Posted on 08/18/2006 12:25:07 PM PDT by martin_fierro
State Motorcycle Helmet Law Ruled Unconstitutional
(BCN) California's motorcycle helmet law has been declared unconstitutionally vague by a Santa Cruz County judge because the California Highway Patrol has not adopted adequate helmet regulations.
Superior Court Judge Michael Barton issued the ruling on Tuesday in the case of Aptos resident Richard Quigley, 61. Quigley received nine citations from Watsonville police and the CHP in 2003 and 2004 for violating the state's helmet law. On all but one of those occasions he was wearing headgear that was embroidered with the letters "DOT," a certification of compliance with federal Department of Transportation standards, according to Barton's ruling.
CHP officers cited him despite the headgear because it did not look like a traditional helmet.
"The only evidence offered against the defendant... were complaints by the prosecution that the headgear looked like a 'typical baseball cap,"' Barton wrote in his ruling.
Barton ruled the law unconstitutional and dismissed all of the citations against Quigley because the CHP has failed to properly define what constitutes a compliant helmet under the law.
"The CHP is the only state agency authorized by the statutes to adopt reasonable regulations establishing specifications and standards for motorcycle safety helmets. The CHP's failure to adopt such regulations, and make them available to the public, has rendered the helmet law statutes void for vagueness as applied," according to Barton's ruling.
A CHP spokesman did not return calls for comment on the ruling.
yup, key word: CAN
I'd guess they will use the DOT standard (gov. agency) versus the Snell standard (private company). Not all helmet manufacturers submit their helmets to get a Snell rating.
I doubt this ruling will change much in the long-term as I can't see CA repealing their helmet law.
I didn't have time to blink. It bounced off my helmet shield with a loud PAKK! and knocked by head back.
I always wear my helmet with shield down on the highway....
Just after that, I saw a group of Harley riders riding along with doo-rags and hats on backwards. There but for the Grace of God they go....
My sentiments exactly. If you really want to protect yourself, don't get on the motorcycle in the first place.
"Anyone who rides is a fool who is tempting death."
And I believe that for many, therein lies the appeal.
Anyone can sit around and die as a couch potatoe.
Dan Quayle!? I thought you were a pretty good VP... I didn't know you rode!
The rock would not penetrate such noggins.
You gotta pass them sometimes.... There are dozens and dozens going down I-25 every morning. Some mornings it seems they are the majority of the traffic.
I just try to get them in back of me....
I've lost 7 windshields in the past 10 years. It's a big problem around here.
California Helmet Law Unconstitutional
Helmet Laws are unconstitutional period, since California passed it law back in 1992, it has made loads of published cases used throughout the States and those challenges were used in different States that even had a unconstitutional rulings based from California and many modified their helmet law because of the mass interests of what came from California. If California never passed the helmet law, it would of had less impact on several areas through Congress and the courts, something the California legislature didn't realize when they passed the helmet law it would benefit in repealing helmet laws in other states but also impacted other countries due to the massive data collected from California and written opinions or sparked interests (protests).
Now we have a helmet law that has been declared unconstitutional, not once but a dozen times since 1992 in California as the court will now turn it over because the CHP violated it continuously and just continued violating the law when there were civil rulings placed. The FMVSS No. 218 is just a DOT pamphlet. These tests does us nothing for safety (Penetration, impact attenuation and retention; that’s all it is), so technical that you can submit to DOT a homemade 6-pack styrofoam cooler as the brain bucket with a strong string as a strap system for testing and as the matter of fact, it was tested and passed!! DOT has not perfected the FMVSS No. 218 at all and to think they have not provided a list of approved helmets from the 100,000 different helmets sold in the USA for any of our States that enacted helmet laws to comply back in 1967 from the Congress Highways Act and also in 1991 when it was repealed twice in 1996. Did you know that helmets sold today are 2 out of 10 of a partial recall because of the testing standards and they are being sold daily? However what good does it due, the FMVSS No. 218 stinks, it does use nothing for helmet safety. How do I know? Because I have seen the data and the actual accidents from people killed wearing DOT approved helmets which are sent to NTSHA. Nothing gets done to improve it; I have seen dead victims wearing full face helmets from reports collected from highway accidents, photos and all. It’s nothing to due with high speed or faster motorcycles of today, data has been seen from accidents at 15mph with DOT helmets, which is just a sticker any manufacture can put on, DOT sees nothing, they only make a random call which helmets they might be interested in testing (it is like picking a jury).
There is nothing dumb with riding without a helmet as there are many other dumb things you can be compared to what you could do as well so don't judge a lidless rider compared to something similar that is also dumb you do. Some people HOV lane, they are people who speed and drink at the sometime, free styling, race, ride in the rain, snow or ice wearing a helmet that is more dumber than an individual riding safely without a helmet doing nothing but riding (there are many things examples). There are more countries in this world that do not require helmet use to state there is dangers in these countries because no helmet use as data is available to saying nothing more or less than a helmet requirement country as well. If you road your motorcycle, fell and your helmet saved your life, wonderful, there is also the same data that people which are dead today that cannot say this in a result of wearing a helmet as well too.
There is tons of data available to review from helmet accidents at your finger tips before you judge people are stupid about riding lidless. Sure helmets do provide some sort of protection and have saved lives but also the same result of this is on the other end as well. The National Department of Safety Highway Administration does not like to publish information containing to helmet related accidents, it simply is not passed along as the push is to promote helmet use. There are bi-annual reports from non-relevant parties who write reports on these matters which NHTSA does not like to comment about when anytime there is publish case findings to testify on. Have you read data of this sort or just from a safety pamphlet? If you have, you haven’t seen real available data from helmet accidents to comment about this unless you have friends and yourself who suffered from an accident to tell your story. If so, submit the evidence so others can be informed, we benefit from this than people trying to sell us dangerous products.
The California helmet law has reduced DMV registrations by more the 68% since 1992, it has impacted State taxes and so forth due to the protest of disliked laws that forced people to stopped riding. It screwed up the state completely as this law is now being taken off the books as Governor Schwarzenegger supports the ruling and the repeal. There was nothing saved in hospital costs from headless injuries, there is no data, only data exist is less registrations, it killed the motorcycle population is what it did because of the hate of helmets. Sure the helmet law saved lives but less motorcyclists were on the road, that’s all there is to say that helmet laws save lives. If there is a registration population of the same number before and after the helmet law passed, then there would be some true statistics to verify the data but there is nothing. I have studied this years ago and learned this is a big hype of crooked facts by police agencies and NHTSA so they can lobby to dumb politicians who don’t read anything but vote.
Thank you Richard Quigley for fighting the CA helmet law for 14 years, now we have our freedoms back. God bless you
Scott M.
San Luis Obispo, California
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