They come in flat black, glossy black, chrome black and leather covered...$39.99.
Posted on 08/20/2006 12:38:17 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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.
NBC11 News has learned the state attorney general is appealing the rulling to the 6th district court of appeals.
A.G. spokesman Tom Dressler told NBC11's Monte Francis, "The bottom line is that the California Highway Patrol is going to enforce the helmet laws it always has."
He also said the judge's ruling is only binding in Santa Cruz.
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 that 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.
Let's be clear.
1) Enforce helmet laws on American motorcycle riders with valid California drivers licenses?
2) Ignore immigration laws for 10,000,000 illegal aliens.
Welcome to the Peoples Republic of California.
The CHP and the INS are two different organizations. Just because the INS doesn't do their job doesn't mean that the CHP shouldn't do it's. But thanks for bringing up II. Now maybe someone can bring up abortion.
Are you saying the CHP operates independently of the law?
L
you know what only in America
Am I reading this right? He wore a baseball cap that he had embroidered with the letters "DOT" and then claimed he was in compliance with the CA law that said he has to wear a helmet that has been certified by the DOT. He won his case because the CHP could not prove that a baseball cap did not meet the statutory definition of a helmet and that the DOT certification part of the statute only required that the "helmet" carry the letters "DOT" somewhere -- not an actual certification. Is that what happened here?
Yes.
Actually, I believe the cap could be consider an English style horse riding helmet.
Wow.
Immigration control is a federal function, not a state's.
He/they are going to be sorry they pushed this.
Now the state is going to come forward with tough helmet requirements instead of letting people off easy as long as they had something resembling a helmet on their head.
The only problem with the state doing so- is that the CHP cycle cop stats, will disprove the alleged safety of any motorcycle helmet. This has been a snafu for the state nannies since the the last helmet regulation purge in the 80's.
The only problem with the state doing so- is that the CHP cycle cop stats, will disprove the alleged safety of any motorcycle helmet. This has been a snafu for the state nannies since the the last helmet regulation purge in the 80's.
They come in flat black, glossy black, chrome black and leather covered...$39.99They only set a standard.
Manufacturers and importers self-test to several standards.
The current standards are largely meaningless, and have nothing to do with individual safety.
CHP is supposed to enforce state laws. Does California have a law against being in the state if you don't have legal immigration status?
My state doesn't though the legislature is now working to change that.
It is important to understand the difference between state and federal.
Mandatory helmet laws are as ridiculous as seatbelt laws. Geesh! Just another thing the state/feds needs to stop getting involved in.
People should be free to wear or not wear what they want.
That said, a friend of mine was killed after Delmarva bike week 2004 when his similar helmet didn't keep his brains inside of his skull. No idea if a better helmet would have kept him alive, but the one he wore did nothing.
I agree... Stupidity is a personal choice. As long as anyone stupid enough to ride without a helmet chooses to, the state should bear no cost to scrape his brains off the road. This will be paid by the riders estate.
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