Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

If) Q> '" '" e, ... en HELMET LAW: Here we go again. mandatory helmet legislation. By Russ Sanford T here has never been an issue wh ich arouses and unites the motorcyclists so much as a law requiring: In a year wh ich has already seen motorcyclists face d with mandatory insurance. mandatory headlights in th e dayt ime , Presi de ntial Pr oclamat ions on use of public lands, an d a h o st of othe r d iscriminatory legisla tive prop osals, now we are face d with man dato ry helmet laws. And b efo re yo u sta rt jump ing down m y throa t . let m e state that I wouldn't ride down my drivewa y w ithout a h elm et. And th e sa me go es fo r my wife and all of th e k ids . Like wise. no ne of us would ri de in th e car w ithout fast ening our seat-b elts . But , I don 't want a ny o ne telling me th at I must! On March 7th, Assemb lyman W. Cr aig Biddl e introduced the foll owing bill befo re the C alifornia Legislat ur e : AB744 537. A "safety he lmet" is a helmet designed for the 4 specific purpose of being worn by motorcycle ope rators 5 and passengers to minimize injuries to the head of the 6 wea re r . 7 SEC. 2. Section 27803 is added to the Vehicle Code,to 8 read: 9 27803. (a) No per son shall dri ve or be a passen ger on 10 a two-wheel motorcycle without wearin g upon his head 11 a securely fasten ed safety helmet at all times the 12 motorcycle is being driven . 13 (b) On and afte r July I , 1978, no person shall dri ve or 14 be a passenger on a two-wheel motorcycle withou t 15 wearing upon his head a securel y fastened safety helm et 16 of a type approved under Section 27802 at all times the 17 motorcycle is being driven. 18 Th is section shall become operative July I , 1973. SEC 3. Section 27804 is added to the Vehicle Code, to . 19 20 read : 21 27804. No person engaged in the rental of 22 motorcycles for periods of 30 days or less, shall rent, lease 23 or otherwise allow the operation of any mot orc ycl e under 24 his control unless a safety helmet of a type approved 25 under Section 27802 has been provided or offered to the 26 operator of the moto rcycle for his use. An agr eement 27 shall be signed by the ope rator of the motorc ycle which 28 shall include the name of the pe rson to whom the 29 motorcycle is rented, leased or delivered, the address of 30 the place of business in this state where it is rented, 31 leased, or delivered, and a statem ent of the ope rator's 32 refusal to accept a safety helmet if this be the case. 3 In expla nation, Section 27802 of t he Ve hicle Code b ecam e effective on November 23 , 1970, and reads as fo llows: "27802. (a) T he department shall adopt reasona ble reg ula tions establishing specifications and standards for safety helmets offered for sale. or sold, for use by motorcycle drivers and passengers as it determines are necessary for the safety of such drivers an d passengers. In developing th e regulatio ns. the d epart ment shall consider all standards which have been developed and adopted as a requirement by o ther states . T h ere are many arguments upo n which you can b ase yo ur oppostion, su ch as: - -Ass em bly ma n W. Craig Biddle represents Dist rict 74 wh ich is t he most h eavily-populat ed portio n of Riversid e County. O ur figu res sho w that th er e ar e 4 6 ,647 motorc ycl ist s in Riverside County, th e maj o rit y o f wh om a re re giste re d vot ers. Mr. Biddle won h is last elec t io n b y 24,05 8 votes. He must be made awar e th at h is moto rc ycl ing constituents, all 4 6, 647 of th em, are in opposition to h is ma ndat or y h elm et b ill. 1. Discrimi nation - occupants of enclosed ve hicles d o not h ave to faste n t he ir seat b elt s. alt h o ugh it ha s b een proven man y t im es th at it is fa r sa fer t o do so. - - We are ma k ing a special mailing to eve ry member of M.O .R. E ., to every dealer, and to eve ry o rgan ized club in Riverside County, asking them to bring this matter to the immediate attention of every motorcyclist in Assemb lyman Biddle's 74th District. - - Ever y mo torcyclist in that District must register his oppositio n by letter, tlegram, or telephone call . Ad dress your messages to : Assemb lyma n W. Craig Biddle. Room 2176, State Ca pitol Building, Sacramento, CA 9 5814. or by calling him at (9 16) 44 5-2390, person-to-perso n. You can also regist er your o pposition by contac ting his Dis trict Offi ce at 6370 Magn olia Avenue, Suite 211, Riverside. Cali fo rn ia 92 506. - - Every other motorcyclist in this state. should im me dia tely write and register thei r o p positio n to manda tory helmets with the memb ers of t he A ssemb ly T ran sp ort at io n Commit tee. Th is wi ll b e t he first co m mi t tee t o con d uct heari ngs on AB 744 an d if w e all pit ch in now, it is h igh ly possib le th a t the bill w ill ' die' in t ha t co mmi ttee . Th e membe rs are : Assemblyman Wadie P. Deddeh, Chairman Assemblyman Richard D. Hayden Assem blyma n Carlos Bee Assemb lyman Robert H. Burke Assemblyman Jo hn L.E . Collier Assemblyman Jo hn Francis Foran Assc-nblyman Alex P. Garcia Assemblyman Joe A. Gonsalves Assemblyma n Jim Keysore Assemblyman Frank Lanterman Room 4098 Room 3123 Room 3152 Room 3126 Room 3130 Ro om 5 122 Room 6001 Room 4016 Room 4 168 Room 3120 By Ma ureen Le e Today I feel lik e Ron Schneiders d id wh en he fo un d himself having to say, "No, tha t's not exactly what I meant ". Ah , t h e w oes of a columnist, when we get through writing what w e' think, the editor ge ts through editing a nd the re ader reads what he th inks we me an, it's often two to tally different stories . To wit : A coup le of w eek s ago I reported on a CMC Expert w ho won the Novice 250 class at the Viewfinders Grand Prix . At no time di d I say he ch eated. Ch eating and cherrypicking are t wo d ifferent things and I did n't mention either word. The very day of the race when t he results were posted in the pits it was wri tten right there the results we re pending as the race was under pro test. I ask ed a Vi ewfinder why and he asked if I'd wa tc hed the race. The leader was out in front and not riding like th e rest o f the Novices (sorry nov ices , but yo u know how we all ride). The club had been told he was a C:'IC Expe rt and they were going to investigate this before results were official. Knowing that this stunt has been pulled in various forms over the years at GP's, I wrote about it. Well, I got phone calls accusing me of what they thought I had said and etcetera, etcetera while I explained AGAINST 83% 1 , . .J c. <[ ~ w Z W ..J () 2. Discri mi nat ion - if hel mets are th at much safer, t he n occupa nts o f enclosed vehicl es should also wea r t hem, man da to rily . 3. Jeopardy - in a whip-lash situation, th e b ase of the helmet at the rear often breaks the wearer's nec k. 4. Jeo pardy - emergency medical staffs clai m tha t it is impossible to d et ermine if a pe rson wearing a helmet has head injuries without removing the helmet . Removal of the helmet often causes grea te r, more serious damage. 5. Inh u ma nit y - It may sound cr uel an d heartless to say this. but many accident victims barely survive t he results of head injuries and neve r regain t h eir faculties, often ending up as permane nt 'vegetables' in institutions. Many person have ex pressed t he o pi nio n that perhaps these peo ple would have been-better o ff not to h ave survived. You may w o nd er why, after knowing of t he above argu me nts, tha t I personally pr efer to we ar a helmet. It is b eca use I feel th at my chances are b et ter wit h , t ha n witho ut. But. t hat's my choice and I sho uld b e allowed to make it ! Let 's sta nd up fo r o ur righ ts. Let 's make a 's how of strength'. Let 's sho w our legislature t ha t w e'r e not go ing to lie down a nd let th em bury us with bad laws ! ESPECIALLY , THIS BAD LAW! Write yo ur lett ers today! Right now! An d wh en yo u fin ish your letter s, p ass t h is to y our b udd ies and ma k e abso lutely cer tain t ha t t hey write , also. We are going all o ut o n t h is issu e. Th e ex pe nse will be tremendous, but is absolutely essential. If you haven' t yet joined M.O.R.E.. now is the time to help 'the cause', if there ever was one. Contact M.O .R.E., P.O. Box 26062. Sacramento, CA 95826. sCl am6Dn' aroun" r Assembly man Bidd le has hear d all of the past argu me nts o n ma ndatory helmets, both pro and can. I w as surprised to learn th at he had introduced such a b ill. an d visited with him on March 14th to determine w hy . Mr. Biddle occasionally rid es a small Honda and h is children have a mini-bike. Like myself, he and his children recognize the inherent safety factory when w eari ng a helmet, but he feels that if others do not share th is recognitio n, mandatory helmets must be enforced. In further checking, I found that the California Highway Patrol is strongly supporting the ~ 4009 4164 41 55 4102 We can b eat the mandatory helmet law... and h ere is how w e mus t d o it : In a po ll conducted just last month, California 's organized motorcycle dealer s, th e C.M.I.C., voted as follows on the manadatory helmet question : \ Room Room Room Room Address your. letters to the legisla to r's name. roo m number , and "State Capitol Bldg.. Sacramento. CA 95814" . If you will re-read Assembly Bill 74 4 above, you w ill see that it makes no distinction between road-bikes. dirt-bikes. mini-bikes. etc. It ap plies to every motor veh icle having two wheels. (b) No p erso n shall sell, or offer for sale. for use by a motorcycle driver or pa ssen ger any safety helmet which is not o f a t ype approved by the de partment. This subdivision shall become operat ive six months after the date upon which the regulations become effective," FOR 17% W. Don MacGillivray Leo T. McCarthy Alan Sieroty Bob Wood .; As of this writing, 45 of the 50 states have enacted mandatory helmet laws. Many states are trying to repeal such laws but this is almost im possible to do once a law is enacted. California is the last major holdout. If we can defeat AB 744 here in Califo rn ia . t he n other states can hold us up as an example. If we lose this issue in California, then the federal, state, and county governme nts will know tha t they can do anything they want with the motorcyclists. The people of the Sate of California do enact as follows: 1 SECTION 1. Section 537 is added to the Vehicle Code , 2 to read : Assembl yman Assemblyman Assemblyman Assembl yman N where I h ad rece ived my information. I might add that th e rider and I got along fine when h e fin ally call ed . I co uld see his p oint, to o , when some o f h is buddies just started up on him, it gets ro ugh when yo u're o nly fift een. He 'll get h is troph y . The o nly way we 're going to stop th ese things happening is for the District to includ e a space o n t he ap plication forms denoting the riders ' classification in other o rga nizations. O therw ise, a rider with th e tale nt of John De Soto could en d up an AMA Novice. So , w e 'r e so rry to hav e caused this ki d any embarrassment b ut it 's all part of racing, and Rick , I 'll st ill b uy y ou t hat coke! In the same vein we've just been sitting on another ge ntleman who has really been pulling some beauts , and if I've no ticed it I'm damn sure others h ave. There is a CZ rider who went like Jack th e Be ar an d won tw o A mateur tro phies at th e Vi ew finders with what was one hell o f a fine rid e an d 1 mean that. Nex t w eekend we we re at Escape Country rendering a little assistance to the club who was handli ng the Sportsm an riders w ho w er e co m pe ting on the same track with the professional Al\1A boys but th e Sportsman riders had to be Experts! Who won it? Same C Z rider. Naturally we checked because there (Please tum to page 24) '" >()

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