. - Motorcycle-only safety checkpoints have revved up controversy among some lawmakers who say the inspections are another example of intrusive federal policies.
A measure inserted into the House transportation bill would bar the U.S. Department of Transportation from providing grants to local or state governments for such inspections.
The action grows out of a furor over checkpoints set up in Georgia last year and planned again this year under a $70,000 federal traffic safety grant.
The roadside checkpoints operate similar to the popular drunk-driving checkpoints. Law enforcement officials signal motorcyclists to pull over and then conduct on-the-spot safety inspections, checking on the condition of the bikes and whether drivers are properly licensed and complying with the state helmet law.
Similar checkpoints have been set up in New York.
But Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who pushed for the provision in the bill, assailed motorcycle-only checkpoints as "an intrusive governmental overreach."
"Motorcycle riders are right to be outraged at being singled out for safety inspections," Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) added in a statement.
Jackie Gillan, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, criticized the provision. The group describes itself on its website as a coalition of "consumer, health and safety groups and insurance companies and agents working together to make America's roads safer."
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