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Rhode Island police chief’s ad raises motorcycle safety awareness
Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association ad promotes motorcycle safety
Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association
CRANSTON − The state’s police chiefs decided to put some focus on motorcycle safety earlier this year as riders everywhere anticipated sunshine and balmier temps.
They made plans to shoot radio and television advertisements that are receiving airtime this season.
“The night before this ad was filmed,” says Cranston’s police chief, Col. Michael J. Winquist, “there were three crashes in the span of just a few hours, and one of them was fatal.”
Before the launch of the awareness campaign on Friday, Rhode Island had already recorded four fatal motorcycle crashes. The state had 16 in 2023.
Motorcyclists represent only a thin slice of the nation’s population of drivers.
Nationally, motorcycles only represent 3% of all registered vehicles, but they figured into 15% of all traffic fatalities and 3.5% of all injuries in 2022, says the chiefs’ association president, also Warwick’s police chief, Col. Brad Connor.
The ad is entitled “Motorcycle safety is a two-way street,” launched on Friday.
It was commissioned by the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association and financed by the state Department of Transportation’s Office of Highway Safety with support from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Rhode Island Broadcasters Association has also partnered in the campaign.
A major thrust of this safety awareness initiative is aimed not at motorcyclists, but at automobile drivers.
“It’s time that we reminded drivers that keeping motorcyclists safe is their job too,” said Connor.
The television advertisement features Cranston police Officer Christine Bolduc.
She safely rides a motorcycle in civilian attire before she rolls into a residential driveway to greet a poodle named Lucy. Winquist noted that Lucy is a “Cranston native.”
The point of the imagery is to remind drivers that motorcyclists have families, too.
The gear that riders wear for safety, including helmets and heavy clothing, doesn’t emphasize their humanity. But under all that imposing garb, motorcyclists are people, too, and they want to get home safely, Connor says.
“Our ad is a reminder that every rider is a person who is someone special,” he says.
“Keeping our roads safe is everyone’s responsibility, says Connor, “and drivers need to be mindful of motorcycles.”
The association reminds drivers to: Check their mirrors and blind spots, use caution when stopping and starting, and share the road with motorcycles but never share the same lane with one.
The ad will air through September and will help anchor social media and digital aspects of the chiefs’ campaign.
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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