I apologize if a similar thread has been discussed down here before. I don't frequent the regional forums as much as the bike forums.

I'd heard earlier this year that NC was redefining the helmet law to be more enforceable but I had kind of put it in the back of my mind. I'm suprised at how many cops I know or meet that either ride or at least respect and support our rights. However, most will probably have to do their job at some point whether they agree with it or not. My local paper just posted an announcement this week regarding the new law going into effect the first of next year - now only a couple of weeks away. According to the announcement, changes included in the law state that a helmet must be strapped to one's head (duh!), must have a DOT approval placed by the manufacturer on the outside of the helmet's back side, must have a permanent DOT approved tag placed on the inside of the helmet by the manufacturer, and, get this, must have at least a 1" thick layer of polystyrene foam padding. Now, that last part really "cheeses" me. If it meets DOT standards, who cares how thick the padding is? I know I'llget some replies from both sides of the fence on this. But, I own and rarely wear a full-face DOT approved helmet. I rarely wear it because it's too hot, it cuts down on what I'm able to hear, and what I'm able to see. I usually wear a novelty half helmet and I realize the downside of doing it. But, I've tried on as many different DOT approved half helmets as I can find, including ACC carbon fiber helmets, among others and can find nothing that doesn't look like it should include a pair of antennae to wear on top of them to complete the Great Gazoo look. I guess I was hoping that one day, with necessity being the mother of invention, that demand would ultimately result in the development of a decent looking, comfortable, DOT approved helmet that didn't give the mushroom head to some of us out here. But, with a provision in the law dictating how thick the padding must be, that option is completely out the door.

Now, I've been part of these never ending helmet threads before and if you are just going to reply and preach to me about how you wear your suit of armor and NASA approved helmet everywhere you go and I should do the same, save it for someone else. I should have the right to wear what I want just as much as you do. If someone was able to come up with something that looks decent and meets the standards, I'd gladly respect the law and wear it. As it is, I guess I'm going to have to do that regardless. But DOT approved is DOT approved. It shouldn't be up to the state to determine the design of the helmet itself, just the standards that it should meet by referencing an organization that is supposed to know what is safe and what is not.

So, now the question arises - what do all these people with DOT approved helmets with less than 1" of padding do? Are they now in violation because the polystyrene gauge the trooper has with him says it's not thick enough?

Anyway, just letting off some steam more than anything else.

 

I wear a helmet all the time for over 40 years now.

How ever I hate helmet laws and always will, but
IMO all States that have helmet laws should have
the new NC. helmet law if their going to have a
helmet law in the first place.

WHY?? You might ask?

Because if you have to wear a helmet by law it
should be one that works!

REAL MEN that don't like helmet laws or wearing
helmets just won't wear them no matter what
the law tells them to do. The rest of the candy
azz wannabe bikers will wear novelty helmets
just to pretend their some kind of bad azz their
not!

if your going to cow toe to the (MANS) rules you
might as well be a REAL MAN and wear a REAL
helmet, you shouldn't be a pretend REAL MAN
and wear a pretend helmet! [:@][:'(]

PS: I wear a Full Face a Half and a DOT beanie, all
of them when I wear them I have the same good
vision and hearing. That BS being spewed by the
ABATE people about helmets is just that "BS" wrote
by guys that lost their nerve (*****) years ago and
they just aren't able to fight the REAL MANS fight
against the (MAN) for the right reasons anymore
so they make up BS stories to cover up the fact they
lost their nerve (*****) a long time a go! [:'(][&o]

 

Oh so now I'm a wannabe because I wear a novelty helmet? That makes a lot of sense.

You can say what you want about full face helmets. I bought one the day I bought my bike and it's all I wore until I could find something to "get away" with which was about 4 months before I even found a novelty that fit me right. I thought I was fine until the day I rode with a half helmet. Then I realized how much vision I didn't have and how many sounds were muted or I flat out couldn't hear with the full face on. What's BS is saying that none of this limitations exist or saying that loud pipes in no way improve another idiot's ability to hear you and know you are there when they aren't paying as much attention as they should be. I've been on the other end of it and have heard many bikes before I actually saw them when I was riding ina "cage".

If attacking my manhood or "biker worthiness" makes you feel better about putting all that crap on yourself, then spill it. I've heard it all before. I didn't buy a bike to subscribe to a code or a way of life that pre-existed. I bought it for me. It's not to please you or anyone else and when and how I ride is not intended for your approval either.

Oh wait - I just realized I wasted my time. You own a wing - enough said. I guess it takes a real man to use all those cute little icons to express your feelings.

 

Yeah(MAN), we just wanna ride, and not be hasseled by the(MAN), man.

 

2007fxdc I feel you. 211chuck you can say what you want, wear what you want and ride what the hell you want. I come from a state that has a law saying I don't have to wear a helmet and now I am in a state that says I do. I choose to wear a novelty. I know it won't save me but it ismy choice. You want to question man hood ...... cause we choose to wear what we want.Say be a real man and not wear one ..... then the bike gets taken by the man. Yeah ok.

 

My post was NOT" directed at you at all, I guess
some people are just a little over sensitive"

My post was in general, not directed at any one
person in particular....

 

211chuck the way that you wrote it, it sounded like you were talking about anyone that wears a novelty helmet instead of a DOT. We choose to wear what we want and it is our choice.At least we have something on our heads in states that have helmet laws so that we don't get stopped ever time we pass a LEO for not wearing a helmet.

 

Who's bike gets taken away??

I have a friend that I grew up with that lives in
Canada which has helmet laws in the whole
country. He rides all over the U.S.A. and Canada
and has NEVER wore a helmet because he hates
what helmet laws stand for, not because he thinks
it is a good idea not to wear one.

He gets lots of tickets every year and no one has
ever taken his motorcycle because he refuses to
wear a helmet. Most years he rides 40,000 to
60,000 miles, sometimes less but for the most
part he's been doing that for over 40 years with
out a helmet. He is standing up against loosing
our rights in his own way wether it does any good
or not. He makes up no BS stories about it being
safer not to wear a helmet, he just plain hates our
free rights to choose being taken away period"

He is not intosugar coating the fact that to many
laws are taking away peoples rights. More laws,
less rights....That is a simple fact!

 

Your bike can be impounded for not wearing a helmet. I guess your friend has been lucky and hasn't had it done yet. I am not going to be the one to have this done. I have had some guys I have riden with that has been ticketed for not wearing a DOT helmet and the LEO has made them part the bike.

 

Even if it's not impounded, here they can park you on the side of the road until a DOT approved helmet is delivered to you or a ride comes to pick you up. Our current law is simply unenforceable as long as something is strapped to your head so that's why I wear a novelty and can get away with it. If I chose to be a real man and wear nothing at all, then the current law is very easy to enforce and I'd be a sitting duck.

Chuck, you may not have meant me personally but if you read what I wrote and read what you wrote, I think you can see where I could have taken it that way. I'm sorry but I just don't see any correlation between wearing a novelty helmet and being a man.

My biggest bitch about this whole thing is how it wasn't good enough to just define the law to make it enforceable against DOT standards that are pretty much accepted nationwide, they had to go a step further and add a requirement that now makes even some DOT helmets illegal. I know we all basically agree that we should have the right to allow our own skulls to be crushed into road jelly if we choose.