The Man cracks down on B.C. bikers

By
CMG Staff
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It's hard to take someone seriously when they proclaim they need loud pipes for safety, then wear a beanie instead of a proper helmet.
B.C. says they're going to crack down on novelty helmets, but it seems a unit like this will still be OK, as long as it has a DOT sticker.

B.C.’s provincial government has introduced a host of new motorcycle regulations, some of which should create some controversy in coming weeks.

The regulation that’s going to ruffle the most feathers is a ban on novelty helmets.

B.C.’s government now says riders must wear a helmet with a DOT, Snell M2005 or Snell M2010 or ECE rating. That sounds great, but everyone knows factories over in China are cranking out these beanie helmets that don’t meet any safety standard, but still slapping DOT stickers on them. You can probably buy the stickers on eBay as well, so we doubt this rule change is going to do much to address the province’s recent growth in motorcycle fatalities.

Other changes the B.C. government is introducing in the name of safety are larger letters on motorcyclists’ licence plates (to make it easier for the police to track you down), and a rule that passengers’ feet must touch the pegs or floorboard when riding pillion on a motorcycle. If your kid’s legs don’t reach the passenger pegs or floorboard, then they can’t ride.

Finally, the government says they’re introducing some sort of graduated licensing program, but we haven’t seen any details on how it will work. This could be the only rule change that saves any lives, in the long run, and we’ll keep you posted when we learn more details.

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1 COMMENT

  1. I have seen cases about a pedal bicycle hitting a person and killing him, also, on roller-skates hitting a lady and killing her, so, the size of the vehicle or the size of the engine has nothing to do with safety, if the driver is dangerous, and behave like a maniac,  that person should not be driving anything, not even without an engine.  Graduated licensing is nonsense. 

    •  I’d rather take my chances with a maniac on rollerskates than one driving an 18 wheeler.
      The same logic applies to graduated licensing as it does for class licensing.
      Sorry Gojibo, but your argument does not fit the facts.

  2. I did a study on graduated licensing last year.
    Using StatCan data, the findings were interesting and somewhat unexpected.
    One quick and interesting note:
    The highest represented age group for fatalities on a motorcycle was 20 to 24.
    The rest of the age groups (25-29, 30-34, etc) were fairly uniform with less than 2% deviation.
    In other words, after age 25 the percentage of motorcycle fatalities did not appear to be age related.
    The unexpected part? The age group 15 to 19 yielded the lowest percentage of motorcycle related fatalities. I’m ok with that, and I’m sure everyone will draw their own conclusions as to the “why”.
    I was expecting to find a jump in the number of motorcycle fatalities in the boomer crowd returning to motorcycling, but the results did not support that hypothesis.
    After this study, I would support graduated licensing.
    Of course, there are several methods to employ; I would like to see the Ontario method of restrictions coupled with a restriction on size.

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