June 12, 2009

Dear Fergus,

Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns about motorcycle safety.  As you may know, I am currently serving on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and am a member of the Highways and Transit subcommittee, so this matter is particularly important to me.

The piece of legislation to which you refer is Section 5511 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the surface transportation authorization bill.  In this section, $1.408 million was authorized for the fiscal years of 2006 and 2007 as part of the Motorcycle Crash Causation Study Grant, for a total authorization of $2.8 million. However, as you noted, the actual amount appropriated for this study was $2.1 million.  This was not due to any singling out of the field of motorcycle study; all of the research projects under the Surface Transportation Research, Development, and Deployment Program in SAFETEA had a similar gap between their authorized funding levels and actual appropriated funding due to more research projects having been designated for funding than the total authorized funding level for the program, as well as other factors of the Department of Transportation funding and appropriations structure.

Oklahoma State University , the site of the research study, has been waiting on the Pilot Crash Causation Study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to be completed before beginning work on the motorcycle study. Since the Pilot Crash Causation Study concluded in April 2009, it is our hope that the motorcycle study can begin shortly. The Pilot Crash Causation Study indicated that the costs to administer and conduct the research for the Crash Causation Study will be more than authorized in SAFETEA-LU.  Currently, the Federal Highway Administration is looking for ways to reduce costs, including reducing the number of crashes studied, and additional sources of funding are being sought. The upcoming Multi-year Surface Transportation Bill should address these concerns regarding the Pilot Crash Causation Study.

I will continue to monitor the progress of this project and will keep your concerns and interests in mind as I serve on the Committee. I hope that you will feel free to contact me at any time in the future to voice your opinions on legislation before the House.  I am very interested in hearing the views of my constituents.  You can reach me by phone at my Washington office at (202) 225-3265 or at my Memphis office at (901) 544-4131.  If you would like to receive periodic Enews updates from my office, please sign up on my website: www.cohen.house.gov.