Friends of Bikers of Lesser Tolerance - B.O.L.T.

written by a BOLT of California freedom fighter who asks to attribute this to BOLT OF CA.

Ever wonder about the phrase " No List/ No law ???
What we are saying is the one sure way to cure the defect of vagueness in a mandatory helmet law is to provide a list of both approved and unapproved helmets. One list issued and maintained by the Federal Government would fix the problem for all fifty states.

Why won't they do that ?

" he who certifies , Indemnifies" or put another way , is liable for what they approve.
Now we all know that the government enjoys pretty much blanket immunity for their actions except for Constitutional rights violations. So why not a list ? Easy , the other accepted cause of action against the government is for , Negligence. Especially for gross negligence with reckless disregard. Gross negligence with reckless disregard ?? Sure , Their statistics at best are inconclusive regarding helmet safety benefits. For the Government to require you to use a specific list to make your choice of helmets from , places the burden on them to prove their requirement , in fact does what they say it does. Since we have for 30 years challenged the safety argument regarding helmets the Gov. can't say they didn't know. We told them a thousand times.
To issue a list without the ability to prove the safety benefit in spite of our challenges , in my opinion takes them to the negligence stage and open to cases seeking damages for injuries due to their list.
When a claimant points out the Governments inability to prove their claim of safety benefit and then , further points out the governments knowledge of the increased risk of spinal injury due to their list , I believe the Government has now gone to " gross negligence with reckless disregard " . Who would you rather be , the Governments Lawyer ? or , the paraplegics attorney in front of a sympathetic jury ? After all what will it hurt for the jury to give away some of the Governments money to this poor guy and his family ?
So , in my humble opinion that's why the slogan " No List/No law " is the one to beat the government over the head with because they will never do what we demand ( the list ) .
And us ? Well we are just trying to fix the problem by offering a sensible solution to a complex problem , which the government refuses to do , instead they leave us open to unconstitutional treatment by their refusal to accept their responsibility and admit their mistake or , give us a list !
Remember , the Federal Government self insures so any monetary awards from a jury comes right out of their pocket not some insurance companies pocket. After they give away a few hundred million dollars due to their mandatory helmet law they'll lose their love of helmets or at least the love of helmet laws..
This may or may not be a clear concise picture of why we demand a list and there might also be further reasons which I failed to touch upon , one thing for sure , my explanation is a damned good reason to chase that list at every turn...
Now that you know , get out there and demand that list ! No list ? / No law !

Feel free to distribute with attribution to BOLT of Calif. Not me , BOLT