Last-Ditch L.A. Rally Protests Helmet Law

In an angry last-ditch effort to preserve their right to ride unencumbered by headgear, about 4,000 bikers roared up to Los Angeles City Hall at noon Sunday to protest a mandatory helmet-use law that Gov. Pete Wilson is expected to sign as early as today.

After four years of intense legislative squabbling in which former Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed two laws mandating use of motorcycle helmets, this year’s bill appears likely to become law, Wilson’s aides say.

Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Carson), who sponsored the bill, said it costs California taxpayers $65 million to $100 million annually to treat people for brain damage sustained when they were injured in motorcycle accidents while riding without a helmet.

Floyd’s bill would require all motorcycle, motor scooter and motorized bicycle riders to wear state-approved safety helmets on streets and highways. Those convicted of breaking the law would face a maximum $100 fine for a first offense.

Twenty-two states require helmets for motorcycle riders of all ages. California law requires motorcycle riders 15 1/2 and younger, and all riders using off-road vehicles, to wear helmets.

The men and women who thundered into the downtown area on Sunday, sporting leather jackets, blue jeans, oil-stained boots, bandannas and skullcaps, vehemently disagreed with the impending mandatory law.

Carrying signs saying “Better Dead Than Red” and “Only the Communist Tell the People How to Live,” some of these self-proclaimed “weekend warriors” argued that helmets contribute to deaths and injuries by impairing vision and hearing. Many others, including rock star Billy Idol, complained that the law infringes on their freedom of choice.

“The rider is the only one who knows when he is safe, not somebody sitting in the Legislature,” said Idol, whose arm and leg were shattered in a 1990 accident on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. “I moved to America because I love freedom of choice, but I see it being eroded more and more by the government.”

“Let the people make their own choices,” said Charlie Stoffer, 47, a biker who rode in from Oxnard. “What’s next? They gonna make me wear pink leather?”

Still, Kathy Theodore, a spokeswoman for ABATE California (American Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education), which organized the noon rally, acknowledged that it may be too late to dissuade the governor from signing the bill.

“This is a last-ditch effort to make someone listen to the other side of the story,” Theodore said. “Our point is this: We are not against helmets. We are against a law mandating their use for adults.”

If the bill is signed into law, some bikers threatened to take “radical actions,” ranging from refusing to wear legally approved headgear to joining a class-action lawsuit to have the law repealed.

“I don’t like being told what to do,” said Ray Murray of Whittier. “Sure, I’ll wear a helmet--this one,” he said, pointing up at a gleaming skullcap made of steel attached to a pair of bull horns.

Former Sacramento police Officer Dayna Davidson, who rode to the rally on her midnight blue Harley-Davidson, said she would refuse to sign a citation for not wearing a helmet as part of an effort to have the law overturned.

“We may have to fight this law in court,” said Davidson, wearing $300 in protective clothing that included chrome-plated steel shin plates attached to high-topped leather boots. “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but yes, I would be involved in a class-action lawsuit.”

Meanwhile, anti-helmet law activist William Bish told the demonstrators that they were sending a special message to “hardhead legislators” and Wilson by holding the rally on Mother’s Day.

“We already have a mother,” Bish said, “and we don’t need another one in the government!”

At one point, the boisterous crowd was shown two women wearing only bikinis and crash helmets, and a bareheaded biker in leather chaps and buckskin jacket.

“This guy is in full leathers; these ladies are in bikinis,” biker Deacon Dave Phillips told the wildly cheering motorcyclists. “These ladies are legal, he is not. Something is wrong here.”

Russ Brown, an attorney for motorcyclists and a biker for 40 years, agreed, saying Floyd “doesn’t give a damn for what motorcycle riders think or what statistics really show.”

“First, forcing people to wear helmets is an infringement of their own personal liberties,” Brown said. “Second, there are no compelling safety reasons in terms of safety for people to wear them.

“Statistics show that helmets fail at about a 15 m.p.h. impact, but the average impact speed is in excess of 20 m.p.h.,” he said.

Tiny Kersey of Lakewood suggested he was living proof that helmets are unnecessary garb at any speed.

“I missed a freeway on-ramp once and broke four ribs, an arm and a leg,” Kersey said while replacing a spark plug on his vintage 1944 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead. “But not a scratch on my head.”

The California Highway Patrol attributed 620 fatalities and 17,740 injuries to California motorcycle accidents during 1989.