South Dakota

October 2011

As of October 1st, I've come back as the State MRF Rep for South Dakota. I would like to take some space in this report to thank Larry Nielson for taking over the position a few years ago and doing a great job as the MRF Rep, in addition to all his other duties. Larry is a great asset to our SMRO.

At our last ABATE BOD meeting we decided to pursue trying to make some changes to the statutes that regulate windshields or windscreens. In SD we have at least 4 different statutes that specify how windscreens or windshields can or cannot be “tinted”. Some apply to all motor vehicles and other parts are specific to motorcycles but a lot of them conflict with each other. Basically, any tinting at all could currently be found in violation and result in a citation. That's actually how it came to our attention.

I have a Klockwerks windshield with tinting that does not comply with some statutes but have never received a citation and I know many others that have never had any issue. My windshield has 15% tinting and is lower than stock, so the tinting does not interfere with my ability to see the road or other traffic. We will be making contact with law enforcement agencies and legislators prior to our next meeting in November and hopefully we can come up with an easy way to “clean up” the statues that works for everyone.  

Ride Safe & Sober,

John Steele

SD MRF Rep