South Carolina Motorcycle Rights Association

Tuesday Is Election Day
Update To Last Friday

Next Tuesday is Election Day. With the election on the horizon, legislators nationwide are in full last-minute campaign mode. Congress may have its eyes already turned toward election results, but we will follow up on our release from last Friday.

Last week, a dozen bipartisan members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Sophie Shulman, the Acting Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) expressing concerns about Tesla’s Full Self-Driving and Autopilot software. The letter highlights concerns regarding “An alarming pattern of Teslas with Autopilot engaged causing fatal accidents with motorcyclists, bicyclists and stopped emergency vehicles.”

The lawmakers seek two remedies from NHTSA. First, improved crash reporting, including allowing other road users, such as motorcyclists, to report crashes to NHTSA. Second, enforcing restrictions on where and when autopilot systems can be activated.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) worked in conjunction with the Dawn Project on this letter from Congress. The Dawn Project’s mission is to make sure computers are safe for humanity, by making certain that safety-critical software systems never fail and are not hackable.

The MRF would like to thank our members who contacted their representatives about the letter. Additionally, we are grateful to Representative Anne McLane Kuster of New Hampshire who helped lead this effort as well as the additional 11 members of Congress whose signatures appear on the letter:

Rep. Julia Brownley (CA)
Rep. Salud Carbajal (CA)
Rep. Steve Cohen (TN)
Rep. Debbie Dingell (MI)
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA)
Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (IL)
Rep. Jared Huffman (CA)
Rep. Hank Johnson (GA)
Rep. Seth Moulton (MA)
Rep. Grace Napolitano (CA)
Rep. Chris Pappas (NH)

To read the full letter click the button below.