Update here.

You don’t have to have lived in Ontario to know that it perceives itself as a province in Canada where the inhabitants believe that they are ‘speshul’. Ontario has in place legislation that provides for the impounding of a vehicle and immediate suspension of a driver’s licence if the police officer believes you to have been racing — and racing apparently includes riding your motorcycle at very low speed on the shoulder of the road while other vehicles are stopped.

Fortunately, they lost that one in court, and a huge thank you goes out to the individual that challenged the stupidity of the police officer who charged the rider.

Now in Ontario’s infinite wisdom, they see fit to present Bill 117 that would prevent anyone under 14 years of age from riding as a passenger on a motorcycle, sidecar or trike — you know, because there are so many injuries and deaths involved with children younger than 14 riding as passengers on motorcycles, sidecars and trikes in Ontario.

Oops. Apparently not.

“Bill 117 is a solution looking for a problem. I reviewed all seven Ontario Road Safety Annual Reports from 1999 to 2005 and did not find any fatalities for motorcycle passengers less than 14 years of age.

Ontario children were four times more likely to have been injured as passengers on bicycles and 262 times more likely to have been injured as passengers in passenger vehicles than to have been injured as passengers on motorcycles.” — Raynald Marchand, GM, Canada Safety Council

Provincial M.P.P. Helena Jaczek is the author of this monstrosity. You can contact her at hjaczek.mpp at liberal dot ola dot org

The Minister of Transportation is James Bradley. Contact him at jbradley.mpp at liberal dot ola dot org

For a sample letter, visit www.motorcycling.ca/issues/provissues/ontario/index.html