Lawmakers in California and Illinois have enacted new legislation working against police checkpoints that only target motorcycles. The two states join New Hampshire, North Carolina and Virginia in adopting new laws against the practice many motorcyclists call discriminatory.

The controversial practice is described by some law enforcement agencies as a safety measure but motorcyclists say they are being unfairly targeted and stopped so law enforcement agents can check for safety violations. Continue Reading »

The halls of the House of Representatives in Texas were filled with a slightly different breed of protestor on Monday as 2,000 bikers from across the state lobbied their legislative representatives to preserve and reinstate the rights of their group. Continue Reading »

The number one perennial hot-button item of discussion amongst U.S. motorcyclists has to be the mandatory helmet law issue. It has been for years, and will be ‘til the earth stops spinning.

While scouting around on the subject I ran across an interesting chart from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that compares state-by-state helmet laws for motorcyclists and bicyclists. During my cursory review of this chart I couldn’t find any pattern between states, or any logic to some of the laws. For example, why do some states require only a motorcycle passenger up to a certain youthful age wear a helmet but not the operator, or kids on bicycles, while other states mandate helmet use across the board?

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