The New Hampshire Motorcyclist Rights Organization (NHMRO) was founded in 1975 to fight the freedoms that were being systematically taken away.
NHMRO was incorporated as a non-profit organization, under the laws of the state of New Hampshire, and the internal revenue tax codes. Our sole purpose is to protect the rights of ALL motorcyclists to choose how they ride and to maintain and preserve their freedoms as riders.
MAILING
January has flown by, and riding season is around the corner. I attended the Governor’s Inaugural Ball at the Mt Washington Hotel on January 11th and it was quite the celebration. Steve and I were sitting with the Governor's chief of staff, Chris Connelly and wife. This certainly was a good opportunity to have his ear for NHMRO.
Officer voting will be held at our February 16th meeting for the following:
CJ Lynch for Treasurer
Patti Pike for Secretary
Jim Moody for Vice President
Traci Beaurivage for President
There were no other nominations for officers. We are looking for someone to assist Rick with the Newsletter and social media. If you are good at networking, social media, and/or website development and would like to help us, please let us know. I have officially taken the position of the SSMRO (Sustaining State Motorcycle Rights Organizations) Representative to the Board of MRF. I will be working with the leaders of the organizations around the country. This is a great opportunity for me to also gain more knowledge of what they are doing and perhaps help us in our growth.
We have a couple of legislative items I would like to mention: HB239 FN – defining and enabling lane filtering – this bill is flawed and after much discussion from the board and members at the January meeting we will be opposing it as written.
HB484 concerning having E 10 fuel available to us – we will be supporting this bill.
HB483 which deals with not banning small internal combustion engines, such as lawnmowers, leaf blowers etc. This is important for us to support because our motorcycles could be added to that category if they get a ban on them. We will support this bill as well. All of the above items were discussed with the membership at our January meeting. Please mark you calendar for our 50th celebration party on March 22, Grappone Center in Concord at 5:30pm. This is very important and special to us and will be a great night of celebrating. This event is free to 2025 paid members and we will need an RSVP by March 3rd if you plan to attend. Because of the expense and time that goes into this please make sure that if you want to attend you get your RSVP in and if you RSVP please attend. We have some special awards to give out and a couple of national people coming.
Live Free RideSMART, Traci Beaurivage President
The MRF board had some changes at the January Board meeting this year. Dave Dwyer, who has served as the Sustaining States Motorcycle Rights Organizations (SSMRO) representative for 20 years to the board, is retiring and Traci was voted in to take his position. Dave has been a great asset to the MRF and will be missed.
Andy Kelley, who served as one of the MRF’s Representative for the State Reps’ Program, is retiring as well. Paul Landers from Texas has been voted in to take his place. The January board meeting was a good one and we are starting off strong for the year.
The MRF President Kirk, Hardtail, Willard came across this piece of information that I think is worth hearing:
The more you GROW… the more FREEDOM you will have. The more you LEARN… and APPLY that learning… the more FREEDOM you will have. The more SELF-DISCIPLINE you have… the more FREEDOM you will have. The more you are willing to WORK for it… intentionally SUFFER now… The more FREEDOM you will have in the FUTURE.
Those of us that have chosen motorcycling as a way of life understand freedom.
The Board of the MRF will be traveling all over the country visiting various states rights organizations to continue to educate and help all motorcyclists. Let’s all work together towards our common goals and achieve success for all motorcyclists!
SSMRO Rep to the Board
Traci Beaurivage
Rick Daynard ..Editor
Happy February…one month closer to springtime, and for me it can’t get here soon enough. As it happens, I’ll be writing out the deposit check for Myrtle Beach Bike Week. Looking forward to some fun in the sun with brothers and family. Some important things to read and consider in this issue. Elections in February, some legislative bills that have come to our attention. Some we’re behind and some not so behind. While some of it may seem black and white to us, we’re fortunate to have some leaders to keep us informed as to why a bill might be good or bad for us motorcyclists and everyone in general. Go find out about it in Imre’s “RideSMART” article this month.
Here’s something else to consider, are you going to NHMRO’s 50th Anniversary Dinner in March? There is a limit to how many folks we can have, so you must RSVP before March 3rd to Traci (nhmropresident@gmail.com). In addition to dinner, there will be guest speakers from around the country, a DJ, some awards, and even some 50th anniversary swag. The flyer is in this edition as well. Lot’s of other things going on. Bikers Against Child Abuse (BACA) will hold their annual Spaghetti Dinner. Those “Freedom Riders” (who are always doing something!!) will be hosting a “Sweetheart Party” February 15th. Sure to be a good time. Those event flyers are in this issue as well. So lot’s going on, if you’re looking for something to do. Why not get out and support these events??
Guess I’ll leave this on “repeat”....Have you thought about what you might do to help us out? Now is the time to get involved with our organization. We need your help.
Let’s make our 50th year a great one. Get involved, and protect your rights!!!
Remember to send any submissions you have to:
Where in the WORLD is the purple haired motorcycle lady??????
Our President doesn’t just preside over our meetings, she attends events and meetings all over our state and country representing NHMRO.
On January 11th, Traci attended New Hampshire's newly elected Governor Kelly Ayotte’s Governor’s Ball!
Traci is pictured with Governor Ayotte, and in additional pictures with Andy Cruz, Governors Transition Leader, and Dan Bennett, President of New Hampshire Automobile Dealers association.
Motorcycle Lane Filtering in New Hampshire?
NHMRO members and their guests who attended the January 12, 2025 meeting at the Henry J. Sweeney American Legion Post 2 in Manchester, New Hampshire had an opportunity to learn about several bills that could impact the motorcycling community in the new 2025-2026 legislative session.
Of particular interest was House Bill 239-FN (HB239-FN) (New Hampshire General Court website at https://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/bill_status/billinfo.aspx?id=18&inflect=2) titled, “AN ACT defining and enabling lane filtering,” the bill “…defines the term lane filtering, enables lane filtering in certain circumstances, and establishes the offense of impeding a motorcycle.”
This measure began as LSR 2025-0013, with sponsors Ellen Read (Prime), JD Bernardy, and Henry Giasson. The bill was introduced on January 8, 2025 and referred to the House Transportation Committee.
Before highlighting the particulars of the bill, a few definitions are in order. While often used interchangeably, the terms “lane filtering” and “lane splitting” are really two different activities.
Lane filtering, as practiced outside the United States and particularly in Europe, is generally understood to be the act of advancing a motorcycle between rows of stopped or slowly-moving traffic, usually in crowded urban settings, to the head of the rows of vehicles. In many cases, the rows of vehicles are stopped at or slowed by a traffic-control device, and the motorcycle is expected to accelerate away from the lines of traffic once authorized to proceed by signal or direction of a device or traffic-control agent.
Lane splitting, on the other hand, is generally viewed as a motorcycle moving between rows of traffic on a continuing basis, regardless of whether other vehicles are stopped, moving slowly, or traveling at speed. It’s easy to imagine traffic congestion on I-5 in Los Angeles and how a skilled motorcyclist might be able to continue travelling ahead by practicing lane splitting regardless of what other vehicles are doing.
In California, lane splitting is defined on the California Highway Patrol website (https:// www.chp.ca.gov/Programs-Services/Programs/California-Motorcyclist-Safety) as:
LANE SPLITTING Defined by California Vehicle Code Section 21658.1 as driving a motorcycle, as defined in Section 400, that has two wheels in contact with the ground, between rows of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane, including on both divided and undivided streets, roads, or highways.
Although practiced for decades, it wasn’t until January 1, 2017 that “lane splitting” officially appeared in the Vehicle Code. Up until then, lane splitting was “tolerated” as long as it was “practiced in a safe and prudent manner.”
An excellent resource on lane filtering and lane splitting is the June 16, 2023 article titled “Split Decision: Are Lane Splitting and Lane Filtering Safe?, written by Eric Trow and published by Rider magazine online at https://ridermagazine.com/2023/06/16/split-decision-are-lane-splitting-andlane-filtering-safe. This is a must-read for anyone seeking a clearer understanding of these practices, their benefits and risks, and some of the many considerations a motorcyclist should ponder before attempting either activity.
Getting back to New Hampshire HB-239-FN, the bill seeks to modify NH RSA 265:12, Driving Motorcycles on Roadways Laned for Traffic, as follows:
Replace
“The driver of a motorcycle shall not overtake and pass in the same lane occupied by the vehicle being overtaken.”
With
“"Lane filtering" means driving a motorcycle as defined in RSA 259:63, that has 2 wheels in contact with the ground, to overtake and pass motor vehicles stopped or traveling less than 10 miles per hour in the same lane and in the same direction, including on both divided and undivided streets, roads, or highways.”
Replace
“No person shall drive a motorcycle on a roadway between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles.”
With
“Lane filtering shall be permitted so long as the overtaking motorcycle operator does not exceed 20 miles per hour and conditions permit continued reasonable and prudent operation.”
Add
The division of motor vehicles shall develop educational guidelines relating to lane filtering in a manner that would ensure the safety of the motorcyclist and the drivers and passengers of the surrounding vehicles.
Add 265:121-a Impeding a Motorcycle. An operator of a motor vehicle who intentionally impedes or attempts to prevent the operation of a motorcycle when the motorcycle is operated under the conditions specified in RSA 265:121 shall be guilty of a violation and fined not less than $250 nor more than $500 for a first offense and not less than $500 nor more than $1,000 for a second or subsequent offense.

Following extensive discussion during the Board of Directors meeting that preceded the general membership meeting, the Officers and Directors voted unanimously to oppose HB-239-FN as written. At the general membership meeting, HB-239-FN was discussed after presentation to members and guests. Concerns regarding the cost and implementation of the mandated educational guidelines by the division of motor vehicles, the potential impact of impaired, reckless, and distracted motor vehicle operators on motorcyclists practicing lane filtering, and the number of outof-state motor vehicle operators not knowing or understanding the legality of authorized lane filtering by motorcyclists, made this legislation as written inappropriate and unacceptable in New Hampshire. The membership was polled and they also took a position in opposition to the bill as written.
One thing that should be made clear about this legislation – it does not mandate lane filtering by motorcyclists. Like California and the few other states that permit lane filtering and/or lane splitting, the ultimate decision is left to the rider. However, until the above considerations and others regarding safety, driver behaviors, and enforcement for violations of the law are satisfactorily addressed, the NHMRO and its members will not support this legislation as written for lane filtering in New Hampshire.
“Learning to ride at 41 is better than never learning to ride at all!” – Anonymous
Ride safe, Ride S.M.A.R.T.
Imre Szauter Director, Ride S.M.A.R.T.
The Riders Fund assists disabled individuals who desire to ride a motorcycle. Whether you were a former rider that dreams of riding again, or someone who thought it would never be possible to ride, you can and we can help! The Fund’s sole purpose is to assist disabled riders with purchasing adaptive motorcycles to allow them to enjoy the freedom of the open road. The riding community is one of the strongest groups in America when it comes to supporting their own, so please show your support by helping to give others the opportunity to ride.
The MobilityWorks Foundation
Email: support@themobilityworksfoundation.org
Look for more interesting facts
Our newly elected Governor Kelly Ayotte rode in last year's Peter Makris Memorial Run during Laconia Bike
NHMRO 2024 SPONSORS
Mazlow & McCullough Attorneys
CHOP SHOP Pub
High Octane Saloon
Lowell Street Automotive
The Hawk 104.9
NHHVAC Systems Inc.
Twisted Cycles
Ted Bantis Excavating
New Hampshire Automobile Dealers Association
Lafayette Press
HK Powersports
R&R Cycles
Laconia Motorcycle Week Association
Stark Brewery
IHeart Media
DES-FAM Heating and Cooling
Heritage Riders
Auburn Pitts
Arties Electric
Motorcycles of Manchester
Superior Interiors
Joseph A. Ritzo Law
FINN’s Motorsports
Sponsor’s Offering MEMBER DISCOUNTS
(You must present your card to get the discount)
KT Cycles
The Bar Food and Spirits
Lowell Street Automotive
RJ’s/RPM Motorsports
Please support our sponsors!!!!
1)… To initiate , endorse and sponsor educational programs such as rider safety, public awareness, legislative and affirmative action and, individual freedoms and rights.
2)… To create and promote a positive public image of motorcyclists and motorcycle groups and to dispel and disprove media hype and unfounded propaganda
3)… To encourage goodwill and mutual understanding among motorcyclists, law enforcement personnel and the general public.
4)… To serve as an information source on matters pertaining to current laws, pending legislation, personal rights, political inclinations of elected officials and their constituents, and voter awareness.
5)… To act as a central responsive agency to devise and coordinate recreational, legislative, educational, and charitable activities.