U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (AZ) on Ride to Work Day

Today - Monday, June 20th 2011 is the 20th "Ride To Work Day" to promote motorcycle awareness. A good day to ride, and especially this year, let's all ride for Gabby! 

U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona has always been a strong advocate for the motorcycle industry. So it is with special interest that we watch and are hopeful that she will make a complete recovery from the gunshot wounds she suffered earlier this year. She made a brief visit to her hometown on Friday with her husband Mark Kelly and was en route Sunday back to Houston, where she will now begin outpatient rehabilitation.




We hope to see Gabby back on two wheels, enjoying the open road once again! 

As a motorcycle rider and motorcycle racer for more than 20 years, she made this video on behalf of the Motorcycle Industry Council in 2009 encouraging "Ride To Work Day."

So ride your motorcycle or scooter on this day for Gabby! 
And to demonstrate:

• The number of motorcyclists to the general public and to politicians.
• That motorcyclists are from all occupations and all walks of life.
• That motorcyclists can reduce traffic and parking congestion in large cities.
• That motorcycles are for transportation as well as recreation.
• That motorcycling is a social good.

The first Ride to Work Day event date was July 22nd, 1992. For several years various motorcycle businesses informally promoted every third Wednesday in July as Ride To Work Day. These early advocates included Road Rider Magazine, Dunlop Tires, and Aerostich/Riderwearhouse. The event continued to grow as an informal grass roots demonstration every year until 2000. That year a non-profit organization, Ride to Work was formed to help organize and promote Ride to Work Day. The first Ride to Work Day event led by this group was the third Wednesday in July of 2001. This day was the annual day until 2008, when it was changed to the Third Monday In June. This change was made to climatically better accommodate riders world-wide, and to give more riders an opportunity to participate. Details: Ridetowork.org.

Posted by MJ Lloyd Reynolds/MJR Media marketing services for the motorcycle industry - mjr.media@earthlink.net

2010 Ride To Work Day, Monday

Motorcycle Commuters Unite! Monday is "Ride To Work Day," which is celebrated every year on the 3rd Monday in June.

On Ride to Work Day, there are an estimated 150,000 additional Ride to Work Day commuting motorcycles and 150,000 less commuting car, light truck and SUV’s. This results in an estimated savings of 60,000 gallons of gasoline on Ride To Work Day -- annually this would reduce USA gasoline consumption by 15 million gallons.


NUMBER OF MOTORCYCLES COMMUTING
If you ride your bike to work on Monday, you will be joining 129,141,982 commuters in this country (USA, 2003,) who ride motorcycles to work regularly, according to the US Census Bureau -- 11% of all commuters.

More than 6.5 million motorcycles are registered in the USA and 4.3% of them are used as primary transportation, year-round, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. Totally, almost 15% of all registered bikes are used as primary transportation to work on at least a seasonal basis -- That's a total 932,542 seasonal and year-round motorcycle commuters.

NUMBER OF MOTORCYCLES ON THE ROAD
The most current data from the US Department of Transportation (2003) reported 5.4 million motorcycles in regular use, each traveling an average 1,800 miles per year / 9,539,000,000 total annual miles.

TRAFFIC CONGESTION
The average roadway delay per person in 2001 was 26 hours per year and in 2003 that number had risen to 47 hours per year, an increase of 81%. The average commute time one way is 25 minutes - according to the Texas Transportation Institute.


JOURNEY TIMES
The average United States driver travels 29 miles per day, on average 55 minutes per day - according to the US Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Tests comparing car and motorcycle performance on real journeys suggest that traveling by motorcycle can shorten journey times by as much as 33 minutes of every hour for town centre and city travel, and 20 minutes of every hour for travel through a mixture of built-up and non built-up areas. These are facts that are measured by the Motorcycle Industry Association (UK.)

POTENTIAL AGGREGATE BENEFIT
Motorcycles cover 1-2% of the total distance traveled by road, and cars cover 86%. If 2% of car commuters switched to motorcycles or scooters, the current level of motorcycle utility use would effectively double. Motorcycle Industry Association (UK)

This would also result in an annual household savings of more than $7,000 per year, per vehicle when comparing the costs of motorcycle transportation and auto transportation -- $3,665 for vehicle purchases, $1,235 for gas and oil and $2,471 for insurance and misc. US Department of Labor Statistics, 2002 Consumer Expenditure Survey.

PARKING SPACES
3 - 5 motorcycles fit per automobile parking space. RideToWork.Org/

National Motorcycle Week 13th - 19th July 2008

Don't forget its National Motorcycle Week, next weekin the UK. Do your bit to help promote the positive benefits of motorcycling to a wider audience.

Within that week its Ride to Work Day on 16th July, which is the day when all bike and scooter owners are encouraged to ride to work.

Ride safe

Jon Booth
Email: webmaster@inter-bike.co.uk
Blog: http://inter-bike.blogspot.com/
Swicki: http://motorcycling-swicki.eurekster.com/