HELMET LAW

On May 25, 1995 San Diego Federal Court Judge Napoleon Jones had the courage to permanently enjoin (restrict) the California Highway Patrol from enforcing the helmet law (CVC 27803) in California. Easy Riders Freedom v. Hannigan (1995)m 93-0807-J.

The police are now prohibited from:

Stopping and issuing a ticket to a cyclist wearing a helmet, unless certain criteria are met.  The police can't stop you arbitrarily. The officer must have reasonable suspicion to believe that the helmet was not certified or the cyclist had actual knowledge the helmet failed to meet Federal standards. The officer will not meet this standard if he is unable to observe your helmet due to distance, speed or other cars blocking his view.

Another hurdle exists if you exercise your 5th amendment right to remain silent when he questions you about the helmet.

Also, object (do not consent) to the search of the inside of the helmet, i.e. when he asks you to take it off. Unless he has reasonable suspicion or you are under arrest, a 4th Amendment illegal search of the helmet and seizure of it and you should win your case at trial.

Moreover, the police can't cite (arrest) you unless he has probable cause to believe the helmet was not manufactured certified when sold, or was certified when sold but not by Federal standards and you knew it. Again, the above suggestions and objections will help you.

Make sure when you do sign the ticket, that you write on it "over objection"and ask the officer to write on the back of his ticket your 4th and 5th Amendment objection. This will help you in court. Save your struggle for court,so as to avoid a PC 148 - Obstructing or delaying an officer charge.

So after you're cited for a helmet law violation, demand a court trial. If the officer fails to appear, make a motion to dismiss the case for a lack of prosecution. If the officer does show, at the end of his testimony make a motion to suppress evidence due to an illegal search and seizure under the 4th Amendment. (A motion is a written or oral request to the Judge). A motion allows you to take the offensive and forces the State to justify their behavior.

The reason the 4th Amendment was violated was because the officer stopped you on a hunch or merely subjective suspicion. The officer failed to state specific and objective reasons why he stopped you, per the guidelines set forth in the above case.

In a recent trial, a California Highway Patrol officer's reasons for detention of a cyclist were made to look ridicules because he detained the cyclist even though he was too far away and going too fast to have made the alleged observations of an illegal helmet from across several lanes of freeway traffic.