Tuff break. Guess you ran into the wrong cop at the wrong time. Can you be pulled over for wearing what appears to be a non-dot helmet? There are plenty of LEOs on here maybe someone can answers this. Might vary from state to state. I'd ask a LEO friend of mine but we don't have a helmet law anymore. Here in PA you can not be pulled over for not wearing a seat belt. They will add it to the fine if you get stopped for any other traffic violation. Sorry you missed Rolling Thunder.

 

Obviously NOT a Vet and has some serious issues! Probably caught his wife with a biker! LOL

 

How about this: I failed my bike inspection one year (New Jersey) because they thought my Nextl DOT helmet was fake.
A week later I went to another inspection station and failed for my helmet again. But this time it was for too many reflectors.
(NJ requires reflectors on helmets so I bought a pack of the reflective stickers and stuck them all over right before I got there.)

 

It seems that we just cant please them all. I did type up a letter to give to the officers supervisor dont know if it will help though. I will keep you all informed.

 

Rott3n, Drop the name of the town so anyone riding in that area can avoid it. I am planning on riding up to Taunton/New Bedford/Plymouth/Middleborough/the cape when I get home and sure would like to stay away from it myself. Thanks

 

Dang I thought the vid clip on here from Maryland was just a joke. Yes we get harassed here alot by the local "Barny Fife" MP's on base about helments. Heres what we do, play dumb usually works. Pled ignorance and whip out a copy of a catalog (usually J&P) stating helmet meets DOT. Worse case get out spare "legal" helmet that I carry in bag and appoligize and go on our merry way. Sure sucks that on a long weekend the LEO can't find anything better than harrass a bunch of Bikers who where Obosiviously going to a good cause. Wonder how many drunk, illegal drivers passed as he was giving you all a hard time.

 

The town was Denton Md but with being a state trooper you never know where they could be sitting. We were wondering the same thing about illegal drivers and such as we were sitting there.

 

Minimum requirements for me to live in ANY state:

1-No state income tax
2-No helmet law

 

What a lousy thing to do to you guys. It is really too bad you missed the rally. It got some good national news coverage. You can buy a DOT half helmet from Jafrum.com for about thirty bucks- cheap insurance for this sort of thing.

 

I read a post on another site regarding the same issue, (it was a different state so may have different laws) the rider challenged the legality based on.......
1) The dot sticker is not supposed to be removed by the retailer so the consumer knows the product meets certain govt. standards, there is no law that says after it is purchased, that it can't be removed, therefore not having a visible sticker should not be probable cause.
2) There is no provision in the law (implied consent) that would require you to remove the helmet so the officer could look inside.
3) States that have a approved helmet lists are usually not updated to current year so helmets on the approved list before 2006 could not be purchased
4) A lot of other states base their list on Floridas list which according to an appellate court (in Florida) found the list was out of date and upheld the dismissal of the citation.

If there is not a statute authorizing being able to order you to remove your helmet, the order is not lawful. If the only probable cause was no visible sticker, then most likely a seizure would be found unconstitutional.