One of the local CBA chapter officers put together a News Years Day protest ride. Not to protest helmets, but to protest the new helmet law in N.C. Temp was in the mid 40's and wind gust were pretty bad but we had 41 bikes with 60 people braved the hangovers and the weather to protest this very poorly put together law. We rode from the Wizard Lounge to the Catawba County courthouse, piled our helmets on the courthouse steps for a photo shoot, then back to the Wizard to warm up. Heard there were several protest rides in NC at the same time. Hopefully, we can get enough people to make a big enough fuss that our state legislators will take another look at it. This law was thrown in with a bunch of other highway safety laws, so to get the ones they wanted, they had to vote them all in regardless of who, or what it effected. As it stands now there are Brand New helmets purchased at local bike dealers that are not approved under the new law. Even if it says DOT on the back and you paid $200m or $300 for it, unless it has all the new requirements, you can still get a ticket. If you live in NC and value your rights, please help us fight this. Who knows, next they may make us wear full leathers and full faced helmets all year around. Don't get me wrong, I'm for helmets, but I'm also for choice.

 

That's the way most unpopular laws get passed, by being clumped in with others. That's why line-item veto is so important. Remind your local state reps/senators that you vote as well as ride, many are in favor of freedom of choice viewpoints. Don't waste time with helmet effectiveness data or lack thereof, just point out freedom of choice. If you want to elaborate on anything, mention that the language of the law has no provision to not get cited if you remove your helmet during a traffic stop while proving your identity.

 

Very good point. Hadn't thought about getting a ticket for removing helmet during a traffic stop. There are so many unanswered ? to this law. What if you get a ticket for non approved helmet, can they make you sit and wait for someone to bring you another, or is it like a improper equip. ticket that you can continue on, just not get stooped again for the same thing, who knows.

 

During a traffic stop, you can't dismount your bike nor can you step out of your vehicle unless directed to do so. So technically, you are on your bike without a helmet just as disconnecting a seatbelt to reach in your pocket to produce a driver's license/insurance card makes you "operating a vehicle without wearing a seatbelt. Most LEO's aren't dicks, but some locales need to bolster revenues and will issue the citation/bill. I got just that in Stone Park IL years ago, a town famous for packed traffic courtrooms. The main drag is 6 lanes with a wide center and the speed limit is only 30!

 

I'd like to hear what the 'new requirements' are !!!

 

whaap, see this thread and my posts there for an explanation.
https://www.hdforums.com/m_2642340/tm.htm

 

Im astonished anyone would even fight a helmet law. Where's your head at ? Not in a helmet for sure. You don't ware a helmet. You bust your head. It cost the insurance a bundle. You loose everything because your brain dead from not wearing a helmet. Your family suffers. The insurance companies has to raise our rates to cover Geniuses who think they shouldn't ware helmets.
Then the rest of us wants stiffer penalties on people who hit bikers but can't get laws passed because we're to busy fighting helmet laws and getting ran over. Wake the Fu*k up people. I personally called a congressman and talked to Him. He told me they looked over the traffic fatality reports for Florida and America and came up with 65% or all motorcycle accidents were caused by rider error . HELLO ! So lets see. Drunk, no helmet, running over the speed limit AT NIGHT and we want to fight for no helmet laws ? We look stupid as hell. Un real.

 

Fighting a helmet law and being anti-helmet are apples and oranges. The underlying motivation here is to divert money from inexpensive rider education programs to fund enforcement of helmet mandates. Once safety and education either go away or cost you a huge chunk of dough to take (some states are actively looking into mandating periodic safety courses to keep your motorcycle classification) the riding of motorcycles gets less desirable and more expensive. Once the ranks of responsible, voter-eligible motorcyclists get thinned to a desirable level, bike bans or displacement caps or even worse fates await those of us who are left. If you haven't been in motorcycling for any length of time, or have a harley as a fashion accessory next to your golf clubs and are only in it because it's some kind of "in thing" please do us all a favor and sell your bike! Open your eyes! Your post of "waring a helmet" is what is taught in safety and ed classes, it's the decision of the rider and shouldn't be the decision of non-riding politicians, lawyers, doctors, insurance execs and whomever else. That's just like people who don't have kids always trying to dictate their views at PTA meetings!

 

As I said, I'm not against helmets, I'm for Freedom of Choice. What are you going to do if the next law says you have to wear a $500.00 full face helmet that of only one brand and then you have to wear a neck brace or Hahns Device and full leathers or kevlar full suit and gauntlet kevlar reinforced gloves, and steel toed non slip knee high boots, with a jacket that has air bags and training wheels and speed limiter and so on and so on. Are you going to say Wake the fu*k up and don't fight it? And by the way, if you think your congressman is going to tell you the truth about it, you need to wake up. He is only telling you what the lobbiest are telling him. And, fyi-in the most recent test by the NHTSA-50 of 350 helmets tested failed the FMVSS218 standard, but there was no recall , so even if your helmet has the right info sewn in it may still not pass the standards test.

 

The law is crazy. To many unknowns. The police and the general public dont really understand anything but DOT. This new Fing thing will be used to get our 25.00 in tickets. Many court battles, and if it gets to crazy bikers plus dealers will get some stuff started with the state. Harrass the bikers too much and the dealers will get pissed. I wear a DOT helmet. Did it pass the new test I dont know but if they write me a ticket off to court I will go to fight it.