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BOLT of California is excited to publicize and support the recently filed class action lawsuit in Clark County Nevada. The “Class M Class Action” was filed Sept. 27 in federal court in Las Vegas by Attorney Travis Barrick. The suit is the logical next step for motorcyclists to stop illegal enforcement tactics.
When examined by the eye of the law, most helmet tickets are rights violations. A ticket for an “unapproved helmet” is nothing more than an arbitrary tax on riders who pay the ticket simply because they don’t know they shouldn’t pay. There is a pattern and practice of keeping riders with tickets out of court, cashing a rider’s check in a guilty plea or dismissing the ticket when it is challenged in court.
There are no “DOT-approved” helmets, according to the Department of Transportation.
Repeal It Or Feel It was formed when the Legislature of Nevada was offered a chance to change the law allowing adults the choice of wearing a helmet when riding. If the law had been repealed, adults would not be subject to enforcement of the helmet law. Government decided to keep the bad law intact. They didn’t repeal it, so now they will feel it. Government paying The People back will really hurt them, but 4th Amendment violations will stop.
Many in favor of a helmet law claim there is a public burden when motorcyclists are injured, assuming their insurance won’t cover the cost. The most well-known of these studies was a bogus study citing figures pulled “out of thin air” by a California legislator. Side-by-side comparisons of helmet law states and Free states show no appreciable difference in injuries or deaths per accident.
If mandating helmet use saved lives it would be obvious in a comparison eliminating all variables except the injury results per 1,000 crashes. Statistics show the public burden theory is as phony as the imaginary study from California.
The real public burden is the constitutional violations committed by officers writing unapproved helmet tickets — helmet tickets with no probable cause. The 4th Amendment was intended to relieve the citizens of that burden of government without limits. Removing dollars from the vital economy under false pretenses is the burden that results from officers writing those illegitimate tickets.
David Stilwell, one of the plaintiffs named in the Class M case, recently was awarded his legal costs of challenging two helmet tickets. They were dismissed by prosecutors after guilty verdicts in lower court. The judge forced the DAs of the jurisdictions to reimburse Stilwell the costs he incurred in fighting tickets that he appealed. The cops and prosecutors caused that public burden.
Legislators and law enforcers want to talk public burden? The class action suit asks to compensate Clark County riders for abuses already committed by cities, police, and district attorneys, and the constant threat of abuse whenever anyone rides a motorcycle there.
No one is contending the Nevada law is unconstitutional. But the Constitution prohibits police and prosecutors from shredding a citizen’s rights, whether pedestrian, driver or rider.
The website www.RepealItOrFeelIt.com has more information and a way to contribute to the effort.
The complaint filed in federal court can be read at www.boltofca.com. When the Class M Class Action suit is successful, officers will be forced to stop violating the law to enforce a law on riders.
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Mark Temple writes for BOLT (Bikers of Lesser Tolerance) of California.
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