August 18, 2006

CHP: Riders Without Helmets Will Get Tickets

By TOM RAGAN
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER

California Highway Patrol officers will continue to ticket people who are operating motorcycles without proper helmets in Santa Cruz County, despite a recent court ruling that says the CHP must define what constitutes a safe helmet, a spokesman for the CHP in Aptos said Thursday.

Grant Boles, a public affairs officer for the CHP, said "the law is still the law," and that anybody riding a motorcycle without a helmet should expect to receive a citation.

On Wednesday, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Michael Barton said the state's motorcycle helmet law was "vague" and "unconstitutional" because the interpretation of a motorcycle helmet is left up to the officer's discretion and "subjective opinion."

The ruling was the result of a case involving Richard Quigley, 61, of Aptos, whose argument in numerous court appearances over the years has been that his soft leather cap is just as much a helmet as the hard-shelled motorcycle helmets seen worn around town by bikers.

Quigley, who often represented himself in court, may have convinced the judge that the state law was lacking in clarification, but CHP officials in Sacramento as of late Thursday were meeting with its general counsel and with the attorney general in an attempt to figure out the implication of Barton's decision.

According to Boles, a statement should be released by the CHP's general counsel in the next couple of days, but for now all officers in the county have been instructed to issue citations.

Quigley, who's been riding a motorcycle for decades and has never paid a fine for the dozens of citations he's received over the years, said he had a feeling any citations would be thrown out of Barton's court.

"That's what happened to me," said Quigley, "and I've set precedent. So if I were cop, I wouldn't be issuing tickets. The judge himself says it's unconstitutional.".