MASSACHUSETTS APPROVES HANDICAP PLATES FOR MOTORCYCLISTS

Until now, Rick "Bubba" Young of Palmer, Mass., an amputee, could park his truck but not his motorcycle in designated handicap parking spaces.

On Saturday, September 7, 2002 at Tibby's Harley-Davidson dealership in Springfield, the Deputy Registrar of Motor Vehicles Steve Sebestyen presented two local residents the first issue of handicap registration plates for motorcyclists who qualify, announced Jimi Ricci, chairman of the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association and a member of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (NCOM) board of directors.

Bubba and other handicap riders and members of the motorcycle association, have been fighting over eight years, for equal assess and "equity" to be able to park their motorcycles in handicap spaces. But until now, it's been against the law.

Last month Governor Jane Swift signed into law House Bill 4099, an act authorizing the Registry of Motor Vehicles to issue such "equity plates" to motorcyclists who qualify.

"When the international access symbol was first issued in 1978, I think it was just an oversight and preconceived opinion a person with a handicap couldn't ride a motorcycle," said Paul W. Cote, the Association's Legislative Director. "However, to those with some handicap, riding a motorcycle is one of the greatest freedoms."