TallTom
Registered
I live in Fla. No helmets required. It has been a hot topic for years here. Freedom vs. safety etc.
Yesterday I am riding in a group of 3. My Busa, another Busa and a Victory Hammer. I was in the back of the 3. All going the speed limit no noisy bikes etc. We roll up on a police cruiser gently in speed in the next lane. The Victory had no helmet on, myself and the other Busa has ours on. My helmet does not have a visor on it due to awaiting a replacement.
So we are cruising for about 1/4 mile with the cruiser, and he hits his blues rolls down his window and slows to get even with us, and he points to me specifically and yells out the window. I need you to pull over right now!
We are looking at each other like wth and he looks right at me and says "YOU" pointing his finger right at me. I mean we are going like 40 and he is literally talking to me out of his window.
So I pull over and my buds pull over and he tells them on his PA speaker. You boys move along I don't want to have to handle 3 of you and you need to keep riding.
So I'm like WTH again. So he comes over and says license registration insurance etc. I have all that in order. When I take my license out of my wallet he sees that I have a carry permit. He at that point ask me to step off the bike and to place my hands on the hood of his car in plain site. He ask me if I am carrying a weapon. Yes officer I am and I will be happy to openly let you take control of it if you want to right now. He asked me to disarm which I did. I then produced all of his requested vehicle paperwork.
He looked over my vehicle paperwork and then went inside his cruiser and called me in. Came out and said, do you know why I am pulling you over? No Sir I have absolutely no clue. I am pulling you over because you were not wearing eye protection. I said in amazement, excuse me. He looks at me and says eye protection you know something to protect your eyes. I said officer, did you not see the full face helmet I am wearing? Yes and it doesn't have a visor and you weren't wearing any eye protection. I could see that you were having problems seeing and the wind was making you blink a alot! I looked at him like "You have GOT to be kidding me right", but I say officer "how much protection do you feel my helmet needs to offer me?" He then informs me that I can't ride with a visor up either. I then said OK officer how about if I take my helmet off and ride. Do you have any sunglasses or anything you can wear if you do? No sir I assume that my helmet was approved eye protection. You can ride with no helmet but you must have eye protection on was his response.
Then he ask if I make a habit of carrying a firearm. Well yes officer I do, I have a permit to legally do so and I regularly carry as allowed. Then he says I see you have it laser sighted. Why do you feel you need to do that? I said so I lessen the chance that I miss and possibly hit an innocent should that panic situation arise and sort of started getting pissy about the questioning He is pondering, I can see his little cop wheels turning in his head. Tell you what I am ONLY going to write you up for riding without proper eye protection. It will be $113.00 fine. I stood there for a second and sort of jaw dropped and said "How about if you let me walk right to that 7-11 and buy $2 pair of sunglasses to get me home and I won't need to see you in court over this. He went silent and turned his wheels in his head some more. He said OK I will wait here until you return. He gave me my license and paperwork back. Officer I'd like my sidearm back now also. Well I'd like to hold it for my personal protection until you return back was his response. In case by some chance you get a call and have to leave in a hurry before I can get back across the street I'd hate to have to explain to the desk seargent why you have my sidearm later today when I have to come find you officer. He thought about that for another second or two.
And at this point he sees I am looking at and remembering his badge number. He returns my sidearm and says "I will give you 3 minutes to get some eye protection on that head or I will cite you".
So I do the $2 ($6 actually) 7-11 option and off he goes. So tell me the incentive for wearing gear? They make helmet laws such a hot topic safety issue here. The cops hate the no helmet requirement. But they can't ticket you for it. But geeze they certainly make you NOT want to wear a helmet in some cases. It is just plain stupid to put a rider in a helmet in this position. He was simply looking for an excuse to pull someone over. Then he further tries to assert himself into the rest of my day with the rest of his bs. If I would have had 1 tiny thing out of order in my paperwork it would have been a bust. And he checked EVERYTHING on that paperwork and made sure the bike matched the paper I called my buddies afterward and they said he was looking us over pretty hard when we rolled up beside him.
I am all for safety but I am about ready to protest the principle of why wear a helmet when its easier to wear stupid $6 sunglasses to keep the cops off your back.
Yesterday I am riding in a group of 3. My Busa, another Busa and a Victory Hammer. I was in the back of the 3. All going the speed limit no noisy bikes etc. We roll up on a police cruiser gently in speed in the next lane. The Victory had no helmet on, myself and the other Busa has ours on. My helmet does not have a visor on it due to awaiting a replacement.
So we are cruising for about 1/4 mile with the cruiser, and he hits his blues rolls down his window and slows to get even with us, and he points to me specifically and yells out the window. I need you to pull over right now!
We are looking at each other like wth and he looks right at me and says "YOU" pointing his finger right at me. I mean we are going like 40 and he is literally talking to me out of his window.
So I pull over and my buds pull over and he tells them on his PA speaker. You boys move along I don't want to have to handle 3 of you and you need to keep riding.
So I'm like WTH again. So he comes over and says license registration insurance etc. I have all that in order. When I take my license out of my wallet he sees that I have a carry permit. He at that point ask me to step off the bike and to place my hands on the hood of his car in plain site. He ask me if I am carrying a weapon. Yes officer I am and I will be happy to openly let you take control of it if you want to right now. He asked me to disarm which I did. I then produced all of his requested vehicle paperwork.
He looked over my vehicle paperwork and then went inside his cruiser and called me in. Came out and said, do you know why I am pulling you over? No Sir I have absolutely no clue. I am pulling you over because you were not wearing eye protection. I said in amazement, excuse me. He looks at me and says eye protection you know something to protect your eyes. I said officer, did you not see the full face helmet I am wearing? Yes and it doesn't have a visor and you weren't wearing any eye protection. I could see that you were having problems seeing and the wind was making you blink a alot! I looked at him like "You have GOT to be kidding me right", but I say officer "how much protection do you feel my helmet needs to offer me?" He then informs me that I can't ride with a visor up either. I then said OK officer how about if I take my helmet off and ride. Do you have any sunglasses or anything you can wear if you do? No sir I assume that my helmet was approved eye protection. You can ride with no helmet but you must have eye protection on was his response.
Then he ask if I make a habit of carrying a firearm. Well yes officer I do, I have a permit to legally do so and I regularly carry as allowed. Then he says I see you have it laser sighted. Why do you feel you need to do that? I said so I lessen the chance that I miss and possibly hit an innocent should that panic situation arise and sort of started getting pissy about the questioning He is pondering, I can see his little cop wheels turning in his head. Tell you what I am ONLY going to write you up for riding without proper eye protection. It will be $113.00 fine. I stood there for a second and sort of jaw dropped and said "How about if you let me walk right to that 7-11 and buy $2 pair of sunglasses to get me home and I won't need to see you in court over this. He went silent and turned his wheels in his head some more. He said OK I will wait here until you return. He gave me my license and paperwork back. Officer I'd like my sidearm back now also. Well I'd like to hold it for my personal protection until you return back was his response. In case by some chance you get a call and have to leave in a hurry before I can get back across the street I'd hate to have to explain to the desk seargent why you have my sidearm later today when I have to come find you officer. He thought about that for another second or two.
And at this point he sees I am looking at and remembering his badge number. He returns my sidearm and says "I will give you 3 minutes to get some eye protection on that head or I will cite you".
So I do the $2 ($6 actually) 7-11 option and off he goes. So tell me the incentive for wearing gear? They make helmet laws such a hot topic safety issue here. The cops hate the no helmet requirement. But they can't ticket you for it. But geeze they certainly make you NOT want to wear a helmet in some cases. It is just plain stupid to put a rider in a helmet in this position. He was simply looking for an excuse to pull someone over. Then he further tries to assert himself into the rest of my day with the rest of his bs. If I would have had 1 tiny thing out of order in my paperwork it would have been a bust. And he checked EVERYTHING on that paperwork and made sure the bike matched the paper I called my buddies afterward and they said he was looking us over pretty hard when we rolled up beside him.
I am all for safety but I am about ready to protest the principle of why wear a helmet when its easier to wear stupid $6 sunglasses to keep the cops off your back.
A dropped the helmet law about 2 years ago. I rode a few times wihtout a lid, but I've gone back to full face lids.
