Announcing Rider Justice: Fighting for Bikers’ Rights

I recently received a call from a man who was at a funeral home saying goodbye to his son. To say that this call was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” would be a serious understatement. Prior to this call, I was already feeling overwhelmed, emotional and angry about the devastation I see in the Colorado biker community, which faces an unacceptable number of accidents, injuries and deaths on our roads.

Then, this father called me. I have two sons and I couldn’t – I can’t – seem to keep my professional distance any longer. I knew that I had to do more than just help these victims and their families after their accidents; I wanted to make them safer so that they don’t get hurt in the first place. Additionally, I’m also tired of seeing bikers get the ticket after every accident, even when they are clearly the victim of another driver’s negligence.

So, I decided to start a new organization aimed at promoting biker safety and fighting biker discrimination. It’s called Rider Justice and I’m proud to announce that it is now launched, live and ready to help bikers!

What is Rider Justice?

In a nutshell, Rider Justice fights biker discrimination and promotes safer roads for motorcyclists. If we’re successful, there will be fewer bikers hurt and killed on Colorado roads, auto drivers will be more aware of and respectful of bikers, and bikers won’t receive as many undeserved traffic tickets.

Here are the ways that Rider Justice fights for biker safety and equality:

Standing Up for Bikers

• Free Traffic Ticket Support: We help motorcyclists fight the traffic tickets they receive, no matter who is supposedly at fault. We have seen too many motorcyclists receive the ticket when it’s the other guy’s fault or when the biker was doing nothing wrong. (We do not defend DUI or felony cases; we can refer bikers to criminal counsel who will work for a discount.)
• Free Insurance Review: We have found that the majority of bikers are underinsured and may even receive bad advice from their insurance agents. We review riders’ insurance for free and help them work with their agent to get the coverage they need.
• Legislative/Policy Advocacy: We work with lawmakers and like-minded organizations to create and support bills that make our roads safer for riders.

Educating the Community

• Trainings: We host training events for both bikers and auto drivers. These trainings, hosted around the community and in motorcycle dealerships, cover everything from accident scene management to insurance reviews to motorcycle awareness.
• Community Strength: We host events that foster the brotherhood and sisterhood of the motorcycle culture and community.
• Raising Awareness: We regularly post articles on topics that are relevant to bikers and to anyone who cares about road safety in Colorado. Additionally, we developed The Denver Accident Map to raise awareness about the unacceptable level of accidents on Denver’s roads.

Giving Back to Bikers

• We support organizations that do good in the biker community, including BikerDown, ABATE and CORD.

Ultimately, I also plan to launch a Rider Hit-and-Run Tip Line, offering a reward for tips leading to the arrests of people who hit riders and take off.

Free Ticket Support: Fighting Rider Discrimination

One of my biggest passions in launching this new organization is to fight biker discrimination. Remember that father I told you about at the beginning of this article? In addition to losing his son, that poor man was told that his son was at-fault in the accident that took his life. When I met with the dad in the days and weeks following the funeral, I learned that his son’s case was a classic bias-against-motorcycles case. The accident wasn’t his fault, but everything was being skewed against him.

So, Rider Justice is going to help bikers with any traffic ticket they receive. Bikers who receive tickets while riding can call Rider Justice and an experienced attorney will help navigate the legal mine field, working to get that ticket dismissed or reduced. I have a feeling that we are going to discover the biases against bikers go well beyond accident scene discrimination into much broader rider discrimination; I think we’ll see lots of tickets that never should have been issued to bikers in the first place. I’ll keep you posted.

(As I said above, we do not defend DUI or felony cases. However, we can refer bikers to criminal counsel who will work for a discount.)

Free Insurance Review: Making Sure Bikers Protect Themselves

Finally, and probably most importantly, I’m going to help bikers protect themselves. I’ve seen far too many injured and killed bikers who were the victims in an accident but who lost everything because they didn’t have enough insurance and the drivers who hit them didn’t have enough insurance. Bikers are losing their homes, their cars, their marriages… everything falls apart after an accident if you don’t have the right insurance.

I literally can’t take it anymore. I can’t face another injured rider and tell him that, even though his medical bills total $250,000, he’s only going to get $25,000. This must stop.

So, Rider Justice offers free insurance reviews and we will work with riders’ insurance agents to get the coverage they need. (We are unaffiliated with any insurance company and we will help riders work with their own agents to get the coverage they need. Quite frankly, we’d never partner with an insurance company.)

Wish Us Luck!

So, there you have it! I’m very excited about this new endeavor and about the impact that we could make on rider safety and rider rights in Colorado. If you have any thoughts, questions or suggestions for me as we begin this new journey, I’d love to hear from you. And please visit RiderJustice.com often!