Indeed - if it can be shown that there was wilful disregard for the safety code then the AMA certainly has some room to wiggle out of the claim – but probably not before spending a chunk of change in lawyers fees etc in order to defend themselves (since practically any plaintiff’s attorney is going to name the AMA in a suit anyway). That financial exposure is no doubt part of the reason why the AMA cares what a current member does even when the member doesn’t “want” to be covered by their insurance at the time.

True – they can’t control what you do outside of an AMA chartered club, but if they want to be hardass about it then they certainly can prevent you from using any other AMA site afterwards. BTW, note that I said “can’, rather than ‘will’, since Carl told me there is no ‘fixed’ penalty to go along with any wilful disregard of the AMA safety code, but that there would as necessary be a meeting convened at the HQ to decide any penalty based on the circumstances of the indivdual case.

BTW, don’t confuse the message with the messenger. What I am relating here is my experience of the topic based on numerous consultations I’ve had with the AMA, NOT how I’d like the insurance etc to work.
Personally, I’d love for us to be able to “opt out” of AMA insurance at will, ratehr than dealing with the way the system is set up right now.

Gordon