INTEREST IN MOTORCYCLES SOARS WITH FUEL PRICES Motorcycle and scooter sales across the nation are booming as drivers look for ways to trim the cost of soaring gas prices, but the rush of inexperienced riders hitting the road has had deadly consequences.

NADA Guides, which publishes a well known book of used vehicle prices, reported that the number of people researching motorcycle purchases has increased nearly 50% over last year.

Scooter sales jumped 24 percent nationwide in the year's first quarter, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. While new motorcycle sales were lagging on the whole, those with smaller engines that get better gas mileage saw an upturn, according to MIC spokesman Mike Mount, adding that used motorcycle sales also are climbing.

The small fuel-efficient vehicles are easy on the mileage and the pocketbook, which has made them wildly popular with gasoline prices surpassing $4 a gallon. Depending on engine size, motorcycles can get between 40 and 60 miles per gallon of gas. Scooters, which tend to be smaller and easier to drive, can reach 100 miles per gallon or more. That's attracting newbies, dealers say, with many new buyers citing the price at the pump as their primary motivation for turning to two-wheel transportation.

According to a recent report by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), motorcycle sales have tripled from 1997 to 2006, from 356,000 to almost 1.1 million, while motorcycle fatalities more than doubled from 2,110 in 1997 to 4,810 in 2006.

Last year, the GHSA asked state highway safety agencies to complete a survey on motorcycle safety activities designed to curb the annual increase in motorcycle crashes. The surveys revealed "a patchwork of helmet laws," with only nine states and Puerto Rico indicating special efforts to help law enforcement identify helmets that don't meet federal safety standards. Rider training courses have been overly strained due to the influx of new motorcyclists and, as a result, 29 states "indicated they have capacity problems with delays ranging from one day to 12 weeks for training classes. Only three states, Florida, Maine, and Rhode Island require rider education for all riders, regardless of age," according to the association. The report also says many motorcyclists drive without valid licenses: In 2006, 25 percent of operators in fatal motorcycle crashes did not have a valid motorcycle license, compared to 13 percent of drivers of passenger vehicles.

GEORGIA TURNS SPEEDERS INTO FUEL PUMPS It's a ridiculous concept, reports the National Motorists Association (NMA), but somehow it seemed inevitable. Check out this story from USA Today: The surging price of gasoline has come to this: a "fuel surcharge" on your next speeding ticket.

Drivers caught speeding in the north Atlanta suburb of Holly Springs soon will have to pay an extra $12 -- to cover $4-a-gallon gas costs for the police officers who stop them.

Is your police cruiser running low on fuel? No problem, just pull over someone driving home from work, ticket them, and you'll have a full tank of gas in no time.

Need to balance your budget? Maybe you should look to Pizza Hut for inspiration: Police Chief Ken Ball says he was seeking ways to maintain patrols despite record high gas prices. "I was hearing that Delta (Air Lines), pizza deliverers, florists were adding fuel charges to their services, and I thought, why not police departments?" he says.

Unfortunately it looks like this isn't going to be an isolated case. As with any situation where money is available to be taken from citizens, local government is on the case immediately: Ball says he's being "inundated" by calls from police chiefs and city managers. "I've heard from at least a dozen police chiefs and half a dozen city managers," he says of their municipality's recently-passed measure. "They want to know how we did it, and could we send them a copy of the ordinance."

MARYLAND RIDERS LIGHT IT UP Motorcycle riders in Maryland hope to get more attention from car drivers with a new state law that allows the use of specified auxiliary lighting, which can only be used after dark, thus increasing their visibility to other road users at night.

Senate Bill 713, the "Night-time Awareness - Auxiliary Lighting" bill, passed unanimously through the House and Senate, and was signed into law April 8th by Governor Martin O'Malley.

The new law, which went into effect June 1st, addresses the use of LED lights that illuminate the sides of the motorcycle, thus allowing other drivers to see motorcyclists from the side as well as front and rear. The lights cannot be blue or red and cannot blink, flash or oscillate. They can only be directed toward the engine and drive train and are specifically prohibited from being on wheels.

Pat Corcoran, spokesman for ABATE of Maryland, said "Most motorcycle accidents involving another vehicle, are almost always the fault of the other vehicle, and usually the comment of the other driver is, we just didn't see him."

The law also allows the use of blue-dot tail lights, which also increases conspicuity in traffic.

STATES GREEN-LIGHT NEW RED-LIGHT LAWS FOR MOTORCYCLES Motorcyclists in a growing number of states are being allowed to go through red lights when sensors aren't able to detect they are there.

In May, South Carolina became the seventh state to give motorcyclists license to proceed with caution after stopping when the device that causes the light to change from red to green doesn't activate, according to a recent article in USA Today.

North Carolina passed a similar law in 2007. Wisconsin (2006), Idaho (2006) Arkansas (2005), Tennessee (2003) and Minnesota (2002), all have passed laws the past six years, while similar legislation has been introduced in Georgia, Missouri and Oklahoma.

The traffic lights in question are controlled by devices buried under the road that operate similar to metal detectors, according to Doug Hecox, a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration. Their sensitivity can be set to detect motorcycles, but the proper balance is difficult to adjust, he said.

California has chosen a technological solution. A law adopted last year requires that when new traffic-activated signals are installed, they be capable of detecting motorcycles and bicycles.

"In Texas, we took a different approach," said Sputnik, President of the Texas Motorcycle Rights Association (TMRA-II) and Chairman of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists' Legislative Task Force (NCOM-LTF). He told a gathering at the recent NCOM Convention in Houston about a law passed there last year: "When a traffic light doesn't detect motorcycles, they have to fix them so they do."

EU MOTORCYCLES TO GET ONBOARD WARNING SYSTEMS Motorcycles will get new onboard warning systems to tell the rider when he's going too fast under proposals unveiled recently at a motorcycle safety conference in Brussels, Belgium. The technology will tell the rider when he's going into a bend too fast or exceeding the speed limit. A "frontal collision warning" system will detect when the bike is too close to an obstacle.

On-road trials of the In-Vehicle Information System technology will begin by 2010 under the European Commission's plans, which are backed by the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA).

The project, called SAFERIDER, "aims to develop devices to improve the comfort and safety of riders through technology such as warning devices to alert the rider of a potential crash or provide information about black (blind) spots or traffic design," according to a FEMA press release, adding that "The decision by FEMA to participate in the SAFERIDER project is because we need to find out if technology can assist a rider to make decisions to avoid collisions or crashes. We need to ensure that the technology being developed can benefit riders - but if doesn't, then we need to be in a position to make our point of view clear."

More information on the SAFERIDER project can be found at www.saferider-eu.org.

BIKER FUNERALS ILLEGAL DOWN UNDER Gypsy Jokers from across Australia gathered in Adelaide for a funeral which would be illegal under new "anti-bikie" laws enacted by the South Australia State Government.

The bikers were farewelling club president Wayne "Chiller" McGrath, 42, a father of four and part-owner of four tattoo parlors, who suffered a fatal heart attack while exercising on a treadmill at his Virginia home. More than 300 people - including more than 100 Gypsy Jokers motorcycle club members nationally and abroad from Germany, Norway and the US attended his funeral. The mourners - who included wives, girlfriends and children - then went to the Gypsy Jokers clubhouse for a wake to honor their fallen brother.

Legal sources said under the new anti-biker laws passed by the government and now taking effect, the funeral and wake would have been declared prohibited events as "bikies" will be prohibited from associating with each other once their so-called "gangs" have been declared illegal organizations by the Attorney-General.

The new laws - the first of their kind in Australia apart from the federal anti-terror legislation - have been attacked by lawyers and civil libertarians as "draconian" and an erosion of individual rights, particularly freedom of association.

The laws contain provisions that members of outlaw motorcycle clubs can only associate with direct family members such as their parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents and children. They are not permitted to gather together or have contact with their uncles, aunts or cousins - or neighbors and other friends or acquaintances.

Anyone who breaches the laws - whether they are bikers or individuals having contact with bikers at least six times a year - can be jailed for up to five years.

Control orders restraining the movements of individual bikers can also be issued by magistrates and judges on the application of SA Police. Criminal intelligence or any other information used by police to obtain the control orders must remain secret and anyone issued with an order cannot seek to have it independently reviewed by a judge.

WEIRD NEWS: DIRTY DEEDS More than 600 emergency workers participated in a mock disaster drill simulating an attack on Long Island by a fake biker gang detonating a "dirty bomb'' at a federal courthouse, testing the abilities of authorities to handle such a radioactive attack.

Police, firefighters, medical workers and other personnel from 60 agencies converged on the fire academy in Yaphank, NY, which also involved 10 area hospitals.

The exercise was dubbed "S.C.R.U.B,'' or "Suffolk County Response to an Unknown Bomb,'' and the scenario involved a local biker gang called "El Diablo,'' which would attack the courthouse with a deadly dirty bomb after federal officials arrested their leaders.

More than 100 people were injured or killed in the fake attack, and the injured had to be cleansed and decontaminated before they were actually sent to local hospitals for treatment. Police had to determine the cause of the blast. Other participants practiced decontamination, detecting radiation exposure and coordinating responses with multiple agencies.

Authorities called it the largest emergency drill in Suffolk County's history. It was funded by the Suffolk County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency services with a $175,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security.