained in two ways; passing an RMV road test, or successfully passing an MREP rider education course (in which case the RMV road test requirement is waived). To pass an MREP course the student must attend all classroom sessions, all on-cycle sessions, pass a written knowledge test and a skill evaluation. Once this is accomplished the Site Coordinators will submit the student’s name to the RMV and a license is mailed to the student, provided no outstanding driving issues exist.

Approximately 80 percent of the student who passed a motorcycle course received their license without incident. The 20 percent that had to have a certificate mailed to them could have been because of issues with the RMV or failure to pre-pay the license fee to the RMV.

2002 Highlights

• One hundred five instructors, administrators and guests attended the MREP Annual Update. The guest speaker addressed, among other topics, the Hurt Report. Other topics included the transition to the BRC and adult learning. Awards were also given out to senior instructors that volunteered to be trained and help convert the rest of the instructor corps to the BRC
• With the help of our RiderCoach Trainer and RMV personnel nine sites were converted to the BRC before the start of the 2002 season.
• Eighty four percent of our Instructors were converted to BRC RiderCoaches within 45 days of the start of the season.
• 60,000 2002 MREP brochures were printed and distributed to legislative district offices, RMV branches, insurance agencies, motorcycle dealers, motorcycle clubs, police departments and individuals from phone and web inquiries.
• Three RiderCoach Preparation Workshops were conducted, training 23 New RiderCoaches
• Check twice, save a life campaign …
• Radio
• Posters
• Bumper stickers
• Implemented Quality Assurance Program utilizing RMV personnel
• Round tabled Quality Recognition Program / Mentoring Program to be implemented in 2003 season
• Reviewed and updated MREP Policy Manual
• Program Manager and Trainer attended SMSA
• MREP added an additional RiderCoach Trainer during MSF’s training at York, PA.
• Welcomed an additional MREP Site (Riders Edge, Auburn)
• End of year survey sent to all coaches to determine program's strengths and weaknesses.