If you are harassed, but not ticketed, you can, and should, still raise a big stink about it. I've copied this to the Raleigh PD public information office, the NC Highway Patrol public relations officer, Governor Easley, and separately to the NC Attorney General. Next, I will send it to the mass media. The message contains most of the logic you can use to fight helmet tickets in court.

To: Everett Clendenin; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Subject: Implementation Regulations for Motorcycle Helmets, GS 20-140.4 and GS 20-135.2A (e) and (f)

Sunday, 9/30/07 a Raleigh Police Department motorcycle patrol unit officer subjectively disapproved of my choice of motorcycle helmets at the Raleigh Bikefest, and threatened he was going to write a $170 ticket, even though I was wearing a helmet. Neither he nor his sergeant would tell me where they came up with the amount of $170, and became belligerent when I asked them what statute they would be ticketing me for violating, because GS 20-135.2A does not say anything about $170.

As such, I need a copy of the implementing regulations pertaining to GS 20-140.4, both the current statute and the revised statute effective 1/1/08. I also need a copy of the implementing regulations for GS 20-135.2A, since sections (e) and (f) are the fining statute for violation of GS 20-140.4

I am hearing of, and experiencing, an extremely wide range of differences in the way the helmet statute is being enforced by different police departments and law enforcement officers across the state, and want to know how it is supposed to be enforced. I also want to know why people are being detained and threatened with towing for an infraction.

Do law enforcement officers have a list of approved helmets they refer to, or is it entirely up to the subjective approval and discretion of each trooper and officer I encounter?

I am finding it impossible to understand how I can possibly ensure compliance with both the current and future motorcycle helmet law.

The current statute requires a helmet of a type approved by the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, but the DMV has no list of approved helmets. Therefore, I consider the experience with the Raleigh PD to be harassment because their disapproval of my helmet had no basis. Had they written the ticket, we would be able to resolve this in court, but they did not.

The statute effective 1/1/08, requires a helmet of a type compliant with federal motor vehicle standard FMVSS 218. That's a manufacturers self-certifying process that uses testing equipment and skills I do not have. I am not a helmet manufacturer. In regards to the new statute, Sgt Mark Brown of the NC Highway Patrol motorcycle patrol did a professional job of testifying before NC House Judiciary Committee, but said several times, under questioning, that all helmet violations will be for helmets which have a novelty helmet label inside of them. Will this be the official implementing regulation? How will law enforcement officers know there is a novelty helmet label inside the helmet as motorcyclists ride by. If I am stopped and refuse consent to search, how will law enforcement prove there is a novelty helmet label inside?

Also, GS 20-135.2A is supposed to say how a motorcycle helmet violation is prosecuted, but that statute says it applies only to vehicles which require seat belts!

Law enforcement professionals are being asked to do an impossible enforcement mission, and if they are going to become belligerent in front of the public, as I experienced in Raleigh, I can only imagine how unprofessional they may become on the side of the road. I suggest you reduce this climate of fear, intimidation, and abuse of law-abiding citizens by adopting standards of enforcement, and hope your implementing regulations will do this.

My Name, (you can use a letter like this too!)
Wake County