AMA takes the Detroit Line on Emissions

Yeah, well the AMA occasionally says the right thing, but they're no diferent from the carmakers on this, as the title implies. The current California bikes work fine, they're priced fine, and none of the disasters the AMA talks about have occurred. These proposed emissions standards can easily be met with existing technology without harming anyone.



Of course they should be making the SUV's and trucks and cars and DIESEL trucks comply with stricter rules as well. Scoots should be held to the same standard. Why not? It's everybody's air.



And enough with whining about how much bikes harm the air vs. SUV's, ATV's, cars, lawnmowers, snowblowers, etc. Almost all these things can be cleaned up without the drastic consequences everyone predicts. Our air and water is a hell of a lot cleaner since the first Clean Air and Water Act, and I don't see any manufacturers who went belly up from the burdensome costs of emissions cleanup.



This really pisses me off!! It's a no-brainer except for people without brains.

The only thing about all this that really busts my chops is that this is a classic example of targeting the "little guy"



We all know that if everyone rode motorcycles we'd burn less fuel, have less pollution, less traffic hassles, blah blah blah.



Unfortunately the big automakers bring with them the big lobbying bucks, which means SUV's are allowed to pollute in larger quantities than just about every other vehicle on the road because that's where the big money resides.



It's like trying to move an entire pile of rocks by concentrating on the pebbles (which are easy to move/regulate), rather than getting the boulders out of the way (more difficult to move/regulate). It's all terribly frustrating.

Can't really get on board with the AMA on this one. Seems like a 'personal responsibility' issue, to borrow a phrase from those conservative paragons of personal virtue in Congress. Taking responsibility for the consequences of our actions. Like tailpipe emissions.



I can agree that from a public policy standpoint that coming down on motorcycles probably won't provide the biggest bang for the regulatory buck, but that's no reason to stonewall. Just because the SUV makers get away with it doesn't make it right.



Hey, does anyone remember when Detroit stonewalled on emission regs in the 60's and 70's, built cars that ran like crap and got lousy mileage, then the Japanese figured out how to combine tailpipe emissions, drivability and fuel mileage, stealing big chunks of market share from the big three in the process? Yep, stonewalling pays off in a big way!



Okay, okay, I've over-simplified a bit, but the principle is clear - these sort of regulatory issues create discontinuities that lead to competitive opportunities. Some manufacturers/nations are clever enough to take advantage of those opportunities, others stonewall.